Differentiating A Sight Word/Word Work Center Through Color

Every single year, I am overwhelmed with the thought of teach 20 five year olds a list of 40-50 sight words. Especially when most of mine come in without any letter/print awareness knowledge. But that's what I like about Kindergarten...they make so much growth and change in the course of the year.

Anyways...

The biggest frustration in my literacy centers was figuring out how to differentiate my sight word/word work center and know that each child was working on words/activities that would benefit them. I would have some activities for some of my words, and other activities for others. I got really overwhelmed by teaching them different activities and expecting the higher/lower ones to only stay on the activities I told them to do. The biggest frustration was trying to figure out a way to get them to work on the words they needed to keep on moving up in reading levels.

This year has been a magical year for me. Things are starting to click and I am starting to figure out how to solve a lot of problems I have had in years past. The sight word center problem was FINALLY solved this year, and I am not sure how I did not figure it out earlier: color code my words and centers.

Let me elaborate on how this works.

1. I took my 40 word list and broke it up into four lists of ten words...each list gets a little bit harder and matches up with harder words in the harder reading levels. It is much easier to learn a small group of words than an overwhelming list of 40 words.

2. I assigned each list a color: yellow, orange, pink, or green.

3. I created identical activities for each word list, then ran them on that list's designated color.

4. I assessed the kids and assigned them a color for the word work center.

5. I taught the new and improved center activities one time to each child, then I explain to them that in order to share "I had to assign all of them a color." There is a list of names at the center, and a dot next to their names. They are to only work on the color assigned.

So Sally might not know any words and be working on yellow (the first list I expect them to learn), but Johnny might know almost all of the words and be working on the last list, green. They could both be playing "Word Detective" but are working on words each of them need to practice.

Here are some pictures of how it all works:

Here are two students playing "Word Detective," but the colors of their activities are different. This means one is working on a higher or lower list than the other. But the exact same activity!

Two students on the same level...one playing "Word Detective" and one playing "Spin to Win."

 Another activity I enjoy is giving them a set of flash cards for one list on one color, and beads/pipe cleaner in the same color. They use the pipe cleaner and beads to build the words. The beads that I wrote on with a sharpie marker can be found here:

 http://www.joann.com/star-pony-bead-neon-multi-200-ct/12143251.html

If you are interested in the specific activities  I use, I created this pack that breaks down how to set it up and get it going. Each list includes assessments, spinner games, dice games, tracing activities, flash cards, and much more! This can be found in my TPT store here.