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I am a firm believer that almost any content can be turned into a game, and games are a pretty sure way to get and keep kids engaged. In my classroom, I like having games available to my students to use during the Word Work portion of reading workshop/ Daily 5. I wanted to share the fan-favorite 5 sight word games from my 2nd grade classroom.
1. Found It!
This game is so fun! It's just like the kids' game Spot It, but each set of cards has sight words on it. The object of the game is to be the first player to find a sight word match between their card and the card on the top of the deck. The sets or deck are organized by Dolch list, which I love for differentiating. My students really like this game, and it's easy enough for students of all ability levels to play. No technology involved, just the game cards. It's perfect for 2-4 players. Sometimes I even use this game as a warm up for guided reading. I keep my card decks stored in those little photo boxes from Michaels that everyone loves. I love that the cards are color coded and labeled by set.
2. Sight Word UNO
This is such a good one, too, because most kids are already familiar with the game UNO. Instead of number, students match sight words or colors until someone has used all of their cards. It takes a while. I actually have the deck split into two decks so that two groups can play at once. It's a great game for 3-5 players.
3. Bananagrams/ Bananagrams for Kids
The thing I like about Bananagrams is their versatility and the nice little pouch that they come in. Bananagrams is like a crossword puzzle. I teach my students to play by using their sight words or our vocabulary words as a guide. In this fun and fast word game, speed wins, not points. Students race to build joined-up words using all of their letter tiles. When any player uses all of their letters, they shout 'peel!' and every player takes on a new tile - meaning everyone has to quickly rebuild their word grid! It can get pretty competitive, and I feel like it's a great game for my higher kids. It's best for groups of 3-6 kids. I also have Bananagrams, Jr. (My First Bananagrams), and I love that this version has blends, digraphs, and vowel teams together. Perfect!
4. Blend/Digraph Phonics Dominoes
These are great and a favorite in my classroom every year. Students build as many words as possible, being the first to use all of their tiles. I pull this one out when I start working on digraphs and blends in our phonics program. This is also a great warm up activity for guided reading. Dominoes works best for group 2-4 kids.
5. Memory and Go Fish
My students each have a bag of sight words that we add to during our phonics lessons each week. This makes it so easy for them to play Memory with 2 people. If they have 3 or 4 people in their game, they can play go fish with their phonics cards. They write their initials on each card, so they're easy to split up and put away when the game is finished. This is a true no-prep game for me. The kids are in charge of their cards and keep them in their book boxes. I teach them how to play, although most already know. They end up playing this a lot as a fast finisher choice, in addition to playing during Reading Workshop.I'd love to know your favorite sight word games for 2nd graders. Leave a comment below and let me know.
