Passwords

There are many ways to teach sightwords to kids, among my favorite is through the use of the classroom "Password".  Simply put, post the vocabulary you want your kids to practice on a paper a post the list on the inside of the classroom next to the door at their level and the outside of the classroom.    When both entering and exiting the classroom my students are asked to read the words on the word list.  For my class, that means we practice our sight word list 46 times on average in one week alone.

The kids love the passwords and many of them have been making up their own passwords for their own bedrooms at home.   By the end of the week, most students have memorized the words on the list.

tip: Throughout the day, change the order in which the students read the words, to prevent them from simply "memorizing" the words and saying them without looking.

tip: Passwords can be math problems, vocabulary words, short sentences, or even questions for test review.    You can have as few or as many words as you want.  This year I have 5 students and use a longer word list.  In years past i've used 2 or 3 words with larger classes, or had kids rotate on reading different words from the list at random.