Beginner Reader Theme Day

Kindergarten Theme Day

(Or Grade 1 Review)

Beginner Readers/ Sight Words

This Theme Day is best suited for Kindergarten children and those just starting to read. It can also be used as a review for children in Grade One.

When my youngest was in Kindergarten, each month his classmates brought home flash cards of at least two new “Sight Words” (words which they were to learn by sight rather than by phonetically sounding them out). My son knew all the letter sounds and loved to sound out words and read books to be like his big brother but I noticed as we went through the Sight Word cards that he continually wanted to phonetically read them. I realized that the Sight Words were just another abstract concept that he needed to master and thought that maybe if I treated them as I did colours and shapes then maybe he’d catch on quicker.

As a result I have made this Beginner Reader Theme Day which is really more like a Theme Idea for different weeks rather than a single day as there are too many ideas and concepts to cover in one day. I have lumped them together as a Theme Day for the sake of convenience and encourage you to only focus on one or two Sight Words at a time.

This was also a great way to review his reading over the summer holidays so that he would be better prepared for Grade one. As well, it ended up being a good supplement to help him practice his Sight Words when he was in the first grade.

NOTE: I am changing the order of activities from my usual format. I am placing the Learning Activities first with the Sight Word Printable Worksheets and the Crafts afterwards as activities to use to practice each set of sight words. I am also listing Books at the end since the books are just beginner readers that will work to help your child after the Sight Words are known.

Print out the Family Theme Day Planner and decide which activities you’d like to do and in what order.

SONGS:

You could always review the alphabet for this Theme Day but because Sight Words are not really phonetic words instead try this cute little song I found on You Tube called “Oh, What Fun to Be Reading” (to the tune of Take me Out to the Ballgame): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6EZbLs5qBo

SCRAPBOOK ACTIVITIES:

COLORING PAGES:

Print out my Sight words Coloring Page. Help your child read each word out loud while he/she is coloring the page. Tell your child that these are words that are found in all sorts of stories and soon he/she will be able to find them and read them himself/herself.

PUZZLES:

WORD SEARCH:

IDEAS: You can use these Word Search Printables in a few ways:

A) Use it at the end once all the Sight Words have been introduced as a review.

B) Work on it together with your new reader as an introduction to the Sight Words before introducing the new words.

C) Use it little by little after each Set of Sight Words having your child find only the two Sight Words covered. This is what I did with my son. After we practiced two Sight Words he’d search for them on the Word Search using bright markers. If you do this you may want to glue it in your Family Theme Day Scrapbook so it is easy to find for each time you need it.

Sight Words Word Search #1 to cover Set 2 to Set 12 ( you can find the Sets below under Learning Activities, Note : I didn’t include “I/a” since they are one letter words and I didn’t include “on” as it is the same as “no” backwards).

Sight Words Word Search #2 to cover Set 12 to Set 22 (See below for the Sets).

Sight Words Word Search #3 to cover Set 23 to Set 33 (See below for the Sets)

Sight Words Word Search #4 to cover Set 34 to Set 43 (See below for the Sets)

Check here for the answer keys:

Sight Words Word Search #1 Key

Sight Words Word Search #2 Key

Sight Words Word Search #3 Key

Sight Words Word Search #4 Key

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

SIGHT WORD PRINTABLES:

Each worksheet presents two sight words. The first part of the sheet is intended to be used as a coloring activity. The last blanks are for your child to write the words himself/herself. The colored words , written words and the middle set are intended to be cut out and used as flash cards and later for the Build A Sentence Game (found below).

Print out one printable per week or every few days (depending on the speed of your child and your time) and focus on those words. Once they have been highlighted move on to two more words but don’t forget to review the previous words by keeping them all in an envelope and using them as flash cards.

NOTE: You do not have to do them in my order nor do you have to do two at one time. You can follow the order of your child’s class or choose the words based on your child’s abilities. There are many other words that can be added as well, so feel free to make your own cards.

