Sight Word Games for Kindergarten
Sight word games and activities are a wonderful way to get emergent readers excited about learning. Because there are so many ideas for how to do this, knowing where to start can be overwhelming. To help you get started, I’ve narrowed it down to a few of my tried and true favorites.
Sight Word Games for Kinder, 1st Grade and 2nd Grade
- Matching Sight Word Activity - Students will match individual letters written on a clothespin to a notecard with the same letter to practice spelling words. This search-and-match activity helps students practice spelling while reinforcing sound patterns as they spell the word. It also helps develop letter-to-word correspondence as we want our students to speak. Click for here more detailed directions on this activity.
- Use Magnets to Spell Words - Using magnets to spell words is another matching activity that builds students’ reading skills and fine motor skills. Grabbing and picking up the magnets is especially good for younger learners because they love to touch and move things around. There are many ways to utilize magnets for sight word practice. For an easy and fun example, click here.
- Rainbow Words - Rainbow words is a calm activity that requires very few materials and is easy to implement. Students write a set of words repeatedly for practice. Each time the students write the set of words, they write them in a new color. This helps students to practice writing and spelling the words while also creating a beautiful rainbow as they write. For a more detailed explanation of rainbow writing click here.
- Shaving Cream for Sight Words - Using shaving cream for sight word practice is a fun (and messy!) activity that students love both at home and at school. To get started, spread shaving cream on a desk or table and then encourage students to use their fingers to write or reveal sight words. As an added bonus, your classroom or kitchen will smell lovely! There are several ways to implement this activity, which allows you to adjust the activity to suit your objective. Click here for information on one of the ways you could implement with your students.
- Sensory Bins for Sight Words - Sensory Bins have become increasingly popular both in and out of the classroom. Children love them, and adding letters to the bin automatically makes it educational. The experience of exploring a sensory bin helps students build thought bridges in their minds as they work on associating certain words to certain themes inside the sensory bin. Because the concept of sensory bins is rooted in creativity, parents and teachers are free to include whatever items they have on hand and/or will suit the learning objective.
- Workbooks with Sight Word Games - Workbooks with sight word games can be used in the classroom, but they are also a great way for parents to practice sight words at home with their children. Workbooks give students the opportunity to practice recognizing and writing sight words, through activities like tracing and flashcards. In addition, some workbooks include a variety of games to make practicing fun and engaging such as word searches, crossword puzzles, and roll-look-read. Click here for an example of Sight Word Workbook geared towards kindergarteners.
Sight word games give learners the opportunity to practice and build confidence with recognizing, reading and spelling words in an fun and engaging way. There are so many options for sight word games that can be played at school and at home. Because most require very little in terms of materials, it’s easy to get started. The only difficult part is choosing which game to play first! If you’re still undecided where to start, Bingo is always a hit! Click here for a great Bingo resource:
Using and Designing the Engineering Process in Elementary School
The engineering process can help students learn concepts and apply those concepts to real world problems. While often just used in structured programs and on field trips, this framework can easily be applied to the classroom with project based learning to engage learners and enhance students' learning. Some examples of engineering classroom projects include a hydroponic plant system that solves the problem of food scarcity, a simple egg drop, or the creation of a website to solve a consumer problem.
The engineering process features six key stages: empathize, ideate, define, prototype, test, and reflect. This process enriches students' learning by applying concepts students learn in the classroom to a real world problem.
EMPATHIZE
In this stage, students ask a question to solve a problem. Teachers can design problems for any subject area or topic, and these problems can be based in the classroom (theoretical) or in the real world.
Engineering Design Process Activity
IDEATE
Students love this stage as they get to generate as many ideas as possible. In this phase nothing should be off limits, you never know when you might be close to a breakthrough. Getting lots of ideas is crucial to have this stage be worthy of spending time on. This phase could take the form of a classroom discussion or small group breakouts where students brainstorm ways to solve the problem and share back to the class.
DEFINE
Students will then need to plan how they will accomplish their goal to solve the problem introduced. Strong teachers know guiding students through this part of learning can be difficult because students are far from the deadline and have a lot of ideas that they believe can be successful. One way to help students accomplish a plan is to build a graphic organizer for them to fill in. A graphic organizer can help students stay on task and focused on the plan while they work to solve the problem.
PROTOTYPE
In this stage, students have created a plan and collected materials. During this stage, students will build a prototype. This prototype will undergo tests and students will see if their intangible idea can come to life. This phase helps students develop skills that go beyond the classroom as they begin to understand how to logically and efficiently bring an idea to life. Students will use all kinds of ideas and structures to create their prototypes. Students should feel confident to try new things.
TEST
Students will have to decide if their project turned out well or if there needs to be changes made to the prototype. They will make changes to fix a failed prototype, to create a more successful prototype, or to decide that the project is no longer worth exploring.
REFLECT
During this project, the students could decide to improve the prototype they have or to create a brand new idea. Students enjoy the agency of being able to make decisions as they engage in their own learning and take the knowledge gained in the process and apply it to a new project or to a revision of their original prototype.
When incorporating the design engineering process with your students, it’s helpful to have printables for them to record relevant information as they work through the steps. Click here for the Design Thinking Lesson Plans. This resource provides many options, so that you can print the one that best fits what you’re asking your students to do.
Engineering Design Process Activity