If you teach reading, you probably spend a great deal of time focusing on fluency, reading comprehension, and decoding skills. One area that I sometimes lacked giving sufficient support and instruction is sight words. Especially as a middle school or even upper elementary teacher, it’s easy to assume that students know the most common sight words.. But struggling readers may not! Teachers can use Fry’s Sight Word list of the 1,000 most commonly used sight words to help target the most important words to memorize and learn. These sights words are not just important but CRITICAL to student success in reading. Since these are the most common words, it’s not okay to “sound the words out”. These are the words that the students must know automatically with “automaticity”. That means knowing them right away without having to decode them or even think about them. It’s what good readers do all the time.

Whether you use Dolch words, Fry’s list, or a self-made list of sight words for your classroom, remember to take time to focus on these sight words. They could make a world of a difference for your struggling readers!

Teaching vocabulary can be one of the most critical skills for readers (especially struggling readers). Many times, students just skip over important vocabulary without using the context clues or word parts to help them. Children really need to be taught how to identify important vocabulary words and examine them to understand why they are used in the text.

 

Here are some simple ways to teach and highlight important vocabulary:

• After reading a passage, have students identify 1-3 important vocabulary words within the passage. Reflect on the words by considering why the author chose those specific words. This can lead into an important discussion about word choice.

• Have students draw a picture with the vocabulary word in action. This can help engage visualization skills while fully understanding the vocabulary word in context.

• Encourage students to write sentences, paragraphs, or stories with vocabulary words. This type of extension activity allows students to make deeper connections with the vocabulary.

• Use challenging vocabulary as you speak! This one seems silly but kids absolutely love it. Asking students, “Could you please leave the door ajar when you leave the room?” rather than “open” is a great model for how vocabulary can impact the way we speak.

• Teach and practice context clues. Kids need explicit instruction in understanding how the words before and after a word help decipher the vocabulary word’s meaning. This really is a critical academic skill that kids will use all the way up to middle school, high school, college, and beyond. I like to use vocabulary context clues task cards for extended practice in groups.

• Use graphic organizers when students read passages and stories. The graphic organizers should highlight important vocabulary words, helping students to pull apart those words. Use these free vocabulary graphic organizers to help you teach vocabulary skills in your classroom.

Have fun teaching critical vocabulary skills in your classroom.

For many students, reading is a fun and enjoyable time where they can learn new things and build on their strengths. But for many other students, reading is a dreaded time. This is especially true if the student has a weakness or disability in the area of reading. It’s hard to make reading fun for them. One way to help with that is to incorporate some simple games into reading time.

My absolute favorite reading game is actually Blurt. Blurt is a simple pack of cards with clues on each card. Someone (either the teacher or a student) must read the clue aloud, while others shout out the vocabulary word that matches the clue. For example, a student might right the clue: “A strap of leather or other material going around someone’s waist to hold pants up”. Then, a student would shout out, “belt!”. While it is a very simple (and cheap) game, it is a great way to increase reading motivation while increasing vocabulary skills. Some versions come with a gameboard and all, but I actually just use the travel version with just the cards. Kids can play in partners, as a group, or “around the world” style. Best of all, the students see this activity as a reward rather than a daunting reading task.

Another favorite is Konexi, which is a mix between Jenga and Scrabble. Kids will end up building a tower by connecting letters that fit together like puzzle pieces. The letters will connect together to spell words. Eventually, the tower will fall down (and you know that is always fun).

Some other reading games you might want to try out are scrabble, boggle, and bananagrams. Of course, there are so many apps for word games, too. Some fun (and free) apps include Scramble with Friends and Words with Friends. You don’t have to use games everyday, but they are a great way to help make reading time a fun time.