| Sight words are common English words that | | | | marker pen (or set of counters). |
| students need to learn recognize by sight, rather | | | | 2. The teacher reads out words in a random |
| than sounding out, in order to achieve reading | | | | order, taking care to pronounce each word as |
| fluency. In many (but not all) cases they have | | | | clearly as possible. |
| irregular or unusual spellings so can not be | | | | 3. The child then look for that word on their bingo |
| sounded out anyway. Because of their | | | | card. If they find it, they cross off that square |
| importance, educationalists generally place a lot of | | | | (or cover it with a counter). There is also one |
| stress on learning these words, and as a result | | | | special square on the card, marked "Free space", |
| teachers have developed a variety of classroom | | | | which children can mark off whenever they want. |
| activities to help children master these words. | | | | 4. The winner is the first student to achieve a |
| Some typical sight word activities include the use | | | | winning pattern and call out "Bingo!" (the teacher |
| of flash cards, group activities, and classroom | | | | should check the child's bingo card). Exactly what |
| games, such as "sight word bingo." | | | | is a winning pattern, can be varied depending on |
| Here is how to play sight word bingo: | | | | the length of game required, but something like a |
| 1. Each child is given a bingo card containing a | | | | straight line of five items, or two intersecting |
| different random selection of sight words, and a | | | | straight lines of five items, is the normal rule. |