Sight Words Sentences Cards Fun Ideas and Centers

Sight Words Sentences Cards Fun Ideas and Centers for First Grade, Kindergarten, or really any age that you want to teach sight words to! I could see these being fun centers in preschool all the way through 2nd grade... kids love building words at all ages :) I'm so excited to show you these sight word sentences cards and fun ideas for how to use them!!

I am in love with these sight words sentences center cards I made because, well, they took me a long time to make! ha :) That's not the only reason but I did take a ton of time to pair an engaging picture to illustrate each sight word in a simple sentence. They are great visuals for kids who learn through pictures but also have the building aspect for kids who learn by doing. Plus, even though it took me a long time, I just really enjoyed making them! I love great visuals so it was fun for me and I'm excited to show them to you!

So normally I use these sight words cards using bottle caps but today I want to show you some fun ways I use them using alphabet magnet letters!

If you want to see how I use water bottle caps to practice word building, check out my Bottle Cap CVC Word Building Centers post. Typical water bottle caps fit perfectly in the circles so they're a super easy way to recycle and learn at the same time! I made them for all the different phonics sounds past CVC words too so you can use them as a center all year.

What I want to show you is how I also love to use my alphabet magnet letters with these!

I recommend going to a craft store and getting a multiple compartment box like this to store your letters in! It makes word building so much quicker AND is great practice for kids when they find the letters or put them back to practice ABC order, letter recognition, etc. I bought a few of them so I could have multiple boxes of letters to grab and use.

Do you see how my sentences are very simple? This is something that was so important to me when making these cards. It drives me c.r.a.z.y. when sight words are used in hard sentences. Learning sight words is hard enough! If a kid is learning "my," they're not going to be able to read "My family lives in a house." Am I right?? ha! So I tried very hard to keep the sentences really easy to read, especially for the early sight words like "my" and "see" as seen below:

Have your kids use the magnet letters to put a letter in each circle to build the sight word. Then, I recommend having them spell it out loud while pointing ("m, y, my") then reading the sentence for it. They are just so much fun to build the words that kids don't realize how much practice they're getting. Plus, it's a huge sense of accomplishment, especially for struggling readers, to not only read the sight word.. but read a sentence that it's in. The pictures and the fact that the sentences are so simple really help with letting them be able to do that.

I also like to laminate and put the new sight words for each week on a binder ring. This makes it super easy to have all the new words that week available right away.

You can take the ring of words to the front of the carpet to use to introduce the new words by showing them the word, the picture, and reading the sentence.

Students can simply grab it and practice the words for that week. They could also use a dry erase marker to write the letters in each circle to spell each sight word. Then when they're done, go through and read each word and sentence and then wipe it when they're done for the next person.

You could also keep them at your small groups table to quickly go over them each day when you call a group back. You can hold it in front of you upside down and have the kids watch as you flip to each new word, read it together, then read the sentence together.

One thing I also love is to have all the new sight words for that week pulled out to start each group. When they come to your small group table, there will be a word at their spot. They will read the word and its sentence then you can have them either build the word with magnet letters OR write it using a dry erase marker. Then, they pass it to the right (the person on the end passes it to you and you pass it to the first person for seamless passing and no reaches across the table) and do the same thing for the next word. Simple but efficient and fun sight words practice!

It's actually a really awesome way for every single kid in your class to practice every single one of your new sight words for the week. You can do it at the beginning of your small groups to warm them up a few times during the week. Maybe the first time they build it with magnet letters since that takes the longest and will give you/them time to truly practice spelling the word, reading and recognizing it, etc. Then the next time they write it with a dry erase marker. Then the next time they can simply read it and read the sentences then pass to the next person. However you want to do it!

Speaking of writing on them with a dry erase marker, this is what I mean!

So this isn't the prettiest example because I didn't laminate these and instead put them inside a sheet protector but hey, it works! I know I try to show you fun teacher tricks a lot but this is what I call a lazy teacher trick... and I am not ashamed :)

Have kids use a dry erase marker to write the words' letters inside each circle. Having it broken down by letter really helps them solidify the spelling - that's why I encourage using these cards for your week's sight words in multiple ways during the week so they really get a lot of practice spelling the word. Make sure they read the word and the sentence each time too so they're truly internalizing it.

You can also use them to introduce your new sight words each week!

On Monday, put the sentence cards for the new sight words for that week in your pocket chart.

You could also put them on your easel or whatever you use to teach.