You can find longer lists of Sight Words (also called High Frequency Words or Dolch Words) by searching on line. Here are two such websites:

http://www.kidzone.ws/dolch/kindergarten.htm

http://www.highfrequencywords.org/

Here are my Sight Word Worksheets:

Set 1: I/a Set 13: for/am Set 25: play/where Set 37: seven/eight

Set 2: it/is Set 14: see/at Set 26: come/what Set 38: nine/ten

Set 3: the/to Set 15: an/so Set 27: into/until Set 39: red/orange

Set 4: he/she Set 16: his/her Set 28: could/would Set 40: yellow/green

Set 5: you/are Set 17: look/jump Set 29: then/had Set 41: blue/purple

Set 6: and/that Set 18: have/can Set 30: right/with Set 42: brown/black

Set 7: on/of Set 19: like/said Set 31: about/your Set 43: grey/white

Set 8: was/in Set 20: off/they Set 32: who/why Flash Card Template

Set 9: do/we Set 21: here/there Set 33: through/around

Set 10: me/my Set 22: if/be Set 34: one/two

Set 11: yes/no Set 23: from/some Set 35: three/four

Set 12: go/has Set 24: when/this Set 36: five/six

NOTE: Use the Flash Card Template to create additional Sight Word Flash cards for your child. You could include words they are learning in school, words found in easy reader books.

CRAFT ACTIVITIES:

NOTE: You can do each of the following crafts (or whichever ones you choose) for each set of Sight Words (See Sets Above) or to review certain words.

PLAY DOUGH OR CLAY WORDS:

Materials: Play dough or modeling clay from a store (or homemade dough)

Step 1: Help your child roll out small pieces of the clay or dough to twist and create the letters needed to spell each Sight Word.

MAGAZINE WORDS:

Materials: Old Magazines that can be cut up, coloured paper, child safe scissors, glue stick, a damp cloth for sticky fingers.

Step 1: Together with your child search for sight words in magazines.

Step 2: Help your child to cut them out.

Step 2: Have your child glue them to a piece of coloured paper.

VARIATION: You could cut out letters from old magazines and then work together to spell the words. Your child can use the Flashcards to help him/her out.

STICKER WORDS:

Materials: Various alphabet stickers and coloured paper.

Step 1: Help your child spell the various Sight Words using stickers. You can use your Flashcards to help him/her out.

STAMP WORDS:

Materials: Stamps with the letters of the alphabet on them, white paper.

Step 1: Help your child spell the various Sight Words using alphabet stamps. You can use your Flashcards to help him/her out.

FOOD:

SNACK:

Pretzel Sight Words:

Alphabet Shaped Pretzels: These might be hard to find at your local grocery store but if you can find them, they are perfect for reviewing Sight Words. Nothing like playing with your food!

Use regular pretzels and have your child form them into the appropriate letters!

Chocolate Chip or Raisin Sight Words:

Give your child a bowl of chocolate chips or raisins (or other dried fruit) or nuts and encourage them to spell out a Sight Word before eating it!

Yogurt Sight Words:

Put some of your child’s favourite flavour of yogurt into a bowl and then hand over a small tube of gel icing (perfect for writing on cakes). Or to test your child you can write the words yourself and have him/her read the word out loud before digging in.

LUNCH:

Is it just my boys or does a bowl of Alphabet Soup encourage your kids to dip their fingers in their soup to spell their names? For some Sight Word fun encourage this behaviour to help them remember the Sight Words.

DINNER:

Not always easy to find (I couldn’t find any to snap some photos at this time) but if you can find some Letter Shaped Pasta I am betting it will have the same effect on your kids as Alphabet Soup!

DESSERT:

Sight Word Cookies – Make your favourite Sugar cookies and use circle cookie cutters. Decorate by using those little tubes of icing and spell out those sight words. Of course, in order to eat each cookie have your child read the word!

Sight Word Cupcakes – Make your favourite cupcake recipe and decorate with plain butter cream on top and them use those little tubes of icing to spell out the sight words. Now have your child read the cup-cakes! Delicious!

Alphabet Cookies—Make some alphabet cookies using your favourite sugar cookie recipe and using alphabet cookie cutters, decorate them brightly and then encourage your child to spell out a Sight Word before enjoying with a glass of milk! For a Photo of this treat check out our Family Theme Day Facebook Page and the “More Goodies Photo Album.”

