The “Problem” with Sight Words
Many children have problems with sight words, even if they know all their letters and sounds. Sometimes, it’s a developmental thing; they just aren’t ready to move at the pace in which we’d like for them to learn. Pat Cunningham also lists three “problems” with sight words, including: 1-most of them have no concrete meaning (For example, computer or tree have a concrete meaning whereas of and the do not.) 2-many sight words look very similar, and 3- they don’t follow the standard spelling rules. (Phonics They Use) One of Cunningham’s suggestions is to create some kind of picture to go with the sight word to help it “stick” a bit better.
How Sight Words You Can See Helped My Young Reader
For the most part, ALuv (currently in 1st grade) gets sight words. His frustration comes mostly over similar looking sight words (especially those starting with th and w; there’s just SO many of them!). Even the words new and now have tripped him up a bit. As I was re-reading Cunningham’s book, I was contacted by Penny of Sight Words You Can See and asked to review her sight word program. After looking into it and noticing that it included mnemonic cues with the sight words, I was excited to see how Avery would do. And I’ve been amazed at the results! Here are just a couple of shots of the flashcards included:
cues for words with w, followed by a
cues for words with a silent letter
Once he began learning the cue system (which is rather cute and comical, I might add), he was able to read words I had not introduced to him yet! I also noticed that he was less likely to mix up those similar looking sight words, even out of context. I’ve used the cue system while reading books, as I’ll simply draw one of the cues he’s learned on a dry erase board to help him read an unknown word.
More About Sight Words You Can Use
The lessons in the packet are predictable and repetitive, which works well for readers who are struggling because there is structure. One way we always like to shake it up a bit is to play sight word games, including some of the ones I posted about this summer. To find even more sight word games, you can visit my Sight Word Pinterest board; where I love to add fun games for learning and practicing sight words.
The words chosen for this program are not in the same order as the Dolch sight words or Fry’s Sight Word list, but I did some cross referencing and noticed that the majority of the words are from the Pre-Primer through 3rd grade Dolch word lists and Fry’s first 100 and second 100 word lists.
Included in the Sight Words You Can See packet is:
- a teacher manual-includes a guide to presenting the cards, illustration sheets, sentence practice sheets, testing forms, progress check sheet, instructional dialogue boxes, and a student certificate (disclaimer-we did not use every portion of this teacher manual, but it’s nice to have them available)
- 7 sheets of sight words with mnemonic cues (12 words on each sheet), each level in a different color
- 7 sheets of sight words without the mnemonic cues (12 words on each sheet), all on white paper
Does this program sound like something your young reader could use? Then, enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win! Please read the terms and conditions before entering. The giveaway ends Friday, January 4th and the winner will be announced Saturday, January 5th here on This Reading Mama. Please note that the only mandatory entry is a comment on this blog post.
~Becky
Ooh! That looks so eat!
I mean neat!
I love the product! I wish I had it something like this 2 years ago with my oldest!
This would be so helpful!
My daughter is only just starting to recognize some sight words. I feel like I need extra help to make it “click”. We are both a little frustrated and after reviewing this it looks like something hat would really help; she is a visual learner.
This looks like it would be a great fit for my son. He is currently learning to read and we are getting to where he has learned enough site words that he is getting them mixed up!
Would love these for my Nora!
This looks like just the thing I need to help my daughter – she struggles so often with sight words!
I would use it with my oldest to help him with his reading and I think my youngest would enjoy it to learn new words while he is learning to read.
This looks awesome and could help my kindergartener!
I just started teaching sight words, and I love this idea!
Beautiful work, Reading Mama!
Very nice! I love the visuals that help them focus on the correct “parts ” of the word.
Bummer- it’s US only. 🙁 They look great!
Would love these for my kids!
It would be useful for my kids
I would use it to help teach my oldest and middle to read.
I would use it to teach my son to read.
Ooooooo……genius plan! Would love to try this out with my 1st grader…and even my almost 5 year old.
