Strategies for Teaching Sight Words

There are many strategies for teaching sight words, so if your child is struggling it is importing to try and use a combination of several because what words for one child may not work for all. However, the key for all young readers is repetition.

I have outlined below five techniques to introduce new words that combine many repetitions of the word (seeing, hearing, speaking, spelling and writing it) with physical movements that focus the child’s attention.

Hold up a flash card for the word, and go through all five techniques, in order.

  1. See and Say – child sees the word on the flash card and says the word.
  2. Spell Reading – child says the word and spells out the letters, then reads the word again.
  3. Arm Tapping – child says the word and then spells out the letters while tapping them on their arm, then reads the word again.
  4. Air Writing – child writes the letters in the air in front of the flash card.
  5. Table Writing – child writes the letters on a table, first looking at and then not looking at the flash card.

You can make flash cards using index cards or you can access these lists to print and make flash cards on the download page of our class website.

Once children have had the opportunity to study new sight words, games are a fun, hands on way to help strengthen their retention. You will find a document with ideas for games to create at home. It is also important to review and reinforce old words.

Sight word recognition in isolation should transfer to reading sight words in texts. This practice will help your child make the connection between sight words and their meaning. Find texts with several of the sight words your child is practicing. Read a sentence to your child, then have him/her highlight, circle or point to each sight word read. Write sentences and have your child circle the sight words.

Remember learning to read can be challenging for some children and, particularly in the early days, sight word acquisition may be slow going. At this early stage children are learning how to learn the words and should be given many opportunities to practice their words multiple times.