Create a word wall in the classroom to teach sight words. On a bulletin board write sight words on index cards and place them underneath the letters that they start with. During the school year students may add more sight words as their proficiency increases. Turn out the classroom lights. Light up a word with a flashlight and let the children sound out the word until they can eventually read it instantly.
At home, reinforce sight word recognition. Collect old magazines and newspapers and ask children to cut out common sight words. Glue them into a notebook for the children to keep. While out doing errands, point out sight words in the environment, such as stop signs and exit signs. Help children learn sight words by drawing a map of the neighborhood with colorful pictures and sight words. The illustrations will help children connect the pictures with the sight words.
Games are a hands-on activity to understand and memorize sight words. Students may play a game of "Wordo," which is like bingo, except sight words are placed in a grid instead of numbers. Randomly choose and call out sight words from your list. Students mark off sight words on their grids; the first to complete a row wins. Or create a memory game with sight words. Write down pairs of sight words on heavy card. Cut them out into squares and mix them up. Turn the cards upside down and start a game of trying to match the pairs of sight words by turning over two cards at a time.
For students learning English as a second language, create an activity by writing sight words on small cards. Place them in a container and also add cards that say "bang." Each student should choose a card to read out loud. If a student can read the card, he keeps the card. If the student gets a "bang" card, she must put all her cards back into the container. The student who ends with the most cards wins.