Learning Sight Words

kameron started school this Term and each week they get new sight words to learn for the week.

Week 1 sight words were - the, can, I, a
Week 2 sight words are - he, my, an, is

Week 1 kameron had no trouble grasping these and by the time the following monday came around he was reading them correctly from any type of book.

This week however we are really getting struggling with him to get him to remember his new lot of sight words and, we're starting to fast run out of ideas.

At school they get to bring home a different book each day in which some of the sight words are contained to assist learning them, but that hasn't been helping, neither has trying to read them from any of his own books at home.
I have also listed the sight words inc those he already knows onto a word doc on the laptop as he loves the computer, but once again he just wasn't grasping it. Today i printed short sentences like "Kameron is a boy" or "Ashton is my brother" and once again not interested, or just can't remember.

We have removed all distractions when trying to help him learn his sight words as well.

Does anyone have any other ideas I can use to help him? On Tuesday they will be getting week 3 of sight words so I don't want him have even more to learn if he cant' remember this lot.

He isnt' too crash hot at holding attention either, and has had extensive speech therapy in the lead up to school

Love

You could perhaps make a double set of sight word flashcards and play memory with them. Turn it into a game. If he turns over my and finds my again he then has to say the word to get the point.

You said that you printed sentences. Perhaps get him to help you cut up the sentences so they are just single words and then put them back together.

A lot of sight words are also difficult to learn if you dont know your sounds, even though they are called sight words and the idea is to know them from sight without sounding them out. So maybe work on the initial sound first.

If you have magnets he can also make the words with the magnets and then say them as he goes.

Painting the words can also help. So can writing them in a sandpit. Anything like that.

They all learn differently so if you can find one method that he enjoys that would be great.

I hope all that makes sense. If I think of other things I will add later.

All the best.

We play fish, memory and other games with our sight words. We have ours printed out on cards and then Paris cuts up the cards (helps with cutting skills) (there is always double the words, so 2x each word for say memory & fish)

For fish we have a plastic toy fishing line with the magnet on the end, you put a paper clip on half the cards then shuffle the other cards without the paper clips. Then you place the paper clipped cards on the table face up and the remainder of the cards in a pile face down. Let Kam pick a card from the pile, say it together and then let him find the card in the "pond" then you use it in a sentence. Another is memory game where you put all the cards down like memory and play it, and each time you turn over a card you say it together. And you can do snap in the same way.

It doesn't matter if you're the one who says the words more than him, the repetition and the fact its a game will keep it fun and interesting. Then one day you'll see he gets it and you'll be surprised ;)

We try not to make learning stuffy or boring, so when it comes to readers we always try to make sure there's jokes about the pictures and sometimes depending on her mood she might use the pictures, she might remember the words or she may try to sound them out and other times I may have to read the book with her if she's too tired etc.

Also google THRASS its the reading/writing teaching style they use at our school and it is absolutely brilliant.

Just try and remember tears and frustration are like brick walls, so even if you feel that they aren't getting it as quickly as they should, try to keep smiling (I've had to grit my teeth many times LOL) and praise lots even for the little things :)

Goodluck!

*hugs*
Cailin

Thanks Linda. I was thinking of concentration as I was typing my post and have since gone and printed it all up, as he does like those sorts of games. Will give that a test run tomorrow.

Love

We did what Linda (and Cailin) suggested and played memory with the sightwords.
Every time she got a new batch of sightwords, we would still practice with the old sight words, and like Linda suggested, we let DD make silly sentences up with the sightwords. Bit of a pain until you get some more words, but worked for us.

Nic

When the X's son was part of my life I used to do this too. Some of the activities we did were:

Find & Cut out the letters to make the word from a magazine and then stick them down in order. (Helps with learning the letters and sounds and also fine motor skills..cutting)

Rainbow Writing.. I would write the words out and then using 5 different colours he would trace the words (so it looked like a rainbow) ... helps with handwriting too.

Ladder Game... put the words onto flash type cards and then put them down like a tower (or ladder) and he has to see if he can climb up the ladder... he can only go up if he gets the words right... swap the order around.

noughts & Crosses / Tic Tac Toe.... using the cards from above, turn them face down and mixe them up... have him pick up a card and if he can read it he gets to put down his symbol... ie he gets 'can' right and he is crosses then he can put down a cross... then mix them up and you have a turn... etc.

Sentences... get him to put the word in a sentence, you write it, he traces/copies it and then he draws a picture to illustrate it.

We put Ashlea's words up each week in the toilet and every time she is in there she reads over them.

I also get her to write the words out lots of times in colums and she does it in all bright colours and it helps her recognise them by writing them over and over

She also types on the computer and we make up little flash cards

There have been some very good suggestions here, another thing i do with my class is get them to make the letters out of playdough which they love or painting them on concrete with a big brush dipped in water.