Seeking Suggestions for Encouraging My Kindergartener to Learn Sight Words

Sounds like you have an active little boy who would rather be playing outside than learning boring sight words. I suggest you make it fun. Write them on large pieces of paper and put them around the yard - make them visible. Then call out a sight word and he can run to it. Or, you can do something with chalk on the sidewalk. I highly recommend a trip to Lakeshore learning because they have a ton of interactive, learning games that they created. I recently bought my daughter the Math Mat at Lakeshore. She loves to jump to the numbers to answer the problems. It is also helping her with speed drills at school. You might want to set up some sort of reward system with plastic gold coins. You can give him a certain amount after 10 minutes of working on sight words. He can then use these coins to buy computer time, tv time or a special outing. Hope these suggestions help. Good luck.

My sons loves the Sink My Sight Words game, it is similar to Battleships. We bought it at Lakeshore Learning Center in F.V. www.lakeshorelearning.com ($15 I think)

Make it fun. Perhaps have the words on different kinds of material...flash cards with visual pictures to connect the words with the pictures. Also, have him copy the words into a plate of salt using a pencil to get him tactile sensitive "into the word." Print out the words in different fonts onto flash cards and review them at dinner as a game. Ask the teacher for other suggestions. Good luck!

A great trick with learning spelling (which would also enforce knowing the sight words) is purchasing a nice size white/chalk board. Give him a word and have him in BIG writing, write each letter as he says it. Ex: "what" W-H-A-T (in big letters). Our brains memorizes things like this easier when we do simultaneous large kinetic movement. I also like the others' ideas about making games. I recommend this with math flashcards but you could try it with his words: Take a stack of sight word flashcards. If your son recognizes and says the word immediately when you show it to him, he gets to "keep" the card. If it takes him a minute you say, "almost" or "a little faster" (something encouraging) and put it in your pile. Then you repeat with your pile until he has all of them. :o) These are some of the techniques I tell my students' parents for homework help. We are phonics based but I know the first game has helped my students with their spelling words (which have sight words). Good luck and HAVE FUN!!!