Dolch words are the most common words in the English language. Words like "the" and "and" may not seem exciting, but they hold the language together and occur so commonly that learning these words helps young students move forward quickly in their sight reading. Create a word fishing game with Dolch word lists. Make fishing rods with a small rod of wood and a piece of fabric on the end of it. Make word cards with Velcro on the back. The children fish for words and you attach the words to the end of the rod. If they can read the word, they keep it. If they can't read it, help them sound it out and throw it back into the pond until they catch it again.
Create a word wall with giant, easy words. Place a piece of fabric or felt on the wall and attach Velcro tabs to the back of cardboard cards. Print common words on the cards. For readers who are not as strong, place letters on the cards. The words can be Dolch words or words in a word family, such as cat, rat and bat. Add some of the children's names. Place all of the words on the wall in no particular order. Encourage the children to create sentences with the words. This is similar to the magnetic poetry kits for adults, but the word cards are much larger and simpler.
Create alphabet pictures and pictures of common sounds such as ch, th and sh. Have the children draw the letters on a piece of paper and disguise them in the landscape of a picture. An S could become a snake. An M could be a bird. The children can trade pictures and see if they can find any possible letters in the picture. Now, you can hide cards with letters and sounds around the classroom and have the children find them. When they find them, they must give them to you and tell you what sound the letter or sound makes. This exercise helps children understand the sounds that single letters and common letter combinations make.
Make cards with all of the letters of the alphabet and all of the common sound combinations such as ow, ou, ch, th and sh. Place the cards in a pile. Each child gets to pick six cards. The children take turns looking at their cards. If a child can make a word from the cards, he puts it down in front of him. Then he can pick the same number of cards from the pile in the middle. When the pile in the middle runs out, the person with the most words in front of him wins. This activity helps children practice oral blending, when they make words from individual sounds.