Sight Words... aka Rainbow Words for my Firsties

Every color of Rainbow Sight Words

How do you monitor progress of your students' mastery of sight words? I know there are a million ways that teachers do it! I wanted to share with you how I do it in my classroom. When I started in my current district (like 6 years ago) we used Rainbow words in 1st grade for our sight words. Since our new adoption, and several other changes later, most don't use it anymore but I love the accountability of it and so I re-created my own version for our current CA Treasures adoption. The Rainbow sight words are sorted into 10 different colors (red, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue, violet, light purple, and pink). Each set of colored words include 15 sight words in order they are introduced in Treasures (or very closely, because I DO make mistakes...) starting with red words. I also made a rainbow that we use and post in the classroom. When a student passes a color of words with 100%, they get to color that portion of their rainbow on the wall. It's a great way to keep kids motivated to progress through their sight words. It also allows for differentiated sight words at the same time, but in a streamlined, simplified way. We all know how critical it is to differentiate, but it is also NOT an easy task. So pop on over to my TpT store and check it out! I'm sure it will greatly simplify your sight word process, especially if you are a Treasures adopted district.



Rainbow Clip Art included to post and students color



Rainbow Words Bin

   I bought this container at Target (my <3) and I just keep all of my Rainbow Word supplies inside so when I am ready to assess each week, all I have to do is pull the bin out and GO! And if you are lucky enough to get a parent volunteer to do it for you.... then it's all here and ready to go for them! And you have NO prep!!! (Don't you hate having to prep for a parent to prep????) The cup has all the colors of the crayons they will need for the rainbow so when they pass I can just hand them the correct color. When they bring me the crayon back, I hand them their next color. The clipboard is where I record their progress for my records, just in case someone decides to color something they didn't REALLY pass (GASP!!!! No student would EVER do that...).


 I will be back at work this week doing bulletin boards and getting ready for school to start. We begin training this Friday! And the kids come on the 12th! Can't believe it is already here! I will post a pic of my Rainbow Wall once it is up. I also use these words as my word wall, but I build it as we introduce the words each week. Here is a picture of what I mean. This was mid-year, last year. The turquoise words at the bottom are the Kinder words that they SHOULD already know (not currently in my TpT store, but will be VERY soon!). Then I just build it as we go! See the little plastic bag to the left... yep, I'm fancy like that! Now I always know where they are! I just keep them all in there and add each Monday. Sometimes when the kids need help spelling a word they know it's a red word (or I tell them) and they know which color to look through. So this works for us in two ways! It also helps us see what color we are working on as a class so the kids know where they SHOULD be to stay current with what we are working on. For example, according to this pic, we are working on green words, so if your student has not colored yellow on their rainbow, they are behind. It's a nice visual for the parents too! I put the student rainbows right under this wall.

I sure hope you can use some of (or all) these ideas! I know how important sight words are to success in reading and this is a great way to streamline the process. I sure hope it works for you, as well as it has worked for me!