Find Information And Activities At: Opensightwords

OpenSightWordsFind information and activities at:www.opensightwords.comA free sight-word program for use in schoolsthat use PM Benchmarking and PM readers.Open Sight Words is a sight word program that I implemented atmy school to replace our old sight-word program. It’s designed forschools that use PM readers and PM Benchmarking. It was a hugesuccess in my school and other schools in my area have adoptedthe program and wanted to know more information about it. I’vecompiled information about my sight-word program to make iteasier to share with new schools that may be interested. I hopeyou find this useful!Contents of this Pack About Open Sight Words The Word Lists The Word Lists Explained Using Open Sight Words Sight Word Booklets

About Open Sight WordsWhy did I create Open Sight Words?Sight Word LevelsI first had the idea for my own sight wordprogram when I started teaching. My schoolwas using a popular series of sight words butI noticed that the words in this programdidn’t correlate to the words found in ourreaders. I spent hours and hours goingthrough our low-levelled readers andanalysing the words used. I discovered thatsome of their first-level sight-words in myschools program didn’t even appear in ourreaders until level 8.There are ten different levels of sight wordswhich roughly correlate to a reader level, asshown below:I set to work creating my own set of sightwords that would work for my school. Myschool used PM readers and PMbenchmarking. The word lists I’ve madecorrelate to the PM series of books and helpstudents become familiar with words theywill frequently use in the beginnings stagesof writing. Each list is only 9-12 words, amanageable amount for young learners.Should you use Open Sight Words?If your school uses PM Benchmarking andPM readers, then this program will beperfect for students who are reading atlevels 1-10. All you need is a printer!Why I named the lists ‘Open Sight Words’I named these lists Open Sight Wordsbecause they are open to everyone to use.I became a teacher because I wanted toeducate children. I believe educationshould be free and I am happy to share mylists with other schools that will benefit fromthis program, because the children are theones who benefit.Sight Word LevelPM Reader le8Brown9Grey10My ResearchI considered a few things when I made mylists. This includes the frequency of the wordsoverall, the number of books theyappeared in, and their importance to theearly writer. My research included theanalysis of the reader books themselves, inaddition to consulting the Oxford Word List.Below is a screenshot of my research inprogress:This work is licensed under a ves 4.0 International License.That means you are able to share thisdocument as much as you want. You canupload it, send it, and photocopy it.You are allowed to make resources usingthis word list but you must link back towww.opensightwords.comwww.opensightwords.com

The Word ListsPink WordsRed amtoohungrybignoinYellow WordsBlue mothergoseesareasleepmygoingdownohgoesGreen WordsOrange ergoodrancriedthanksomeyourAqua WordsPurple sidemakehelpbackstaywalkoutthisBrown WordsGrey ghtwords.com

The Word Lists ExplainedPink WordsThis is the first set of words and containsthe most frequently occurring words. Thewords ‘is’ and ‘here’ were in every level 3PM reader used in my research. The words‘the’, ‘said’, ‘look’, ‘at’ and ‘come’appeared in 60-90% of them. ‘I’ and ‘am’do not appear as frequently as some ofthe red words, but these are importantwords for beginning writers, and they stillappear in the texts regularly.Below is the text from a level 3 reader (TheBig Hill). Note the use of ‘look’, ‘at’, ‘is’and ‘the’.Below is some text from the level 4 reader,Lily’s Apple. Note the use of yellow wordssuch as ‘you’, ‘are’ and ‘my’. Pink and redwords ‘here’ and ‘said’ are also used.Green WordsBy the time students get to green words,they have know 42 sight words. Greenwords correlate to level 5 readers. Fromthis level students are only given 9 sightwords per level as they already have astrong foundation.Orange Words & Aqua WordsRed WordsThe red words contain 12 more words thatare found in level 3 readers. Oncestudents know these, they will most likelybe reading level 3 texts independently. Asstudents advance in sight-word levels,they begin to make connectionsbetween words. For example: ‘comes’ isthe pink word ‘come’ with an ‘s’ on theend.In the above text, note the use of ‘big’and ‘a’, two red words.Yellow Words & Blue WordsYellow & Blue words are the most frequentlyoccurring words found in level 4 readers.‘Dad’ is a word that frequently occurs ataround this level but is not included as oncestudents get to level 4 texts they are able tosound out ‘dad’ with reasonable ease.Orange and Aqua correlated to level 6and 7 readers. Once students know wordssuch as ‘stay’, they can use suffixes suchas ‘ing’ and ‘ed’ to decipher words suchas ‘stayed’ and ‘staying’.Purple WordsPurple words correlate to a level 8 reader.By this stage students have a range ofstrategies to decipher words that may notbe sight words. For example: The word‘outside’ will appear in texts, but is not asight word. Students can use theconnection of ‘in’ and ‘inside’ and applyit to ‘out’ and ‘outside’.Brown Words & Grey WordsBy the time students get to brown andgrey words, sight words are much lessimportant. Some teachers may not find asmuch use for these two sight-word lists.www.opensightwords.com

