Multisensory Sight Words

A week or so ago I posted about making up a sight words barn game to help Eve to learn sight words in a fun way. Well by Thursday I could tell that it was losing it's appeal for her and she was showing signs of frustration about learning them again. Luckily I had ordered Success with Sight Words by Sara Throop. It has loads of fun, easy to set up, multi sensory games and ideas for learning sight words. I was excited even reading through the book as I saw a new way to put fun into something that Eve finds tedious and frustrating, anything to lighten the experience for both of us is great in my book!!

Today we made sight word biscuits! I chose to just review the words that Eve has already mastered. Whilst I rolled out the batch of dough, Eve pulled out magnetic letters to spell the sight words, some remembered and some prompted by me. I was impressed that she could spell them as so far we have concentrated on reading and recognising them and not looked at the spelling aspect. Eve then pressed the letters into the biscuit rounds and they were baked. To get a biscuit to eat, Eve had to tell me what the word said! Without even realising it Eve had read and spelled the sight words three times - once with the magnetic letters, once as she pressed them into the dough and then as we pulled them out of the oven. Brilliant! Faith also joined in with this but stamped letters that she knew into smaller biscuit rounds and she had two to eat after telling me the letters!

we are also working through '100 Sight Word Mini Books' by Lisa and Jay Cestnik which has as you may have guessed, has 100 mini books to be photocopied and folded then completed. Eve was very taken with Faith's alphabet mini books and providing some for Eve too has proved a big hit! They include a short poem with spaces to complete the sight word and a tiny word search on the back to find the word as many times as you can. The other useful aspect to the book is that it outlines a pathway through the sight words as later mini books build on the sight words that have come before it. I had been trawling through Eve's reading books to list what words she needed to know but as I am at present giving her the freedom to choose them herself this plan isn't working anymore. Plus I love a bit of organisation and a plan so this suits me too!!

I have plenty more fun ideas up my sleeve and will post as we try them out!! Hope I'm not boring you all silly with this sight word craze but it's where we are at right now and I try to follow the girl's needs!