Hear it, Spell it, See it!

This is an activity to help children develop visual recognition of basic sight word vocabulary at the kindergarten level. The words covered are: I, am, can, like, it, and is. This is a simple, quick activity that adds a new dimension to sight word building with the help of the computer.

A lesson plan for grade 1 English Language Arts

By Vickie Hedrick

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Learning outcomes

Students will learn basic sight words and be able to use them in their oral and written work.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1.5 hours

Materials/resources

Paper (writing journal or computer) and pencil for final assignment.

Technology resources

Teacher will need computer and PowerPoint or similar presentation software. If possible, use a display device for whole-class viewing (this is not necessary; presentation can be on computer).

Pre-activities

Students will need to know the concepts word and sentence. They should know some letters and their sounds. They should have begun writing with inventive spelling.

Activities

(These instructions will work with all three Powerpoint presentations that are provided. The teacher may choose one of the three Powerpoint lessons depending upon the words being introduced to the class.)

Day 1:
Teacher will introduce sight words to students using the provided PowerPoint presentation (Presentation 1: I like, 2: It is a, or 3: I am a, depending upon the words you want to introduce) that reads words to the student (as you click each word pops up one at a time). Students will say the name of the object on each slide (it is not read). Students enjoy the pop up words and teacher may choose to use the presentation two or three times as interest allows. After presentation, teacher will add these words to the word wall; chanting and clapping each word with students. After introducing the word I, teacher will discuss nouns (naming words) and brainstorm other naming words.

Day 2:
Teacher will review sight words using powerpoint presentation (Presentation 1: I Like, 2: It is a, or 3: I am a) without sound allowing children to read each word as it pops up. Again repeat as interest allows. Students will then chant and clap word wall words with teacher. To review nouns students can list as teacher writes on board.

Day 3:
Students will use words to write in their journal either trying to write a sentence used on the PowerPoint presentation or writing a new sentence using their own ideas. Teacher should list several nouns on the board that students may choose to use in their writing. If time allows or computers are available the students can write using a word processing program.

Assessment

Teacher will assess students knowledge of words through the creative writing activity. Teacher will watch to see if students spell the words correctly, use them properly in a sentence, and use a capital letter for the word I.

Supplemental information

This activity takes three 30 minute sessions on consecutive days.

Related websites

http://www.theschoolbell.com/Links/Dolch/Dolch.html
Dolch Word Lists: This is a list of the 220 most frequently found words in books that children read. Lists provided for first and second grade.

http://www14.brinkster.com/readwrite/sightwords2.htm
Sight Words: This sight provides sight words for first through fourth grades.

http://www.createdbyteachers.com/sightfreemain.html
Sight Words: This site has various free materials for the Dolch sight words. Lists provided for preprimer through the third grade.

http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/485.html
Sight Words: This site has activities to reinforce and teach sight words.

http://www.gate.net/~labooks/xLPDolch.html
Dolch Word Search: This site has puzzles and other activities plus excerpts from Dolch Sight Word Books.

Comments

I found this to be very helpful for students who are having a hard time understanding and seeing where one word begins and ends. It helps them to identify the new sight word in context rather than just learning it without any meaning. These words are usually very abstract and this activity helps to make them more concrete. This idea could work for any words so just hook up the powerpoint and build a word library!