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Learning to Read: Sight Word Catcher Game

Learning Sight Words

Learning to Read: Sight Word Catcher Game

As your child begins to learn sight words, practice vocabulary, and look for high-frequency words in the world and print around her, she needs a way to do it without it feeling like work. It can be more than a little frustrating for both you and your child to use flash cards as a go-to learning tool, and it may even make your child less willing to read.

That's where a Sight Word Catcher comes in. Though to you a Sight Word Catcher might just look like a fly swatter with a hole in the middle of it, to your child it's a prop that gives her a creative way to learn those words. The practice book called for here should be a book in which the print is the size your child normally reads. You'll need to have it handy to make sure you're cutting the window of the Sight Word Catcher the correct size.

Skills Being Practiced

• Word recognition
• Fine motor skills

What You Need

• Plastic fly swatter (unusually shaped or colorful is more appealing to your child)
• Ruler or a straight edge
• Marker
• Scissors
• Practice book

How to Make the Sight Word Catcher

1. Measure and mark a rectangular frame in the middle of the fly swatter. Remember that the window needs to be able to frame one word in your child's books, so you may also want to measure the average length and height of a word in the practice book. If you're unsure how large to make the window, try marking off a 2" x 1" rectangle—that's typically the correct size.
2. Poke your scissors in a hole near the edge of the rectangle you've drawn, and cut out the piece.
3. Try the Sight Word Catcher out on the practice book to see if you can "catch" a word in the window.

How to Play Word Catchers

How to Play

1. Once you have the catcher made, you're not going to be able to hold your child back from "catching" or swatting at words. After all, that's the best part of the Sight Word Catcher.
2. You'll need to be prepared to play along by pretending the word your child is trying to catch is going to fly away like a bug. That way you can give her permission to swat at the word quickly so it doesn't get away. Here are some other ways to play along:

• Keep a copy of your child's latest spelling or sight word list handy. As you read books together, make sure both of you have access to the word list and the Sight Word Catcher. Whenever you see one of the words in the book, see who can catch the word first.
• Frame the words of a story as you read to your child. It may slow down the book, but it will help her to understand that each word on the page helps to make up the sentences that tell the story. Don't forget to stop once in a while and see if she can tell you what word you've caught.
• Pick a word from the list. As your child reads the book and catches the word, count how many times it appears. Keep a weekly list of the books she reads, the word you've chosen, and how many time it appeared in each book. At the end of the week, you and your child can see which book wins the Chosen Word Award. You can do this with multiple words at a time, too.
• Let her bring the Sight Word Catcher to the breakfast table. Once the meal is over and anything that could spill is out of the way, set her loose with her Sight Word Catcher, the cereal box, and the morning paper. See how many familiar words she can swat.
• Carry the Sight Word Catcher in the grocery store. Though you may worry about your child being a disruption as she catches words she knows on signs and packages, you can make staying calm and not knocking things over a condition of bringing it to the store. You might be surprised by how well behaved she is when she's on a mission!