Are you looking for a fun way to practice sight words, letter formation or spelling words? This sprinkle tray will make sight word practice fun!
Practicing sight words is one of the most important parts of a literacy curriculum. Your teacher has undoubtedly asked you to practice sight words if you have a child in kindergarten, first or second grade.
What are Sight Words?
But first, what are sight words? Sight words are frequently used (and often very short) words that we read all the time. They are high frequency words that we want children to have memorized, because they occur so often in text.
They include words like ‘the’, ‘like’, ‘it’ etc.
As your child progresses through the grade levels, the list of sight words your child will be expected to read will expand.
How to Practice Sight Words
Using flash cards has been the traditional way to practice sight words. However, flash cards uses only one of the senses. It works well for visual learners, but there are other ways to make sure sight words really stick.
I often recommend that parents and teachers incorporate a verbal and tactile task, along with a visual task, when practicing sight words. Allowing students to use three of their five senses when practicing sight words will make them ‘stick’ in a child’s brain much more easily!
This sprinkle activity will uses sight, hearing, and touch while practicing sight words. It’s perfect for auditory and tactile learners, in addition to visual learners.
Materials:
- tray
- sprinkles
- index cards
Instructions:
- Spread sprinkles on a tray.
- Print sight words on cue cards.
- Have your child use their finger to print the sight word on the tray.
Adaptations:
If your child is just learning to write their letters, they can practice writing single letters instead of sight words.
If your child has mastered all their sight words, practice spelling other words. These could be your assigned spelling words, or interest-based words (e.g. a child who loves horses could practice words like saddle, gallop, etc.).
I hope this fun idea to practice sight words helps your little one enjoy their sight word practice!
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