"Pumpkin Smash" - a free 2nd grade sight word game

Holy moly. How is it already parent-teacher conference time??? This school year has flown by on the wings of crazy. Anyway, in honor of conferences and all that goes with this time of year (being too busy, having a million things on your mind, etc...), I have a freebie sight word game for you. This one is called "Pumpkin Smash", and my kiddos got a kick out of it.

To prepare this game, copy it on cardstock and/or laminate and cut apart. Each group will get a stack of cards.

Students will shuffle the cards and lay them out, facedown, on the table or ground in front of them. Students will then take turns to play. When it is a student’s turn, he/she will choose a card, and he/she will read the word aloud. That student will then continue to draw cards, reading each word, until he/she gets a pumpkin card. If a student picks a pumpkin card, he/she says, “PUMPKIN SMASH!” (some students seem to think this is hilarious - how little it takes to entertain a 7 year old...), and it is the end of his/her turn, and the next player will go. Play continues until all of the cards have been chosen. The person with the most cards is the winner! They seem to think it's pretty funny when a student will draw a pumpkin card right away. Dear me...

Hope your students enjoy this game as much as mine do. J This is a great game to use for word work during Daily 5 or guided reading, or students could practice it at home or play it together any other time.

Enjoy! To download, click HERE, or click the picture below.

 



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Sight Word Toss/Read/Write

We're definitely in the full swing of things at school. :-) I hope you've all had a great start to the school year so far!

 

To play this game, students will take turns dropping or tossing a chip, cotton ball, counter, bean, or pom-pom onto the board. The student will read the word he/she landed on, and he/she will write the word on the recording sheet. This particular download includes 16 various 2nd grade sight words.

 

To download a copy, click HERE or click on any of the pictures below:

 



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Sight Word Caterpillars

The students have been working so hard on learning and using their sight words this year. Students got a chance to make these little sight word caterpillars, and they turned out super cute! The kiddos got to choose a few sight words that they were learning, and they wrote the sight words on the caterpillars' bodies and used the words in sentences. What a fun way for students to practice what they've learned (and a great kickoff to our lifecycle unit in science)!



I'm not normally the corny type (at least I try not to be, ha), but our kiddos are kind of like these little caterpillars. They've been crawling their way through 1st grade, growing and soaking up food bits of information. By the end of the year, they will have turned into beautiful butterflies, full of knowledge, and ready for 2nd grade! :-)

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Spin-a-Sight-Word Game

Here is a new sight word game I've created for partners to use. I'll be putting this in my sight word center, so if you can use it, enjoy! To play this game, each pair of students gets a game board. Each student chooses 1 side of the game board (left or right) and gets 6 counters or game markers. Students take
turns spinning the spinner (on top of the recording sheets). If they spin one of the shapes,
they must then read a sight word on their side of the game board that is on a
corresponding shape. They can then cover that word/shape with one of their game
markers. If a student spins the “You Pick” option, he/she may choose any of his/her
words to read and mark. If all of the shapes are already marked when a student spins
it, he/she just loses his/her turn. Students may also fill out their recording sheets by
writing the name of the shape they spun and the sight word they read (any chance to combine math and ELA is always a plus)! :-) 

Instructions are also included, and you can either click either one of the pictures below to download, or you can download from my TpT store for free HERE

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Measuring Sight Words

We've just started our measurement unit in math, and today's lesson was for students to measure indirect objects by comparing it to a 3rd object. While it went pretty well, some of my students could use some extra practice, perhaps in centers. Therefore, I thought that I would combine the math skill with some sight word practice, and that is how Measuring Sight Words was born. :-)

To do this activity, students will use a piece of string to compare and measure the sight words from end to end. They will then write the longer word in the third column. And that's all folks - the kiddos will be practicing their measuring skills, and they will practice writing sight words - a 2 in 1 activity! To download, just click the picture!

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Magnifying Magic Sight Word Activity

Not only has it been a short week because of President's Day, but I was sick yesterday, so I had a sub. Then today, we actually had a K-3 sub day where we all had subs and we met for professional development (pretty amazing, huh??? - thanks so much to our awesome principal for giving us that gift) and implementation time. Anyway, I haven't even seen my darlings yet this week!! So crazy! However, today's professional development was so helpful, and we talked a lot about teaching vocabulary. My coworker and I will be explicitly teaching strategies for figuring out words and using vocabulary strategies as you read, and I'm super excited about it! More on that later! 

Last week sometime I mentioned a sight word activity using magnifying glasses. I actually got the idea for this activity from my old teaching partner who had heard of a similar activity using spelling words. I have used this activity for both spelling and sight words, and either way, the kiddos LOVE it! To play, students use a magnifying glass (either the little science ones that I'm sure your schools have, or anytime I can, I look for magnifying glasses in the $1 bins at Target - they sometimes have some super cute ones) to find the "secret word". They then write the word and use in a sentence/draw a quick pic. To make this activity, I just type the words in super small font - so simple! Feel free to download this 1st grade sight word magnifying magic activity below. I think I've got it to where you can just click the picture to download it - BIG thanks to Deb over at http://mrsreynoldsfirstgradeadventures.blogspot.com/ for helping me figure out how to link my images!!! :-)

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Rainbow Tracing Sight Words

Spring break is still 3 and a half weeks away, but I am all planned and prepped through that time. I am currently working on my plans for the rest of March and April, and because we have a short week after spring break (amen to the district head people who decided a couple years ago to give us a PD day after spring break - easing us back into it makes a world of difference), we are not doing a shared reading story. We're instead going to use that time that particular week for some sight word testing and sight word activities.


