While the standards and expectations have changed, their little minds have not. The struggle for me is to maintain a balance between high expectations and accounting for their individual learning styles and needs. One obstacle for my grade level is that my school chose the Fry list as words to use. As a grade level, when we looked at the list of Fry words, the first fifty. That list did not match our Kindergarten Progress Report (our report card), our reading curriculum (Treasures) or our reading assessment (DRA2). So if we were to follow the top fifty words from Fry's list, in reality we would not be accountable for fifty words but more like seventy five. I am hoping with time passes that there will be more alignment among these tools. My grade level took the list and picked fifty words starting with the twenty five that in the past they were expected to know at the end of K, the ones listed on our Progress Report.
Now let me go back to the fifty words being a big deal. It is not a big deal for those children who need to see the word, once maybe two or three times before they get it. However, the strugglers, the ones who at this point in the year know a, I, go and up, for those children it is huge. Their little minds take more exposure to the word before they will remember it and often times they are the ones that need it in multiple ways before it is going to commit to their long term memory. That is yet another obstacle - teaching the words for long term memory because they might know them when they walk out the door in May but ultimately, I want them to remember them when they walk back into a classroom in August, even if they have not been exposed to them over the summer.
When I taught first grade, I remember having a wide range of sight word knowledge. I had children who knew four words and I had children who knew almost every word on the list. I do believe that children's sight word fluency affects their confidence and ability as a reader. After all, it is a strategy for children when they are learning to read. When I was trying to figure out ways to increase sight word fluency in first grade, I took a game that children were familiar with, Candy Land and printed labels with sight words and put them on the cards. Children had to be able to read the word on the card before they could move to the correct space. My first graders loved this game! It's been awhile since I pulled it out but I will be using it as I attempt to increase sight word knowledge of my kindergarten class.
I told my principal this year that I didn't know how I was going to help some of my children know fifty words. There are so many things I wish for them before they leave me in May but as I think about my little learners that still struggle at times to attend for a whole lesson and are still learning to cooperate and share then fifty words seems like the least of our worries. My inner struggle is finding a way to make it enjoyable and engaging while showing growth. I know that all of my children will leave my room knowing more sight words than they did at the beginning, however, I am a perfectionist. If fifty words is the expectation (even if that is high), I want every child to know fifty words. Not because it means that I did my job but that if those fifty words are a part of them experiencing success then I want that for them and for their next teacher. It becomes a matter of juggling what is right and best for each child versus the data and the personal struggle for me is letting go when they know far more than they did at the beginning of the year or mid year than when they walk out the door. As the expectation is changing, some routines in the classroom have to change to support the expectation. Ultimately, my mind wanders to my children who at this point in the year know four words. They are the ones that need multiple exposures and most likely will not get it in a large group setting or even a small group setting without teacher instruction. They may not even get in a small group setting unless it is something that really engages them.
I had Connect 4 sitting on a shelf that a parent donated at the same time they donated Don't Break the Ice. I had intended to use it for an inside recess game and thankfully, we have been outside. As I was looking at it, I just knew I could put sight words on the pieces so that children were exposed to the word when they or another child played the piece but would also say or hear the word depending on if it was their or the other child's turn.
I was walking through Wal-Mart last weekend and I see those plastic eggs just calling my name. After Spring Break, my class is going to be incubating eggs. So for $1.97, they seem like a bargain that I just need and I can figure out what I will use them for later. I knew I could do onset and rime but again I am thinking about ways to increase sight word knowledge with different exposure. I knew I had letter tiles in my classroom that were not being used. I went through my list of words and used letter tiles to make as many different words off my list. I was not able to make all the words with the letters I had but it is a good starting place. I also made this recording sheet for children to write the words that were in the eggs.
Over the years, I have noticed patterns with words that are easily retained and words that are hard. My group this year DOES NOT follow my theories on patterns and routines with words. While I would love to think, it is because of my teaching, let's get real. This class struggles to identify is, a word that is usually very easily picked up but most of them know words such as little and said which are usually picked up around this time in the year. It is beyond fascinating.
Two other important tools for sight word fluency that I use in my classroom to target sight word fluency are weekly poems that we keep in individual poetry folders and the word wall. First, I try to have a variety in my weekly poems. There are weeks that include poems that might be familiar to children such as nursery rhymes. A couple of weeks ago, we used Jack and Jill and really worked on identifying and. In today's world, children do not get the necessary exposure to nursery rhymes. The weekly poem varies in the fact if it lends itself to one word or if there are several words we can work on depending on the length. If I do not use a nursery rhyme, then the poem relates to our learning some way whether it be through science, math or another content area. We read the poem at least twice daily to practice our fluency and it is one of the major ways I address phonemic awareness skills early in the year. At this point in the year, I mostly use it for sight word fluency and fluency but every once in awhile a child will want to identify rhyming words, words that begin with the same letter or think of a word that begins or ends the same as a word in the poem. On Friday's, each child has a copy of the poem in a folder and they illustrate a page for the poem and then take their poetry folder home over the weekend to practice reading the poem or others to their families. I have highlighters and they also will highlight the sight words we worked on throughout the week. At this point of the year, they usually try to find any sight words in the poem that are on our word wall.
One of my favorite sight word tools is the word wall. When I was moved to first, almost four years ago, I went in a teaching store requesting the second set of sight words that aligned with the current set I used so that I could adapt my word wall to include words beyond the words I used in kindergarten. I had the hardest time finding the second set of words and one of the sales clerks referenced the fact that I was looking for word wall resources by saying "people still use those". Why, yes I do. Here's one of the issues with word walls. Are you putting the words up and just expecting children to know the word because they see it on the wall or is your word wall a teaching tool?
There are years where it is much easier to use a word wall, the years where those children catch on to the fact that you are hanging up words and they can use those in their writing. I am finally at the point in the year where children are using my word wall. It is absolutely later than this usually occurs but that also matches my little learners. It has taken a lot of teaching, reminders, practice mixed in with some drama and acting during interactive writing, shared writing, and our writing mini lessons to get to that point. This absolutely helps their sight word fluency. They have to use it or they will lose it! One day last week, I was modeling before I sent them to their tables to work during writing. One strategy that they use when they stretch out their words but think they might be missing letters is to circle the word. It helps them move on but be content with their work and signals to me that they realize they might be missing a chunk or vowels. One of my little boys remarked about a sight word that we were continually using that was not on our word wall but we were misspelling. He said, "we should just go ahead and put it on the word wall". Okay!
I really want the word wall to be a resource for them and hesitant to load it down with words that are not meaningful to them or that they do not know. That is when they will interchange words like with and went because they both have four letters and start with w. I am sure there are people who think a word wall is out of date but for me, it is a strategy and a tool. I have limited wall space and so everything that I hang up has to be intentional. For me, a word wall is a necessary component for sight word fluency. It is important for children to recognize words automatically but I think it is just as critical for children to use those words in meaningful ways especially during writing.
During daily 5, our word work is devoted to sight word fluency. It is one way to incorporate the sight word games, sight word books, and other ideas that allow children to have that variety of exposures to the words so they can remember it.
What tools do you use in your classroom to increase your children's sight word fluency? How often do you assess their sight word fluency? What is your school or grade level's expectation for sight word fluency at the end of the year?
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