Sight Word Assessment in First Grade

I am writing about a sight word assessment I have used every year that really helps me evaluate my students’ word recognition skills.

I have included Google Drive LINKS where you can access some files for FREE!

Prepare Sight Word Assessment Rings

Prepare assessment sight word assessment rings for the sight words that you teach. If your curriculum does not provide a list of sight words, you can use the Dolch Sight Word List or Frye’s Sight Word List. Be sure you have the list in order of difficulty rather than alphabetical.

Here are 2 FREE TpT Resources. One is all 220 flash cards that you can print on paper or card stock. The other document is the Dolch Sight Word List by frequency and grade level. That is the order I use during my sight word assessment.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1s8LC5QPG1UKR6gkjFoolz0R19e24iqBBofktJSsbipU/copy

Dolch Sight Word List By Frequency and Grade Level

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17QTUkoRoZcF1Zyhun-18UzYjESod-KLEmVX-5BUBmWM/copy

If you prefer, you can purchase one of these sets of Dolch’s 220 words.

Assemble sight word assessment word rings. I suggest making them by column so that there are an average of 20 words per ring.

Next, I number the cards lightly in pencil in the lower left hand corner so students aren’t distracted by the numbers. This is so that I can keep track of where each student left off.

Assess Your Students Sight Word Vocabulary Aquisition

During the first few weeks of the school year,

I meet individually with each of my students to assess their sight word knowledge. As I flash through the cards in order of difficulty, I write each word that was unknown to the student in a box next to his or her name.

In the far right hand column, I write the number of the word where each student left off. That way, when I do my next assessment, I will start where that student ended. Each time I assess students, I continue until I have 10 additional words that were unknown to the student.

Here is a Google Doc file where you can type in your students’ names and record the words they need to learn during each sight word assessment.

There is a second sheet where you can make notes about how the student attacks the words. This is helpful later in deciding what each student needs to learn. You can note phonetic elements students need to learn such as short vowels, digraphs, vowel combinations, silent e, etc.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gQh82J2Mqp2Ay4E2MGNgn570h5dO_u5KvGp0KeIljWs/copy

As the year progresses, you can easily see which students are developing a sight word vocabulary by how great the span is between the numbers each time. If a student ended at word 10 during the first assessment and ends at word 20 during the second assessment, this tells me that the student needs help in building his or her sight word recognition and/or phonics skills.
The results of these assessments can also be used to document progress to parents during conferences.

Create a Sight Word Ring for Each Student
The next step is to make a word ring for each of your students containing the 10 words that he or she did not recognize. I always make mine by hand with markers and sentence strips. I cut the sentence strips in equal parts and punch holes in the upper left hand corner of each card. Then I place the cards on a notebook ring. You could also use an elastic, or place the cards in a baggie. Here is a link to 100 rings for $9.95.

Sight Word Practice in Kindergarten and First Grade

Here are some ideas:

Students can build their words with whatever you have available in your classroom: stamps, magnetic letters, letter tiles, etc.
To make the activity above more fun, pair students up that have similar words on their word rings. After one student creates his or her sight word, the other student mixes it up. Then, the student needs to put the letters back in order to build the word again.
Students can take a clip board around the room and record their words wherever they notice them in the room. Books can also be used.
Students’ homework can be to bring their words home to practice. I call this “Word Ring Wednesday”. Here are some suggestions of activities students can do at home:
Sprinkle a layer of salt, sugar, or flour onto a cookie sheet. Print your word ring words with you finger 4 or more times.
Find the letters of your words in the newspaper. Cut out the letters and spell your words.
Make rainbow words using crayons or markers to copy your words in different color combinations.
See how many times you can write each word in one minute.
Read a story. Count how many times you find your words.
Print your words on someone’s back using your finger. See if they can guess your word!
Write a sentence or draw a picture for each word OR see how many of your words you can use in one silly sentence!
Bring in some of your word work to share.

In my Teachers Pay Teachers store, I do have a wide variety of editable sight word games and activities that you can use to differentiate your students’ sight word practice.

I also have a BLOG POST about my editable sight word games.

These games include editable versions of:
Sight Word Go Fish
Editable Game Boards
Color By Code
Card Games
Magnetic Fishing
Spin and Write
Roll and Write
I Have___ Who Has____?
Sight Word Bingo
Cut and Glue
Matching Activities with Various Themes
RainbowTracing

Here is a link to the folder in my store.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Linda-Post-The-Teachers-Post/Category/EDITABLE-GAMES-AUTO-FILL-387309

I also have a BLOG POST about paperless, digital sight word activities that you can find in this folder in my store:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Linda-Post-The-Teachers-Post/Category/Digital-Interactive-Resources-GOOGLE-BOOM-CARDS-INTERACTIVE-PPTs-246987

I would love your comments about my sight word assessment method. I hope your new school year gets off to a great start!

Take care.

Linda