When teaching kindergarten students how to read, two of the MANY skills that we focus on are the alphabet and sight words. Kindergarten students are expected to learn anywhere between 40-80 sight words! It is also crucial that they learn the letters and sounds of the alphabet. I decided to create this set of alphabet sight word sentences to give them practice with both. Students read the PREDICTABLE, SIMPLE sight word sentences that focus on a letter of the alphabet. Students highlight the given letter, and then write a sentence of their own. This set can be differentiated for readers throughout the year. At the beginning you can focus on the alphabet letter. Later you can focus on the sight words and the sentence writing! 

This set of alphabet sight word sentences would be perfect for morning work, guided reading, small groups, and more!

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It is amazing how much kindergarten kiddos learn their first year of school! Times have changed so much over the years, and that includes the expectations for kindergarteners. Not only are they learning the basics, but by the end of the school year they will have learned how to read books and how to write sentences and paragraphs! One of the foundational skills developed in kindergarten is learning sight words. When I first started teaching kindergarten, the students were expected to learn 40 sight words. A few years later, that was up to 88 sight words. That seems so hard to believe for a 5 year old!

One of the tools that you can use for teaching sight words is sight word books. This is the perfect way to introduce sight words along with other reading foundational skills at the same time. I created a set of sight word books that are SIMPLE, and PREDICTABLE which is how kindergarten students learn to read. Students will be introduced to one new sight word book each week that correlates with their new sight word of the week. 

Ideas for using these books include:

Find & Highlight the Sight Words

Use the Picture Cues to Figure Out Words We Don't Know

Partner Read the Books

Use the book as a tool for writing. Let students illustrate a page that matches the book in their journal. 

Here are some examples from the set of sight word books.

Sight words are one of the building blocks to reading development in Kindergarten (and beyond). Students are expected to learn a pretty substantial list of sight words. As a teacher, I always found myself digging around each week trying to put together activities that matched the sight word or words that we were studying. I would pull from this resource and that resource, and then finally come up with enough sight word activities for the word I had introduced that week. This was pretty time consuming, and teachers definitely have VERY LITTLE TIME, so I decided to start creating sight word sets that focused on ONE word. This was perfect because I could print the file for the week on Monday and go. No more looking for specific activities to match our sight word. We would use these focused activities for morning work, sight word centers, working with words, and more. Here is an example of one of the sight word sets that I created. This set focuses on the word YOU.

Sight Word YOU Stamping

Sight Word YOU Playdough Mats

If you use poetry in your classroom, you know exactly how difficult it can be to find poems that are simple enough for kindergarten students. It can be almost impossible! This was a struggle a few years ago in my kindergarten classroom, and because of this struggle I decided to create a set of sight word poems that I knew my young readers could master. The poems were short, predictable, and full of SIGHT WORDS which is exactly what they needed. Since that time, my poetry library has really grown and I have written poems for just about every holiday and season. Most teachers who use my poems, align the poems with their sight word curriculum. I have gotten such good feedback from other early childhood teachers who also use my poems. Here are some ideas on how these poems can be used in an early childhood classroom.  

Number 1 (Poetry Notebook)

Give your students a new poem each week. Have your kiddos highlight the sight word (or words) that you are practicing. The students can color the pictures, and then add the poem to their poetry notebooks. I used plastic sleeves for this poetry notebook. This makes the poems easy to add to the notebook, and possibly change the order of the poems later. The students can place the notebooks in their book boxes and pull them out for a familiar read. These notebooks are perfect for guided reading or Read to Self time!

Number 2 (Use Chart Paper)

Write the sight word poems on chart paper and let the kids help you find and highlight the sight words whole group. The kids love to come up and use the highlighter in front of the class. You can also practice finding rhyming words, tracking print, looking at the picture cues, and more. When you have completed the poem, it is already on chart paper so HANG IT UP and keep it as a visual display for your students to use.

Number 3 (Missing Sight Words)

Write the poem on chart paper with the sight word (or sight words) that you are practicing MISSING this time. The kids can help you write in the missing words. They love to "share the pen" with the teacher. This makes another great display for the kiddos to use as a reference. You can also pull out all of the poems that you have created weekly, and use them as a whole group familiar read. This is a perfect way to keep the sight words fresh in their minds because young kids learn by repetition.

Number 4 (Illustrate the Poem)

Let your kids illustrate the sight word poem after you have finished practicing it together. This is a great way for them to make text connections! Most kids love to draw, so this will most certainly keep them engaged.

Number 9 (Ordering the Poem)

Cut the poem into strips and place the strips in a plastic bag or envelope. Let the kids order the poem and glue it on construction paper. These could be bound to create a sight word book. Simple!

Here are a couple more of the sight word poems included in my 40 Sight Word Poems for Shared Reading notebook. Check it out here!

You may also like my other poem sets!
Back to School Sight Word Poems
Color Word Poems
Alphabet Poems

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Color words are included in almost every kindergarten curriculum! Kindergarten students read them, spell them, and write them! When teaching color words, I try to expose the kiddos to them as much as possible. One way I do this is by incorporating color words into small group reading sessions. We use these color word books during small group, and then we place them in our book boxes to use as a familiar read later. These books are perfect for teaching color words, sight words, tracking print, text features, context clues and more. When creating these books, I tried to keep them very predictable for new readers at the beginning of the school year. They all follow a predictable pattern, and incorporate the given color word on each page.

Click here to get my color word books in my TPT shop!