Call the kids to the carpet and introduce them to each new word. Show them the card - point to the word and read it. Then read the sentence for them and let them take a second to look at the picture (hold it in front of them like you would when showing them the pictures from a book you're reading to them). Then say, "Spell it with me!" and point to each circle as they say each letter in the word. Make sure they can see the card and you pointing as you do it. The words on the card are pretty bold so all of your kids should be able to see it if you hold it up. You could also project it if you have a camera that does that.

This is my favorite way to introduce new sight words because it has an illustrated sentence to go with each word. I personally learn a lot better when I have a picture to go along with something new I've learned so I think it helps a lot of kids too!

You can also spell the words with your students to practice the sight words.

Please note!! Super important! These letter cards DO NOT come with the Sight Words Sentence Cards. You can use your own letter cards or get mine in any of my Phonics Pocket Chart Centers sets. This is the Phonics Pocket Chart Centers Bundle but you can find all the individual sets within its description to buy a smaller set if you only want the letter cards. They come with each set. Although I really recommend those if you need more phonics activities - they're a lot of fun if you need pocket chart centers!

Anyway, I love to spell out the new sight words. You could also make it a center for them to grab the sight words from that week and spell them in the pocket chart like this.

They also just make a super fun center in general. Give kids the sight words you want them to practice and some magnet letters...

and let them build the words like this!

They make a great independent center like that.

I made A TON of sight word sentence cards so, no matter what list you use, I probably have your words :) Currently there are 224 words included!

I'm not sure how many sight words you personally introduce each week but I prefer 5-7 new words a week. That's a lot of new words each week so that's why I love having activities like these or my Secret Sight Words Centers to practice the words.

Like I said, give kids the new words for the week and let them go to town writing them, building them, reading them with their partner, etc.!

I wanted to say you can also use these for teaching certain concepts... not just sight words!

For example, in the beginning of the year, teaching color words is important!

Kids can take the cards for each color, build them, write them, etc. and get a lot of practice with spelling that color word. Since there is a picture to guide them, they'll figure out pretty easily what color word they're building.

You may also notice in this picture that there is a number word too! Number words are also really important for when you're first teaching about numbers (check out this post if you are: Building Number Sense in First Grade - no matter what grade you teach, if you teach numbers, I shared a lot of tips!)

I also love using these cards for teaching number words! I made a sentence card for numbers zero to ten. Kids can easily look at the picture if they have trouble figuring out which number it is then build/write the number word.

So for this number word (four), it is also a homophone! I LOVE using these to teach hard concepts like homophones because pictures are e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.!

When you're teaching homophones, show them the card for "four" and read the sentence and evaluate the picture together. Then, do the same for "for" and point out how the 2 words sound the same but are spelled different and have different meanings.

I also recommend this for to, too, two:

Those are definitely tricky ones!! If you teach homophones, these worksheets have also been one of the most helpful things for teaching homophones. I am all about words in context.. in simple sentences kids can actually read.. can you tell? :)

Question words are also a tough skill! When teaching question words, pull them out of your stack and use them to introduce them to your class. Point out how each sentence ends with a question mark.

You can also point out to them how each question word is at the beginning of the sentence, remind them about capitalization, etc. to make a little lesson out of it.

Then let them build them! :) This is also a great small groups lesson.

There are so many cards to choose from so you can really use them any way you choose. I just wanted to show you this one because that little mouse peeking at the cheese makes me giggle. It's the little things, right?? I think part of the reason why I love kids so much is because I am just a big one myself sometimes :)

What I love most is you start the year with some pretty easy words - like, my, see, to... then move on to some pretty tough ones that kids really start to depend on the picture and sentence to figure it out. As the sight words get harder, having quality pictures and easy to read sentences becomes a lot more important.

For example, "full" and "air" are not really easy to sound out for a lot of kids.

"Air" is a tough word. If they don't know the AI sound yet (or AIR sound), that's not one they're likely to sound out.. but having a sentence that shows a little boy jumping into the air that says, "I jump in the ___!" will help a kid use the picture and context to figure it out independently. Those are the magical moments!

Same with "drink" - that can be a tough word but the picture is of a little girl drinking milk so they will probably be able to figure out the word pretty easily.

This makes them able to be used independently. Kids can figure out the words themselves then be proud of themselves. What's more amazing than that?? Especially when your students who are struggling readers can look at a tough sight word and rather quickly know what it is. Love, love, love when that happens!

So anyway!! I am rambling yet again!

I hope you found some fun ways to learn sight words from this post!

If you want ALL 224 of my Sight Words Sentence Cards, grab them here:
Sight Words Bottle Cap Centers BUNDLE

I will put them *ON SALE* for a super limited time for those of you who read my blog regularly to grab them up!! :) 

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