How to Teach Sight Words in Kindergarten

When I first started teaching kindergarten, I remember sight words were a beast I was not ready to tackle. We didn’t really have a way to “teach” the students sight words, it was just a list of words my kids were expected to know by the end of the year. Every time I gave a sight word assessment, I panicked because I had no clue if I was “doing it right”. (hello first year teacher problems!)

Fast forward to my third year of teaching, I knew I had to fix something. I Googled so many sight word lists and ideas and finally created a system that worked for me and my class. After seeing how much my students improved, I wanted to share it with all the other struggling kindergarten teachers out there! Let’s get to it!

Kindergarten Sight Word Lists

I started by choosing the words I wanted to use and ordering them from the least difficult to the most difficult, while still making sure they were appropriate for kindergarten. (I would make sure your students have a good understanding of letter identification before moving on to sight words. If they still need time to learn letters and sounds, I’d focus on that first!)

I created 7 lists, of 9 kindergarten sight words each, and made it a schedule for the week, which helps the students and parents tremendously since they know what to expect.

Here’s a little snapshot of what it looks like:

2 sight words per week, introduced in small groups during literacy centers, starting with List 1

Monday: Introduce word 1, talk about the letters in the word, how to say it, spell it, and identify it with a foldable book they can take home to their parents to show them the new word.

Tuesday: Introduce word 2 and repeat steps from Monday

Wednesday: Play a memory or matching game with only the words learned so far (I like to use sensory bins here!)

Thursday: Play a sight word board game or a printable sight word game

Friday: Have students use dry erase markers to practice writing the new words and any words previously learned. (On Fridays I like to pass out Skittles, M&M’s, or Dojo points for a sight word spelled correctly!)

Sight Word Curriculum

On days that I finish teaching a particular list, I do the sight word checklist. If the student has mastered all of the words on that list, they get their sight word certificate and a sight word bracelet! If they are still having trouble, I look at the checklist and determine if they know enough of the words to move on, or if they need to keep practicing the words on the previous list.