How to Use Sight Word Books in the Classroom

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Sight words are really important to teach, especially in the special education classroom. These are just common words that need to be memorized because they are not able to be decoded, or really difficult. Students should be able to recognize the word within 3 seconds without having to rely on decoding skills.

Many students on the spectrum struggle with phonics because they have difficulty learning in traditional ways because their brains just don’t process information in the same way that other children’s do. They are wired differently.

For example, many kids with Autism are visual thinkers—they think in pictures instead of words. So, sometimes, students need to learn words as whole words instead of using phonics.

Also, these type of interactive sight words readers are an excellent way to provide sensory input for your students. Each page uses a different tool to mark their answers.

The first page is random sight words with the focus sight word. I made this page to expose students to different types of fonts. This is an important skill because of all the different types of fonts that they will come across in real life.

This page is use to trace and write the word 3 times independently.

This page is used to “block” the word with a marker or other writing utensil.

This is one of my favorite pages. Kids love using Bingo dabbers.

This page is used to find all the targeted sight words using a highlighter. I am not sure what it is about highlighters, but kids think they are so important when they use them.

This page, kids practice reading the sight word in a simple sentence. This page supports print voice match by adding the gray dots at the bottom for the student to follow along. There are also 3 stars to practice with fluency. The student can color a star each time they read the sentence.

The final page is reading comprehension page. Students read the question and pick an answer from a field of 2 choices.

I placed a star with the target word on the top right of each page, so that if you do a bunch of printing and copying, and happen to drop all of the pages, you will know which page goes to each book (Yes , this actually happened to me)

You can use these books in a few different ways.

1. Homework: After introducing the sight word, send home these books as homework

2. Guided practice: Use them toward the end of your guided reading groups

3. Stations: Use them as a center that a paraprofessional runs

4. Morning Work: Use them as daily practice during your morning routine

5. Independent Center: once mastered, use as a task in this center

You can find this FREE interactive sight word book here

You can find all of my interactive Sight Word Books here:

What other ways do you practice sight words? Leave me a comment below!

Or you can pin this for later here:

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I am a High School, self-contained Autism teacher from Central New York, who is passionate about individualizing student learning. I am a mommy of three, lover of all things Disney, married to my best friend and addicted to chocolate!! I hope that you find great ideas and inspiration here, so welcome!!