Learning To Read: Sight Words For Kindergarteners

My son starts JK in just one short week.  And while I think he's pretty prepared to start the program, I've also been looking into what I can do to assist him as he starts this big new adventure.  My sister (who must have been a teacher in another life) is super organized when it comes to getting activities together that will help her kids learn the outcomes intended for their age group.  Thankfully she is happy to share with me!

Learning to read is such a huge accomplishment for a young child and I can't wait for my son to reach this milestone.  I loved reading as a kid and that enjoyment has followed me all the way through my life and I hope my kids feel the same.

My niece reading to my daughter when she was a baby

Once your little one has a grasp of the alphabet and of letter sounds, a great next step is to move on to what is called 'Dolch Pre-Primer' words and the ability to recognize certain words by sight.  These are commonly used words that will help pave the way towards learning to read.  A list of these words can be found here. Another term used when helping kids learn to read is 'popcorn' words.  These are words that 'pop up' often in every day reading and writing and can also be referred to as sight words.  Here is a great online game for kids to help with sight word recognition - Monkey Madness Movie Theatre.

Here is a quick and easy craft to assemble at home to help learn sight words is a 'word wall'.

What you need:

-Bristol board
-Scissors
-Glue stick
-White paper

Get your child to pick out their favourite coloured bristol board.  Write or type the pre-primer sight words (a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you) on a piece of white paper and cut out each one so that each word is a separate piece.

Post three pre-primer words using tape or glue onto the bristol board and hang it in your child's room. Practice those three words and then on the start of the next month, post three more.  Kids get so excited when they start to be able to recognize the words when they see them out at a store or in a book.  Happy reading!