One of the activities I created for that week was Rainbow Tracing Sight Words. Because we're going to be doing some testing, I needed to come up with some slightly more independent activities, and I won't be able to do as many of my cooperative learning activities and group games that I normally mix in (i.e. find someone who, snowball mix n' match, quiz quiz trade, go fish, shaving cream, etc...).

To do this activity, students will read the sight words that are in the top boxes. They will then find the words in the text boxes below and rainbow trace them in the color shown. This is such a simple activity, but my students LOVE anything that has to do with crayons, markers, tracing/coloring, etc... I may even extend the activity and have the students then write the words out or write sentences using the given sight words (just on the back of their paper or in their writing to learn binders). The possibilities are endless, and this activity could easily be converted for spelling too! Here is an example of what it will look like when finished:

To download a pdf of this activity, just click the link!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rainbow-Tracing-Sight-Words

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Mirror Sight Words

So I was perusing around Pinterest one day, and I saw this super cool sight word idea using mirrors. I think I've said in previous posts that kids LOVE anything "different" and "out of the norm". Activities where students get to use things like highlighters, mirrors, and magnifying glasses (I have a cool magnifying glass sight word and spelling word activity also that I'll post sometime) are fascinating to the students. Anyway, I loved the idea, because it was different, so I borrowed the idea and modified it, and I came up with this sight word activity.

To begin with, I was really struggling with trying to figure out how to "flip" and mirror image text within Microsoft Word. After playing around with it for a while, I decided to use my noggin' and google free backwards fonts. There actually is a font called "backwards". I downloaded it, and to make the cards, I just typed the sight words backwards (i.e. last letter, middle letter, first letter) using the backwards font. The result was exactly as I wanted! To play, students will draw/choose a sight word card. I will be giving them the little mirrors we use in math class for symmetry, and they can hold the mirror up to the card. The students will then read the word out loud, write the word on the recording sheet, use it in a sentence, and draw a quick pic. I'm sure the sweet little munchkins will love this activity, but we'll see! :-) The pictures below are just for you to see what the activity looks like. To download, click the link below the pictures!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mirror-Sight-Words

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Play-Doh Center - Sight Words

I always use a Play-Doh center in 1st grade. I start the year having students use cookie cutters and play-doh to make other students' names in our class. That helps with both class name recognition and spelling (which is helpful for both the tattle and compliment jar - see previous post). However, after the 1st or 2nd quarter, I switch over to sight words. After a LOT of training on how to use this center appropriately, :-), students are able to use this center during guided reading. The kiddos LOVE it, and it's so easy. I just change out the words every week or couple weeks. The students take the Play-Doh center to a set spot, and they use cookie cutters to cut out the letters for the words. Then, after making the sight words with play-doh, they write the word in the box, and then they either write a sentence or draw a "quick pic" (a super quick, not too detailed picture). It's such a fun, tactile way for students to practice their words!! Feel free to download the recording sheet for free (the link is under the picture)!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Play-Doh-Center-Sight-Words

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Lightning Words - Sight Word Game

It doesn't take much to amuse primary age children! Make a game out of learning, and the kids are all in. Give them a highlighter, and they think they are on top of the world.

Lightning Words is a game that my students absolutely love. I use this game for both sight words and new vocabulary words that we are learning in shared reading. To play this game, each student gets a "gameboard" and a highlighter (after, of course, a very serious discussion about using the highlighter as a tool, not a toy). ;-) The teacher then either says the sight word, says a sentence using the word, or, if you are doing vocabulary, says the definition of the word. The students have to try to search for the word that the teacher reads. If they find the word, they get to highlight the word. If they find the word in 3 seconds or less (I usually just count aloud slowly), they get to color in the lightning bolt in addition to highlighting the word. I also have a big discussion about honesty and how it doesn't matter if you don't get to color the bolt in yet, because that means you get to practice it some more. I also make a huge deal out of students who are honest, and then they all want to proudly tell me that they were honest. :-)

Let me know if you have any questions, but this is literally such an easy game, and the kids absolutely love it! Also, feel free to e-mail me if you'd like a Word copy so you can change and modify the words! Click the link below to download the pdf.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Lightning-Words-Sight-Word-Game Pin It

Roll a Sight Word

I obviously have not been diligent in updating this blog, considering I haven't posted since basically school started. What a year this has been - busy, challenging, and crazy! In spite of the hectic nature, I'm continually finding ideas and making new games and activities. I couldn't figure out how to post any over the summer, but I'm going to try my first one today! This game is called Roll a Sight Word, and to play, you have the student roll a die. Whatever number he/she lands on is the word he/she will read from the game board. The student will use the word in a sentence, and then he/she can write the word in the blank. If the student is playing against another student, then whoever fills up one of their columns first is the winner. You can obviously edit this to fit whatever needs your child or student has. I like this game for not only sight words, but also for learning blends, digaphs, vowel combinations, etc... The possibilities are endless! Click the picture below to download! Visit my TPT store for the free download, or you can download a copy with all 1st grade sight words for a small fee. Happy Friday!

 



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