Submitted by: Pat Hewitt
Email: phewitt@topeka.k12.ks.us
School/University/Affiliation: McClure Elementary School, Topeka, KS
 

Date: November 1, 2002

Grade Level: 1, 2

Subject(s):

• Language Arts/Reading
• Language Arts/Vocabulary

Description: A PowerPoint presentation is provided as a helpful tool for increasing students' sight word vocabulary.

Goal: Students will increase their sight word recognition to become proficient readers.

Objective: Students will be able to read sight words fluently.

Materials:

• computers with Microsoft PowerPoint
   
• school district's list of sight words/Dolch words/Dolch phrases (or see Internet sites below)
• Sight Words - PowerPoint Presentation
  Clicking on the link above will open the PowerPoint Presentation in a new window for previewing.
   
• Download the Sight Words PowerPoint Presentation
  Clicking on the link above will download the PowerPoint Presentation to your computer.
• Click here to download PowerPoint viewer, if you do not have PowerPoint

.

Procedure:

[ Author's Note: After attending a PowerPoint workshop, I thought about creating a "Controlled Reader" using PowerPoint and a copy of Dolch phrases and our district's sight words. The amount of time can be controlled by using timed settings for all of the slides. The presentation can be a helpful tool for peer tutoring. Parents with computers have offered to use this activity at home, too.]

Students will work individually with the teacher at their reading level. Allow students to set goals as to the number of words that will be reached by a certain date. (Note about PowerPoint slides: Grade 1 words are on a blue background; Grade 2 words are on a pink background. )

Creating a Presentation:
A sample PowerPoint presentation is provided in this lesson, but here are some additional tips and suggestions for teachers who wish to construct their own:

• Have three slides to help students be prepared: "Get ready," "Set," "Go!" This extra time allows the students to be ready to read.
• Center the sight words.
• Keep each slide consistent in appearance.
• Use a large font to avoid eye strain.

After creating the number of slides needed, print an outline copy of the PowerPoint presentation to use as a teacher's (or parent's) checklist. To print an outline view of the presentation, go to File-->Print. On the Print Menu, look for a heading that says, "Print what." Change the pull-down menu to: Outline View. This is very important because otherwise you might print out the entire PowerPoint presentation! (See the screenshot in Materials for a helpful visual.)

Dolch Phrases:
As an extension, create a presentation with Dolch phrases. Begin with two words on a slide. Then increase to three or possibly four words. [ Author's Note: My students find this new way for Dolch phrases or sight words...."Cool!"]

Assessment: Provide a pre-test of students' sight word recognition before using the PowerPoint presentation. Then conduct a post-test after several practices. (The PowerPoint slides can easily be moved to varying places to create another slide presentation for a post-test opportunity within the Outline view. Just click and drag to a different place. The slides will re-number themselves. Be sure to SAVE AS "posttest" after altering the placement of the slides.)

Useful Internet Resources:
* Dolch Phrases
http://www.createdbyteachers.com/dolchphrases.html

* Dolch Word Lists
http://www.theschoolbell.com/Links/Dolch/Dolch.html