Using Open Sight WordsYou are welcome to use the Open SightWords list however you like within yourclassroom. Here I will explain how I’veimplemented them in my KindergartenClassroom.Sight Word BookletsEach student in my class has a sight wordbooklet. I’ve included the pages used tomake sight word booklets at the end of thisdocument.I make the little booklets by photocopyingthe pages onto coloured card and staplingthem together.The sight word booklet goes home with thestudent’s home readers so they canpractise the sight-word booklet with theirparents.I test my students at least once a week ontheir sight words. I usually do this as part of aguided reading group. As I test, I sign eachword they get correct, or draw a little circlefor words they get wrong. Once they knowtheir whole set, I put a sticker on the front oftheir sight word booklet.I’ve included two front-covers for the sightword booklets depending on how manyword-lists you want to use. (8 or 10).Word WallMy classroom contains a word-wall whichdisplays each sight-word in the NSWhandwriting font. They are laminated andhave some Velcro on the back, so they areeasily removed by students for games or foruse in their writing. Having the words printedin NSW handwriting font helps students usecorrect letter formation.I also include a selection of 30 other wordsfrom the Oxford Word List which not Opensight words. These are words that studentsare more likely to use in their writing thancome across in their reading. This includeswords such as ‘was’, ‘because’ and‘yesterday’.Literacy ActivitiesMy school has literacy groups in themorning, and ‘sight-words’ is often use asone of their rotating activities. Here’s someexamples of literacy activities they may dowith their sight words:BingoEach student gets a board with 6 sightwords. One student (or parent helper) callsout the sight words one at a time. Thestudent who fills up their board first calls out‘bingo’.Font MatchThe students are given 3-4 copies of theirsight words, with each copy in a differentfont. Students need to match the wordstogether. This gives student practise readingsight words in different fonts such as thehandwriting font, the sans serif book-fontfound in readers, and serifs fonts in higherlevelled readers that use the double story‘a’ and ‘g’.MemoryI have two copies of every word on cards.Students lay them all face down and taketurns to make a ‘pair’.Book HuntI usually do this activity after a guidedreading session. Students get a smallchecklist of their sight-words and then lookthrough their reader trying to find as manysight-words as they can. Sometimes theymay look in other books for the words too.Swat the BugsEach of the sight-words is on a differentbug. When a sight-word is called out, thestudent needs to find the bug with thatword and ‘swat it’.www.opensightwords.com

kredyellowbluegreenLevel 3Level 3Level 4Level 4Level 5orangeaquapurplebrowngreyLevel 6Level 7Level 8Level 9Level inkredyellowbluegreenLevel 3Level 3Level 4Level 4Level 5orangeaquapurplebrowngreyLevel 6Level 7Level 8Level 9Level 10

kredyellowblueLevel 3Level 3Level 4Level 4greenorangeaquapurpleLevel 5Level 6Level 7Level nkredyellowblueLevel 3Level 3Level 4Level 4greenorangeaquapurpleLevel 5Level 6Level 7Level 8

OpenSightWordsPink ooOpenSightWordsPink oo

OpenSightWordsRed rybignotosaidinOpenSightWordsRed rybignotosaidin

OpenSightWordsYellow asleepmyYellow kedyoumeseeareasleepmy

OpenSightWordsBlue rgogoingdownohshoutedseesgoesOpenSightWordsBlue rgogoingdownohshoutedseesgoes

OpenSightWordsGreen goodrancriedOpenSightWordsGreen goodrancried

OpenSightWordsOrange rthanksomeyourOpenSightWordsOrange rthanksomeyour

OpenSightWordsAqua mwehelpbackstayOpenSightWordsAqua mwehelpbackstay

OpenSightWordsPurple makewalkoutthisOpenSightWordsPurple makewalkoutthis

OpenSightWordsBrown havehavingwalkedplayingnewOpenSightWordsBrown havehavingwalkedplayingnew

OpenSightWordsGrey akethatoldoffOpenSightWordsGrey akethatoldoff

OpenSightWordsGray akethatoldoffOpenSightWordsGray akethatoldoff

isherecomelookIamtheattoo

mumlittleupcomesaonhungrybigtosaidnoin

andforyoumeareasleeplookedseemy

cannotlooking mothergoingdownshoutedseeshappygoesohgo

awaywenthomehegoodranintowherecried

theycamewillshethanksomelikeafteryou

comingwithplayI’mhelpbacktodaywestay

pleaseagaineatinsidewalkoutmakethisway

it’scan’tmakinghavewalked playingmade havingnew

sawnowwithout laughthatoldthentakeoff

their sight word booklet. I’veincluded two front-covers for the sight-word booklets depending on how many word-lists you want to use. (8 or 10). Word Wall My classroom contains a word-wall which displays each sight-word in the NSW handwriting font. They are laminated and have some Velcro on the back, so they are easily removed by students for .