In our efforts to continue school with online instruction, the lesson I created this week for writing reminded kids to track down the Word Wall or Sight Word cards that their teachers sent home earlier in the year.

When my kids were little, I used some pegboard to make a writing wall that we attached to a half-wall in the kitchen. Every few days, my daughter’s kindergarten teacher would send home a sight word that they were working on. We’d put these on a book ring (you could bend a paperclip into a ring) and save them to use during writing at home. (We spend a lot of time creating, writing, and drawing in our house. Being a teacher, I know that simply drawing and writing a few words each day can make a HUGE impact in literacy.)

I’ve seen other families who tape all of the words to the wall, just like we do in the classroom. Do whatever works for your family. Sight words are very important. 90% of what the kids are reading in their books are sight words.

There are a variety of different list out there. If you google kindergarten sight words, you’ll find Dolch words, Fry words, Fountas and Pinnell sight word lists, and lots more. There is no right or wrong list. All of the list contain words that we want kids to learn.

The Snohomish school district uses a list that we teach from and test kids on throughout the year. Of course, we do teach other words as they are needed, but this list gives our teachers a common start. Here are the word cards if your child has misplaced theirs or you would just like a new set. I suggest printing these onto cardstock or a heavy-ish paper. That way they are a bit more durable and last longer.

Check out the writing lesson on YouTube, if you haven’t already seen it. It’s Writing with Mrs. Ross- Week 2.

Happy writing!