Play Post-It Bingo!

New readers need to develop a “bank” of words that they can read by sight. These are words we use all the time, but which often do not follow basic phonetic rules. Students need frequent practice with sight words so that they can read them instantly, without having to resort to decoding. If flashcards start to seem a little tedious, consider this fresh way to practice sight words to perfection…Bingo!

What You Need:

• pad of Post-It squares (3x3 or smaller)
• pencils
• set of 9 or 16 sight words to practice, written on index cards (See the list below for ideas)
• one piece of paper per player (Note: Instead of paper, you could simply use a flat surface, such as a cookie sheet or the kitchen table.)
• a set of bingo markers, about 10 per player (plastic chips, bottle caps, paper clips, coins, macaroni, M&Ms... be creative and have fun!

What You Do:

• Prepare the game. Each player writes the sight words on Post-It notes, one word per note; players check each other's notes for accurate spelling.  Once the prep is done, players arrange their notes in a square on the construction paper or flat surface. If you're playing with 9 words, you should arrange them in three rows of three. For 16 words, four rows of four.   Finally, put the stack of index cards in the center of the playing area, face down.

• Play!   The first player turns over the top index card and reads the word aloud. Players mark their matching Post-It note with a bingo marker. Once everyone’s done marking, the player shows the card to all gamers, so they can check their work to be sure they’ve got a visual match. Player puts card in the discard pile.  Play continues in this manner until a player has marked an entire row on their Bingo “board”. The winner yells "Post-It Bingo!", then the oldest player checks the discard pile to be sure all the marked words have been called.

To start a new game, simply pick up the Post-Its and rearrange the playing grid!

For Reference: A “High Frequency” Word List

Pre-primer:
a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you
 
Primer:
all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes
 
1st Grade:
after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, giving, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when
 
2nd Grade:
always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don't, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your
 
3rd Grade:
about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall, far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much, myself, never, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, together, try, warm
 
Common Nouns:
apple, baby, back, ball, bear, bed, bell, bird, birthday, boat, box, boy, bread, brother, cake, car, cat, chair, chicken, children, Christmas, coat, corn, cow, day, dog, doll, door, duck, egg, eye, farm, farmer, father, feet, fire, fish, floor, flower, game, garden, girl, good-bye, grass, ground, hand, head, hill, home, horse, house, kitty, leg, letter, man, men, milk, money, morning, mother, name, nest, night, paper, party, picture, pig, rabbit, rain, ring, robin, Santa Claus, school, seed, sheep, shoe, sister, snow, song, squirrel, stick, street, water, way, wind, window, wood