Sight words are the commonly used words in our language that teachers want students to be able to read without sounding out or by using picture clues. Prepare a deck of cards labeled with sight words. Write each word on two cards, so that you have matching pairs. Place the cards facedown in a grid pattern on the table. Players take turn choosing two cards to turn over, looking for a matching pair of words. Once a player has found a match, he should read the word and use it in a sentence, and then he can keep the pair. Play continues until all the matches have been found, and the player with the most pairs of sight words wins the game.
CVC words are words that follow a pattern of consonant-vowel-consonant, such as cat, mop, pig and run. This type of word allows first-graders to easily apply the letter sounds they have learned to read a whole word. Prepare several bingo cards with a three-by-three grid. Write one letter in each box so that each row or column forms a CVC word. Make a deck of cards containing each letter of the alphabet and a few labeled with a star. Draw a card from the deck and call it out. If a student has that letter on his card, he covers it with a marker. If a card with a star is drawn, students may choose any letter to cover. When a player has covered three letters in a row, he shouts "bingo" and reads the word that those letters make.
Prepare a deck of cards labeled with sight words or vocabulary words you would like your students to practice reading. Make sure there are four cards with each word. Shuffle the deck and deal five cards to each player. Place the remaining cards in a pile in the middle of the table. Players take turns asking one another if they have a card with a word that matches one of their cards. If the other player does have the card, he gives it to the asking player. If not, he says "Go Fish" and the asking player draws a card from the pile. When a student has a matching pair of words, he lays them down. Once all the words have been matched, the player with the most matches wins the game.
Making words out of letters is another way for students to practice phonics rules. Have each child write the letters of his or her name on index cards, with one letter on each card. Lay the cards faceup and invite the students to use the letters to create new words. For example, a child named Jonathan could use the letters in his name to make "hat," "tan" or "jot." Ask the students to write a list of the words they made with their letter cards and read them to you.