Today I wanted to share some activities/games you can do with your class using sight word flash cards.
You can click here to get yourself a set of sight word flash cards. This set includes the first 100 sight words and comes in color or black & white versions.
I've decided to focus on activities all about sight words ( or tricky words). We have been working on these a lot in my class lately and I wanted to share some of the activities my class seem to enjoy.
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Word recognition
Lay your sight word flash cards out, face up on a flat surface. Ask your students to find a certain sight word. They can use a fly swatter to SPLAT it to make it more fun!
Matching
Make 2 sets of sight word flash cards. You can play matching games such as Snap. Or, lay out both sets of cards face down and children take it in turns to turn over two cards trying to find a matching pair.
Writing Sight Words
You or the children can choose a sight word flash card. Using pencil & paper, whiteboards or even loose parts practise writing out the sight word correctly. To make it more challenging, children can choose a word card then turn it over and try and write it out correctly without peeking!
Sight Word Sort
Print out or make 3 or 4 copies of your sight word flash cards. Then clip or tape your one of your chosen sight words to plastic cups or tubs. Ask the children to sort the remaining flash cards into the correct cup. You can also ask the children to sort the word cards into groups with similar spellings. For example: put together all the words with the same ending, he, she, me etc.
Listen out for
Display the sight word flash cards that you are currently working on with your children somewhere in your classroom. Then while reading a story ask the children to listen out for these certain sight words. If they hear the sight words during the story, ask the children to give you a thumbs up and then you can stop to discuss what sight words they have heard.
Sight Word Spotter
Give each child a sight word flash card. Ask them to look or read through a story and try and spot their sight word in the text. They could even record how many times they have spotted their word and practise their data handling skills too! To make this more challenging you could give children more than one word to search for.
Say, Make, Write
Ask children to choose a sight word flash card. Children can then say the word out loud. Then, they can use different materials such as magnetic letters, loose parts, dough etc to make the word. Lastly, they can write the word on paper or a whiteboard. There are plenty of Say, Make, Write mats available to download online or you could even make your own!
Bang!
Print out or make a couple of sets of sight word flash cards. Then, make a few extra cards with the word "BANG!" written on them. Lay all the flash cards out face down. Ask children to take it in turns to choose a card. If they can read the sight word they can keep it. But, if they turn over a BANG! card they have to return all their cards!
There are so many more activities you can do with your students using sight word flash cards! These are just a few examples for you to try out.
You can easily create your own flash cards just using some card and a pen or if you would prefer to print out a set my Pastel Sight Word Flash Cards are available here!