FOR FUN:

GAMES:

SIGHT WORD HOPSCOTCH:

Instead of numbers write Sight Words in a Hopscotch grid.

SIGHT WORD MINI SOCCER:

We did this for each set of Sight Word Printables (above). I collected plastic lids from juice bottles and either wrote on them with black permanent marker or painted with white paint the Sight Words. I would then lay them on the table and have my son read each word before he had to “kick” (flick it with his finger to make it slide) the lid into the goal. We made the goal using half of a plastic cherry tomato container. I kept all the lids in a big re-sealable bag so he could review them often.

ONLINE GAME:

Here is a link to an online matching flash card game that uses basic Sight Words: http://www.starfall.com/n/matching/sight-words/play.htm?f

EXTENDED ACTIVITIES:

SIGHT WORD FLASH CARD REVIEW:

Don’t forget to review the Sight Words from time to time using the flash cards your child made from the Learning Activity Worksheets above.

SIGHT WORD TALLY SHEET:

Have your child read to you from an early reader book (see below for suggestions). Once the book is finished print out a copy of my Sight Word Tally Worksheet and go through each page (usually these books are quite short) and have your child see which sight words they encountered. Every time your child finds a word he can check it or make a tally mark on the appropriate spot on the sheet. I also made a Blank Tally Sheet so you can write your own Words in as well.

RHYMING:

Another great early reading activity is to review Rhyming Words.

Check back soon for a Rhyming Worksheet!

WATCH FOR WACKY “H”:

Every notice that the letter “h” makes English words complicated sometimes. Think “Sh” “Ch” Th” “Wh.” One great pre-reading workbook we found called Anchors and Sails: A Reading Program for Beginners, by Bev Jaremko, Trafford Publishing, 2004) called “h” “Crazy H!” For the sake of copyright I am using the phrase “Wacky H”.

Check back soon for a “Wacky H” Worksheet!

READING CHART:

NOTE: To encourage your new reader to read why not print out a copy of our Reading Chart from out Family Literacy Theme Day. After each book have your child colour in a square. Once your child has reached the end of the chart surprise him/her with a small prize (my little guy loved getting those small affordable LEGO sets as prizes).

BOOKS AND AUDIO VISUAL:

Raid your child’s bookshelves to find any beginner reader books you may have.

Go to the library with your child to find some beginner reader books together. Sometimes kids are more eager to read if they get to pick out the book themselves. Be sure to open the book to check the level of text.

Go to the library on your own to find beginner reader books to have continually on hand for your child to read and practice each day.

There are a number of great beginner Reader series out there. I really like the Green Light Readers Books because they use simple words and usually have a supplementary craft or questions at the end of the book. Here are a few titles from that series:

· Big Brown Bear, by David McPhail, Green Light Readers, Harcourt , Inc., 1999—Bear tries to paint a tree house but little bear makes that difficult.

· Rabbit and Turtle Go to School, by Lucy Floyd and illustrated by Christopher Denise, Green Light Readers, Harcourt, Inc., 2000—Rabbit and Turtle race to school, rabbit on foot and Turtle on the bus. Who will win?

· Sometimes, by Keith baker, Green light Readers, Harcourt, Inc., 1999—A crocodile talks about how he feels differently at different times but ultimately he likes who he is and what he does!

Here are a few other series of beginner reader books:

· I Can Read! Phonics from Harper Collins Publishers www.icanread.com

· Ready-To-Read from Simon Spotlight (usually features Nick Jr characters) www.SimonSaysKids.com

· Step Into Reading from Random House www.stepintoreading.com

AUDIO VISUAL:

Search through your child’s DVD/ video collection (or visit your local library before hand or the Video Store) to find your child’s favourite shows that encourage reading.

For young children try these titles:

Super Why—Wyatt is a story book character who is secretly a superhero who, along with his friends, can spell and read and help others!

Word Girl—While this one does not focus on early reading like Super Why, it does build vocabulary (and it’s really funny!).