Writing sight words on a rainbow is one of the ways we are working on learning sight words at home. We have been playing a game using the tiles in our kitchen as game board spaces too. (I will tell you about that one later in the post.) Mastering sight words will help him become a stronger reader. This simple activity of writing sight words on a rainbow with colored ink will help me grow in his knowledge of words in so many ways.
Here are several reasons that I have JDaniel writing sight words:
The first is that allows him to have a hands on way to interact with the words. Focusing on trying to write each sight word as many times as he can neatly on its band on the rainbow allow him to work tactile kinetically with the words.
I am asking to say the word each time he writes in its band on the rainbow. That helps place each word in his auditory memory as well as his visual memory.
Using colored ink to write helps add a fun to a task that might be deemed boring.
Clear and legible handwriting is something that we need to work on.
Here are the links to download a copies of the Writing Sight Words on a Rainbow:
Writing Sight Words on a Rainbow (With Words in the Cloud)
Writing Sight Words on a Rainbow (With an Empty Cloud)
Another Sight Word Game
As I mentioned we are trying to find fun ways to work on sight words. Writing sight words on a rainbow is a new activity for us. One we have been doing for a long time is called Reading Tiles. It is super easy and gets JDaniel’s competitive juices flowing. We stand side by side on one of the kitchen tiles. Every word that he read correctly without a hint from me allows him to move forward one kitchen tile. Every word that he needs help on gives me the right to move forward one kitchen tile. Having me move forward instead of him is just a little upsetting. He ends up saying the words a few times just to make sure that I don’t get to move forward when we get to that word again. We have small kitchen so when he reaches the other end of the kitchen he move back toward me one square at a time. He just loves getting to see me standing back near the starting tile.
I have shared two simple sight word activities that could easily be done while dinner in cooking in the evening or anytime really. Writing sight words on a rainbow was a great new tool. We will probably be using it again soon. If you would like to print a copy of the rainbow printable we used or one that has a cloud without words so, you can put the words your child needs to work on you can click on the underlines words in the sentences.
Other Sight Word Resources
There are loads of other sight words activities located on my Pinterest board Learning to Read. There are also a number of activities on a group boards I am a part of called Reading and Writing Readiness and Learn to Read.
Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog’s FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.