Examples of Sight Words for Kindergarten
Learning sight words is a necessary component in a child’s reading development. It helps them build their vocabulary and pronunciation, refine their writing skills, improve their confidence in reading comprehension, and become better communicators. That is why by the time they are in kindergarten, children should recognize sight words. But, how do you do that? In this article, I’ll give you examples of sight words for Kindergarteners and strategies to teach these words.
Examples of Sight Words for Kindergarten
There are 52 sight words for kindergarten. They are:
- all
- am
- are
- at
- ate
- be
- black
- brown
- but
- came
- did
- do
- eat
- four
- get
- good
- have
- he
- into
- like
- must
- new
- no
- now
- on
- our
- out
- please
- pretty
- ran
- ride
- saw
- say
- she
- so
- soon
- that
- there
- they
- this
- too
- under
- want
- was
- well
- went
- what
- white
- who
- will
- with
- yes
Strategies to Teach Sight Words to Kindergarten
There are many strategies to teach sight words in kindergarten. Here are some methods I tried as a teacher that work well:
Teach Sight Words by Batch and by Category
It’s too much for a kindergarten student to memorize 52 sight words. Hence, it is easier and more effective to organize the words by category and teach them by batch. Your school may have a list of categories, so you should follow that. If these categories don’t work, try categorizing the sight words based on their frequency and length. Furthermore, teach these words by a batch of not more than three.
Examples of Sight Words for Kindergarten Organized by Frequency
List 1
he, was, that, she, on, they, but, at, with, all
List 2
here, out, be, have, am, do, did, what, so, get, like
List 3
this, will, yes, went, are, now, no, came, ride, into
List 4
good, want, too, pretty, four, saw, well, ran, brown, eat, who
List 5
new, must, black, white, soon, our, ate, say, under, please
Examples of Sight Words for Kindergarten Organized by Length
List 1
am, at, be, do, on, no, he, so
List 2
All, are, ate, but, did, eat, get, new, now, our, out, ran, saw, say, she, too, who, yes
List 3
Came, four, have, into, like, must, ride, soon, that, they, this, want, will, went, what
List 4
Black, brown, please, pretty, there, under, white
Let Kindergarteners Use Their Hands to Learn Sight Words
Develop your child’s kinesthetic learning skills by letting him learn sight words using his hands and motor skills. This learning style stimulates the child’s brain and helps in absorbing information better. Below are some examples of hands-on activities you can use to teach sight words to your kindergartener. Just a tip though; before starting the activity, explicitly explain the mechanics or make a trial to show them how to do it.
Sight Words Castle
This hands-on activity to learn sight words uses sand and sandcastle molds. The mechanics are simple:
- Let your child make a sandcastle.
- In the sandcastle, write one sight word and let the child read and memorize it. Once he can recognize the sight word for three consecutive rows, he can destroy the sandcastle and make a new one.
- Repeat with a new sight word.
Play-Doh Sight Words
Another hands-on activity you can use to teach sight words to your kindergarten child is the Play-Doh Sight Words. To do it:
- On a piece of paper, write down some sight words and read them aloud to your child.
- Let the child make the exact words using play-doh.
- Once finished with one word, allow your child to read it repeatedly.
- Then let the child point to the exact words he made using play-doh from the ones written down on paper.
Watercolor Mystery Sight Words
Watercolor mystery sight words is another hands-on and fun activity that will help your kindergartener learn sight words. For this activity, you need some clean pieces of paper, a white crayon, and some watercolor. Start by writing a sight word using the white crayon on a clean piece of paper. Then ask the child to find the mystery sight word by painting the paper using watercolor. The mystery sight word will show up once they finish painting the whole paper.
Give Children Repeated Exposure
Children will learn to recognize sight words better if they have more exposure to these words. Therefore, even when they have already learned the words during activities, you still need to give them exposure to these words. By doing this, they will not easily forget the words they have already learned. One great way to do this is to use our Advanced Nouns Flashcards which contain 150 sight words that are perfect for Kindergarteners.
Learning these examples of sight words for kindergarten is important for your child’s development. Yet, it’s also important that they have fun. Thus, incorporate play into their learning.
References:
Sight Word Reading Strategies for Learning Disabilities
Kindergarten reading under the Common Core Standards (greatschools.org)
Literacy Strategy: How to Teach Sight Words | Understood – For learning and thinking differences
