Kindergarten: Sight Word Soup - Language Arts

Grade: Kindergarten

Subject: English Language Arts

Learning Objective:  Helping your students build confidence in reading and spelling common sight words.

Common Core Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.C Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).

Materials: 

• Markers
• Construction Paper
• Floor Space
• Tape or Magnets
• Wall/Board space
• Small prizes or stickers

Starter: 

To begin, create space on the floor for your class to gather around in a circle. Next, take pieces of construction paper, and write as many sight words as you would like in your "Soup," one word per piece of paper. Place these words within the designated floor circle for your students to gather around.

To begin your lesson, gather your students around the circle and ask them to sit cross-legged or however they are the most comfortable. Once your students are calmly surrounding the "soup," you may begin.

Main:

Say: Today, we are going to be building sentences! But not only are we going to be working on our sentences, but we are also going to have fun! How many of you have ever had alphabet soup?

Allow students to offer up their own experiences and chat for a moment. Allow them to get some energy out but reel them in after a few moments.

Say: Wow! Today, we will go the extra mile, and instead of alphabet soup, we are going to be using our sight words. So for today's activity, we will be using our "word soup." In the center of our circle, we have a big bowl, and inside our bowl are the words we will be using today.

I am going to write a sentence on the board. We will read the sentence together, but there's one twist! There are going to be missing words! So I'm going to need your help finding the missing words and putting them in the right places. Can you help me do that?

Allow your students to answer, try to get them excited. Make reading (and this lesson) as fun as possible.

Once your students are sufficiently excited, bring them back together. You may use any sentences you feel fit your class. Personalizing the lesson may be a fun way to add engagement.

Say: Alright, class! Time for our first sentence. Drumroll, please!

Allow students to drumroll.

Say: And our first sentence is, "Jane ran to the bus." Once you have said the sentence out loud, slowly write it out onto the board as I do:

"Jane ___ __ ___ bus"

Skip over the sight words. As you write, repeat the sentence.

Say: Alright, class, we have some words missing from our sentence. Can anyone remember the next word in our sentence?

Allow students to suggest words. Once a student suggests the correct word, allow that student the chance to find that word in your word "soup."

As your students look for the correct word, take the time to address any miss-picks or confusion. Discuss the words they come across. Each student may try several times to find the correct word. Once a student correctly finds the word here being "ran," have that student come to the front and stick the word in the correct place. 

The sentence should now read, "Jane ran __ ___ bus."

Say: That was amazing! I really think we are getting the hang of this. Now let's try again. Can anyone remember what the next word in our sentence is?

Allow students to put forth suggestions via raised hands.

Again choose a student to find the word "to" and place it in its correct location. Once this student has finished, allow them to take a seat. Repeat this process for your final word.

Once students have found and placed the final word in the sentence, take a moment to congratulate them on their hard work.

Say: Wow, you did such a great job! I appreciate all the teamwork to put our sentence back together. Now, let's do another one. Only this time, I think we need to stir our soup a little bit, and maybe ourselves too, what do you think?

At this time, allow the students a moment to get up, wiggle, and get any movement out of their system. This lesson is meant to engage students physically and mentally. Once the students have the majority of the wiggles out, allow them to scramble the placement of the words in your "soup bowl."

Continue this for several sentences, or as long as your class time allows. If you have a particularly wiggly class, you may want to do this at the beginning or end of your day.

Once your students build several sentences correctly and have discussed and learned many of the words in your soup, bring the class back to their desks.

Say: Wow, I had so much fun with our activity today, did you?

Allow student feedback.

Say: Together, we built some really good sentences and moved around a lot. Can anyone remember any of the words we used today?

Allow students to suggest words that were used during the activity.

Ask each student who suggests a word to spell that word. Allow each student to spell it verbally, helping when they need it. Award each student a sticker or other small prize for spelling the words correctly. 

If a student stumbles or needs extra help spelling the sight words, be sure to praise the effort or enthusiasm.

Feedback: 

Use this activity to strengthen an enthusiasm for reading and spelling. When you allow your students to move around, it can help them retain information while creating a higher level of engagement. 

In addition, this activity should highlight each student's reading and spelling skills. Use this time to have some lighthearted and fun evaluation, all while getting the wiggles out.

Written by Amber White, Education World Contributor

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