How to Teach Kindergarteners All of Their Sight Words

Kindergarteners are expected to learn 50 sight words in my school district. They come into school at the beginning of the year, and many of them do not speak English, do not know any letters or sounds, and need social and emotional support and modeling. The idea of teaching these kiddos 50 sight words can truly be overwhelming!

I have found a way to teach sight words that helps students memorize the words and understand them! Students can also work on reading, writing, speaking and listening during sight word instruction. English language learners really learn the language when they are able to practice using the words in sentences.

We use Heidi Songs at my school, which is a fun way to initially introduce the sight words using songs and movement. The students really respond to this and look forward to learning new words. Every time my students are writing the word "the", they sing the sight word song. It is so cute! :)

After the students are introduced to the word, we create a chart together with example sentences. I model a sentence for the students, and then let students think of their own sentences and share their sentences with a partner or small group.

I listen in on their sentences, and I choose students to share their sentences. I write their sentences on a chart, and I highlight the sight word.
Here is an example of our poster when we worked on the sight word "look".

After we make the chart together, the students work in sight word centers. I work with a group, I have a group on the computers, and a group working on our sight word word work. I work with a small group of about 5-7 on writing their own sentences using the sight word. 

The students practice writing the word, and then they write their own sentence and illustrate it. We write on our sight word worksheets. They can be found for Fry's first 50 and Fry's first 100 words as well as pre-primer & primer words, and 1st and 2nd grade words.
Here are some wonderful examples from when we learned the sight word "go"!

Using this strategy has really helped my students grow in their reading, writing,  sight word memorization, and confidence! I hope it helps your students, too. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

3 Read Protocol: How to Make Math Meaningful for Students

What is the 3 Read strategy and why should you use it?

The 3 read protocol is a close read of a word problem. It gives students a chance to analyze what is happening in a word problem without feeling the immediate need to find the answer.

This strategy is extremely helpful for English language learners because of all the visuals and the focus on the actions and vocabulary in word problems. It is beneficial for ALL students in helping them solve math problems.

The 3 read protocol is engaging for students and requires them to think critically and ask questions. It can also be easily differentiated for all students.

How do you use the 3 Read strategy?

As the name implies, this strategy requires the the teacher and students to read the word story 3 times. Each read has a different goal or focus question.

The procedure starts with the story and 3 empty boxes. See example below:

Read #1 –The teacher reads the story aloud.

The goal of this read is for the students to think about the question: What is the story about?

Students turn and talk with a partner after each read. For the first read, I provide them the sentence frames:

The story is about ________________.

The characters are _______________.

The setting is ___________________.

Students share what the story is about, and the teacher can write a short summary of the problem in the first box and/or place the photo and word cards in the first box. The word cards and pictures should include the characters, the setting, and any objects or living things mentioned in the story. New vocabulary or verbs can be taught during this time as well. This is very helpful for ELLs in understanding a story.

After the 1st read, the chart paper should look something like this:

Read #2 –The teacher reads the story a second time (the students can read along too).

For this read, the focus question is: What are the numbers in the story?

After the 2nd read, the students turn and talk.

I provide the sentence frame:

The numbers are _____ and ______.

The students share the numbers, and the teacher posts the numbers in the 2nd box along with visuals representing the numbers. You can quickly draw the quantities or tape pictures of the quantities next to the number cards.

After the 2nd read, complete the “what are the numbers?” column of the chart.

Read #3-The teacher and students read the story for a third time.

The 3rd read, the focus question is:

What do you wonder about the story?

After the 3rd read, the students turn and talk.

I provide the sentence frames:

How many ___________?

How many more/less does ________ have than  ________?

Who ___________?  

What _______________?

-Creating a question is very challenging for students, especially in kindergarten. 

-It will take about 4-5 times using the 3 read protocol before students will start to create their own questions.

-The first 1-3 times, students will probably give you facts about the story, and you can help them change those into questions. 

-Write down all questions students give you in the 3rd box. 

In the beginning, students will ask questions that cannot be answered by the story, such as what color are the houses? Write all questions on the chart, but point out that the story cannot help us answer that question. Student questions will become more focused and complex as they learn the procedure.

After questions are created, write them down in the third column of the chart paper.

You can pick 1 or more question(s) to focus on and answer after the 3rd step. This can be a question that a student created, or a questions you created prior to the lesson. At the beginning of kindergarten, I have the students start by solving a problem in pairs using manipulates. Students will come up with the answer to the question with their partners, and then different pairs will share their thinking. 

After a couple months of solving problems this way, I have my kindergarteners use whiteboards (and manipulatives if they want them) to show their thinking. Students solve the problem on their own and then share their different strategies on the document camera. Here are some examples of a problem we did a couple weeks ago in December.

Here are two examples of students answering the question, "How many gingerbread men did they decorate in all?"

All students showed their work on whiteboards, and then I picked about 2-3 different strategies to have students share their work with their classmates on the document camera. This is an important way for students to realize that there are many different ways to solve problems and different strategies. It is also a good opportunity for students to practice explaining their thinking.

After students feel comfortable showing their work on whiteboards, I introduce them to my 3 read graphic organizer. They can use the strategies on the organizers available and practice showing their thinking in many different ways.

Students can use this to follow along as the  3 reads procedure is completed together as a class. Students can talk to a partner after each read, and then write down what they spoke about in each column. 

Students in kindergarten can use this to show their work and solve the word problem. This will challenge them to show their work in many ways (pictures, number line, ten frame, etc.).

In kindergarten, I usually will write or type the question I want the students to solve at the top before I make the copies. Otherwise, students can take up to 10 minutes copying the question on their own (which is not the purpose of this activity).

Here is a graphic organizer for 1st graders to use with a number line to 20 and two ten frames.

Creating questions is how you can differentiate the word problems to meet a variety of student needs. My 3 Read resources can be for kindergarteners or 1st graders, depending on which questions you and your students create.

In the beginning of kindergarten, just getting students to ask any question will be an objective all on its own. 

You can help students ask such as:

How many gingerbread men did Samuel decorate on Saturday?

How many stockings did Julio have?

When students are able to ask and answer those types of questions, you can progress to more difficult questions such as:

How many gingerbread men did they have altogether?

How many gingerbread men would they have if Sam ate 3 of them?

First grade might progress from addition and subtraction questions to comparing questions such as: How many more candy canes did Jane have than Samantha?

I hope you enjoyed reading about how to use 3 reads in your classroom! Please email me at inspiringlittlelearners@gmail.com if you have any questions or would like more details about anything.

If you are interested in my 3 read resources, please visit my Teachers Pay Teachers site at Inspiring Little Learners. I have 3 read resources for 10 months out of the year or a bundle of the 10 months together.

3 Read Resources

Thank you for reading :)