If you want a quick, editable activity for practicing sight words, this spinner is a simple but effective idea! Even if your child just has a spare 30 seconds before heading out the door they can use this to practice a couple of sight words.
When you only have a minute
This activity is part of a growing series of free learning activities for math, reading and writing when your kids only have a few spare minutes… or even less! You can find them all HERE!
Preparing this sight words activity
- Download this free printable at the bottom of this post
- Print off the pre-prepared sight word spinner in colour or black and white OR
- Edit to include whatever words you’re currently working on (or fun words, or differently levelled words etc…)
- It’s easy! Just open the file in Adobe Reader (it’s free), click on the space and type.
- Please note: for the editable version the words had to be straight rather than slanted (because I couldn’t make my program do that).
- Once you’ve added your own words just print it off.
- Add a brad if you have one. For these I’ve used a split pin (do Americans call them cotter pins??) and attached a paper clip as a spinner. This requires less effort than trying to hold a pencil in place to spin the paper clip.
- You’re ready to go!
How to use these sight word spinners
Really – it can’t get much easier than this. Simply spin the spinner and read the sight word. That’s it!
To play in pairs, have one spin and the other read, or put 2 kids together so they can help each other decode the words.
It’s designed as a consolidating task rather than as an avenue for learning previously unknown words. This way, when your kids have a few spare minutes, or while they’re waiting for other kids to finish in the bathroom, they can quickly grab and spin and get a little more practice.
Ask the children what words they’d like included. Perhaps you’re learning ‘All About Me’ or how communities work. This is a great way to bring social studies vocabulary into a reading exercise. Or add the names of different children if they’re learning to read each others’ names.
SendĀ them home
These spinners are excellent to send home for kids to show their families and do a little extra practice there, too! You could ask them to spin and read 5 times, or spin and read for 5 minutes… whatever’s most appropriate for each child!
Download these editable sight word spinners
When you click on the following coloured link these EDITABLE SIGHT WORD SPINNERS will automatically be sent to your download folder or other device equivalent.
P.S. The printable looks a little different from the one pictured. Before I could post this activity my laptop was stolen from the overhead compartment while I slept during a flight (more than a tad upsetting). So I’ve re-created the activity with different graphics since I no longer have the graphics pictured. But the photos were still on my iPhone so I’ve used those since I’m travelling and have no way to print and re-photograph. That’s my sad story for the day. But I’ve certainly learned to make sure I lock up my carry on bag as securely as my suitcase!
What kinds of words will you be using with your spinners?
Let us know in the comments!
These spinners are awesome! Thank you for sharing them and making them editable. Wow!!
You’re welcome, Debbie! It’s limiting when you can only have a few words, and otherwise you have to create SO many spinners. There are limits to what can be done when making something editable, and I’m still experimenting. I do hope you get lots of use out these spinners!
Thank you! These will be perfect for my sight word center!
Great idea, Michele, especially since it requires almost no explanation!
Thank you so much! Will be using them to reinforce our high-frequency words. Can’t believe that they couldn’t find the person that took your laptop?!
Unfortunately I didn’t realise until I arrived at my hotel so it was too late to actually pinpoint exactly when it might have been taken. It’s such an awful feeling! I hope your kids enjoy the activity, Lorina!
I’ll be using our district’s sight word list in a center. I’m going to print each quarter’s words on a different color of cardstock for easy organization.
(What I know as a cotter pin couldn’t be used in this way–they aren’t flexible. I looks like you’ve used what we usually call a brad. No problem of course, but since you asked . . . )
You’re well organised, Terri! It’s good to be able to spend a bit of time making something that’s going to last you through the whole year… excellent! And thanks for the reply to my question!!
Thank you.
You’re welcome, Verna!
I love this idea. I am beginning the year with my K4 class with their first names. I should be lots of fun for the little ones. Thank you so much!
Great idea, Dawn!
this is exactly what i am looking for to do my internship. Thank a lot for such an awesome idea.
I hope they work well for you, Nurhani!
Sorry about your laptop š thanks for taking the time to recreate it!
You’re welcome, Laurel! It was a bit of defiance on my part. Recreating it was one little way of proving to myself that the thief wouldn’t get me down and I’d keep moving forward.
Thank you for this! I love it. When I print the editable document, however, it prints blank. I type the words in and they show up in my print preview, but when I actually print it they aren’t there. I’ve never had this problem with an editable document before! Any ideas?
Really? Goodness Megan, I don’t know what that’s about! Do you save it with the new words before printing?