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Monday, August 6, 2012

Make This Simple Sight Word Center Today!

Hello, Teaching Friends!

I have a super simple project for you today. "Searching for Words" is an activity for scanning text for high frequency words. For an easy math/literacy connection, they'll also be tallying the words they find and counting the tally marks, and comparing the numbers.





All you need to do is gather a collection of passages and decide on your focus words. I've usually used newspaper or magazine articles, but you could also copy a page from an old textbook or even write up a short passage of your own.  Old children's magazines are a great source. Public libraries often sell or give away discarded copies, and they're also a great place to get discarded children's books. And now there are so many leveled reading passages, both free and paid, on TpT!

And if you want to find a reading passage quickly? There are loads of free reading passages available online. The one in the picture above is from K5Learning. They have lots of options at a range of levels.

Once you have your text selected, look through it to find 3 different sight words that are used multiple times in the passage.

1. Print the form below on cardstock.

2. Select the text you'll use and glue it on the form.

3. Fill in the 3 target sight words in the form at the bottom.

4. Laminate.

5. Put a set of these in a center with wipe-off fine-line markers.

That's it! Sight word and tallying practice in one! And easy, right?


Here's the form you'll be printing. Click here to get it from Google Docs!




Good control of sight words is so important for young readers!  Here are some other resources that you might find helpful.

                      




Happy Teaching!






19 comments:

  1. Thanks! I am thinking I will introduce the activity during guided reading and have them find words in their text and tally on the whiteboards. Great idea!

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome! That should be a great way to model it, Laura!
      Linda

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  2. Someone must have helped you because I see you have 290 followers now - I am your newest one! :)

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  3. Well, you know, it's kind of weird. Tonight I discovered that the info is there, but the font is white, against the blog's creamy background. Maybe it's always been there - who knows? I went into layout to try to change it, but it didn't make a difference. But beyond that, maybe it only looks like that to me on this end, and not you guys. Well, that's okay - as long as you all can see it, that works for me!
    BTW, thanks for following. Hope that this long reply doesn't scare you off! :)

    Linda

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  4. Linda, Your font for the number of followers is in white in my view, but you are now at 294 - I just have to squint to see it.
    Thank you for the idea and the template!
    Camille
    An Open Door

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  5. You're welcome, Camille! And thanks for the info on my squinty numbers... I'm thinking I'll just have to live with it! :)

    Linda

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  6. What a great idea! I wonder if they kids would have fun using little mini magnifying glasses or fancy word finders as they search! Thanks for the download :)

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    Replies
    1. I'll bet they'd love it! Thanks for sharing your great idea!

      Linda

      Delete
  7. Hello,

    I can't get the template to download. I wonder what I'm doing wrong?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jennifer, I just tried it again and it worked. Are you clicking the bottom picture (blank template)?
      Let me know if you still have a problem, and I'll send the template via email.
      Linda

      Delete
  8. Replies
    1. You're welcome, Kaylee! I like your sight word center ideas, too. I used to do the shaving cream one. The children loved it! As you said, the room always smelled so clean afterwards ( and kind of manly! :)

      Linda

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  9. This is sooooooo cool! I can imagine many possibilities! I love that it can be differentiated to meet the needs of the reader. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

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  10. You're welcome, Mrs. Yazzie! i was just thinking about adapting it to math... maybe use a piece of a supermarket ad, and they could tally the even numbers?

    Thanks for commenting!

    Linda

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  11. Love this!!! I was just doing this last week - we made a game out of finding the sight words in a picture book we were reading:) Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Good idea, Dinah! Now you have a way to extend it for independent practice.
      Thanks for your comment!
      Linda

      Delete
  12. What a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
    Arlene
    LMN Tree

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  13. You're welcome, Arlene! Thanks for stopping by.

    Linda

    ReplyDelete

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