How to Teach Kids Sight or Spelling Words Faster and More Accurately

_by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

Are you looking for a simpler and faster way to teach your kids their sight words or spelling words? Kids can get discouraged easily when progress isn't made quickly.

As a former homeschool mom who still plays an active role in teaching the kids, I've developed many learning methods and lesson plans.

When it comes to fully grasping new words, kids need to make the connection in several ways. If they only make the connection to the word in one or two ways, it will be harder for them to learn current and future words. My method for teaching kids spelling and sight words fast comes in several steps.

Step One: Make flashcards of all the words together. Write each word on its own index card in dark lettering. The child can help with this by looking at the words and copying what they see onto the index cards. This helps practice the visual connection, as well as the writing connection.

Step Two: Show one flashcard to the child, clearly pronouncing the word.This triggers an audio-visual connection to the word. Be sure the child is looking at the word as well as listening.

Step Three: Have the child repeat back that same word. This will tell you if the child is listening to you. It also helps with the speech connection. A child needs to be able to say a word properly before truly understanding the way the word should be formed.

Step Four: Have the child write the word. Just seeing, hearing, and saying the word is not enough. A child also needs to know how to write it. This will help with spelling tests and reading & writing in general.

Step Five: Have the child read the word back to you, sounding it out. If the child is reading it back without sounding out the word, it may just be that they are saying it because you just said the word. Take the time to have the child say each sound in the word so that they know how the word is formed.

Step Six: Repeat steps two - five with each word. This same process should be followed with each word, including the easier words. Going through this process helps to give the child a good understanding of how words work, which will help with reading and writing current and future spelling and sight words.

Practice these steps until the child can read and write each word quickly.

I've successfully used this method with more than one child. Let us know in the comments how it worked for you and any tips you may have as well.

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