Sight Word Flashcards and Chains

Now, if you had read any previous posts (all those months ago), I had been very nervous to start teaching Kindergarten. Fortunately, since I found out in June that I would be teaching it, I was able to prepare for most of the summer. My intention was to do something for Kidnergarten each day. I wasn't that successful, but I did do a lot. One of the DIY projects that I did were sight word flashcards with paint samples. I made all of the Reading Street words at that time.

When I started out with my kids back in August/September, I introduced the first six all together (I, am, the, little, a, to) and displayed them in a pocket chart by our morning meeting so the kids could see it during this time. We would go through it, I would have them fill in words in our message, etc.

I tested them on them before Reading Street had even introduced the last two. I had a few students get them all. So, to make sure I challenged her (and in turn all the other students), I grabbed at some random others from the year that we were using in our morning message and were seeing in stories. I eventually made more cards to cover pre-primer and primer dolch and a lot of the fry words. At this point in the year, I have seventy-two cards displayed and a number of kids with all of them.

Now, the kids are eager to learn and they love the flashcards. For playtime, I often have kids ask for the sightwords to go through. Some ask for the new words that I haven't even introduced yet. In fact, I need to add more words for some of my higher readers. The kids also use the flashcards in writing. When they are writing a story and get to a word that has been introduced they will go over to the charts and take the word out, bring it to their spot, write the word, and bring it back. This allows me to direct them over to the chart instead of spell words out for them. It also helps them practice reading them more! I do allow kids to ask others for help when finding the words. Most get their own though.

Displaying their success, I started paper chains in the hallway to show the words they get correct. Each time I add words, they get tested on all the words to date. Occasionally students lose a word, but it isn't all too often and they usually get it back again quickly. My students, fellow staff, and I have loved watching their chains grow!

Back in September!

Around Thanksgiving

And a few weeks ago!

At this point, I now need to figure out how I can keep going. Students have numbers, colors, and some other sight words that they have had since the red group. But, I haven't been able to add them cause I don't know what to do with the new words! If you have any ideas, let me know!

I just wanted to share what I do in my class. The kids love it and it has been great seeing how they have learned their sight-words and applied it so well with reading and writing!

Kindergarten, Oh My!

I have recently been assigned to teach Kindergarten next year. I'm a big mix of nervous and excited. I'm hoping this will encourage me to create even more engaging activities and remain positive. I'm excited to bring music into the classroom and center activities. Both of these things were lacking dramatically in my class last year.

Since the assignment, I have been searching relentlessly through other Kindergarten, early childhood, and homeschool blogs, pinterests, tpt, etc. It's amazing how many resources are out there for these young learners. I'd say there are much more for younger students than for older students. How neat!

I've created a few things DYI and with my Cricut. I plan to make a "Rotten Apple" game for sight words with my circut and then laminate. I've gotten other sight word ideas from around the web and made these paint chip sight word cards based on one that I loved!

If you want the list of Reading Street vocabulary words that I used you can get it here on googledocs.

My intention is to make one thing a day for Kindergarten until the first day of school. With that in mind, hopefully I won't be nearly as stressed when I get the kiddos the first day. If they're digital (and worth it) I'll post them on here to share!

For today, I made some number cards through 30. I'm familiarizing myself with these new standards to ensure my students know what the need to know and more by the end of the year. At this point, here is just till 30. I hope my students can locate, name, and represent up to 100. But, this could be a stretch. We'll see when I get them!

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