Using Word Cards to Learn to Read

I think that Sight reading is a great way to help our kids learn to read.   We probably mix sight words with phonics, mixed with several longs days of play outside where we never touch our “school stuff” – I love Spring.   But if you live in one of those parts of the country where the weather is constantly changing, you’ll still have several inside days before spring is here in full force!   It is pretty cold out this morning, time to get those word cards out.   Thanks Erudition for inspiring this post! .

How we used word cards to start learning words?

We take the word cards and work in small batches of say 4-5 cards.   The kids hold the words up and I’ll read the word to them, then we switch and I get to hold the words and they read them.   Then we mix the cards up and practice again.   We add another 4-5 cards and add them to our mix of words. . After we had about 15 cards in our stack we began laying the cards on the table face up.   I would say the word and the kids would race to see if they could find it.   Or I would ask one of my preschoolers if they could find the word and if they couldn’t the other kiddo would get a chance.   They loved helping each other.   If they guessed the wrong word I told them what it was and they got another chance (or 3) to find the right word. . If you have more than one set of cards you can play memory with the words.   Can they find the matching words?   This might be a good way for early readers to work on more complicated words as they aren’t being asked to “read” the word, just to match identical words.   Most sight words are not ones that correlate easily to pictures.   Words that are good for kids to learn to read by sight and not phonetically are words like: the, and, is are, they, etc.   However, if you want to branch out into more complicated words.   You can play the matching game where you have an image (say a scrap of yellow paper) and the word “yellow” and have your kids “match” them. . Practice creating sentences.   Pick up a word and ask your child to say something using that word.   Give them a few ideas if they get stuck.   Once you have learned a couple dozen words, try arranging the cards into sentences and having your child read the cards. . Letter clothespins.   I can’t remember where I first saw this but you can have your children learn to sort the words by the letter they begin with or by a letter/sound inside the word.   Ex: Let’s find all the words that begin with “B”, or let’s find all the words that have a “Z” in them.   My son especially enjoyed the hands on interaction of clipping the words into his “letter clothespin”. . Here is a list of over 100 of the most commonly used words.   You can make the cards yourself using three by five cards, or you can do what we did and use the cards that are included in the sight word game Erudition.   The game comes with nearly 300 words and will keep us busy learning and playing for quite some time! .

List of 100 Most Common Site Words:

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The First Hundred
the of and a to in is you that it he was for on are as with his they I	at be this have from or one had by word but not what all were we when your can said	there use an each which she do how their if will up other about out many then them these so	some her would make like him into time has look two more write go see number no way could people	my than first water been call who oil its now find long down day did get come made may part

**List was taken From: The Reading Teachers Book of Lists, Third Edition; by Edward Bernard Fry, Ph.D, Jacqueline E. Kress, Ed.D & Dona Lee Fountoukidis, Ed.D. Found on site: Education Watch . .