I’d love to try this with my 5 year old daughter. We’ve been working on sight words recently, and they don’t “stick” very easily with her.
I am just starting to introduce sight words to my Pre-K kiddos. This would be terrific!!!!
A few of the children in my Head Start preschool classroom are ready to move on to sight words…and I have had a hard time figuring out how to teach them to these kiddos! This would be so helpful.
I would use this to help teach sight words.
What a great idea to help students learn sight words. This would be great for my kinders and sturggleing granddaughter.
My youngest son, almost 8, struggles with reading due to a visual processing problem, but I think these visuals might help him out!
This looks like just what my Special Ed. Students need!
Fantastic!
Using visuals is a great idea!
I have a 9 y/o/d who has dysliexia. It would be great with the visuals.
This is something that my struggling elementary students could really benefit from.
I have a 7 year old who is a visual learner. These would be great! She has struggled with sight words from the beginning.
I have never seen this before!!! Very, very creative and cool!! I would use this with my 7 year old son who doesn’t like learning to read. 😉 He would have fun with this! Thank you so much.
Love it! I would use it for my son who is learning to read now…I think it would be a big help to him
Yes! It’s would definitely help my 5 yr old!
I would use it with my pre-school. I started to teach him some sight words and this would be so helpful!
This would be so great for our more needy children
Thanks
i would use it to help it stick better~
Great for those visual kiddos…
making sight words learning fun is a great idea. my lil girl would love this!
Love the visuals. Would use it with my 2 sons.
I would love to try this with our children. I’ve always been a phonetic reader supporter but as usual, kids (we have four) taught me that everyone learns differently 🙂 Thanks for the chance to win!
What a great idea!
I plan on trying this with my own kindergartner and my students!
I would use this with my kindergartner! thanks for the giveaway!
This looks awesome! I would use it to help my K and pre-k kids in our homeschool.
I think this would be a great help to my son who is struggling with his reading.
looks like a great idea for new readers
I would use this to help my kinder kiddos who are struggling with sight words
i would use this for my kindergartener! thanks!!
*kelly
kelly-tillotson@hotmail.com
So cool! We would love this as my 5 yr old dd is a little hung on on some of those unusual words.
I’m teaching my 5 year old to read and helping my 7 year old become a better reader. This would be so helpful!
OMG. This is just what my second grader needs. He has always had a hard time with his sight words. This would help him soooo much. Great idea.
What a great idea! Thanks for the opportunity!
Both of mine (under 4) know their alphabet and beginning sounds, but I need to start introducing sight words as we delve into phonics. This would be perfect.
I would live to win this. It would help my daughter!
I will use it with my daughter and son to help reinforce sight words
I could really use this in my classroom!!
I have some students that with multiple times to practice sight words are still unable to read them. I think this would work great with them.
I have two kids that this would currently be great for and 1 that will be ready for it next year 🙂
I will use it at home to augment the public school’s curriculum
I will use it with my 5 years old son to help him as he is learning to read.
Would use this next year as I will be trying to teach two kids to read. Looks like a great product.
I may have to look into this even if I don’t win it!
My young reader could benefit from this. Her mom (me) could, too. My oldest daughter plans to major in early childhood education (so she can tutor at home while homeschooling her own children) and this would be a great reference for her, too.
Would love this for my daughter who is learning to read!
This is such a smart idea!! My daughter would surely benefit from this!
What a great idea!! I would use this at home with my boys over, and over as they are all a little over a year apart! Thanks for this great giveaway!
This would be great for my daughter!! 🙂
I would use this with my 5 yr old who is just beginning to recognize site words. He is a very visual learner so this would be amazing for him.
What a really awesome way to teach sight words. I am in the process of doing that with my youngest son and would love to win this product!
Would love this for my students!
I’ll help my son learn to read!
LOVE this!!! Can’t wait to start sight word lessons with my girls!
I am a teacher of special needs children. This looks like a great way to approach sight words with them!
My grandson struggles with reading and spelling….I think these would help him