The Sight Word Songs are a literacy resource
based in music therapy.
Sight words are small, common words that are found in nearly every text around us.
They are tricky for early readers because they don’t follow normal phonetic rules, making them difficult to sound out.
Sight Words include words like “I”, “the”, and “are.”
The Sight Word Songs were first created by Karen Carter, a mom and licensed music therapist, when her youngest child was in kindergarten.
Each week Karen would write a new song to help her daughter’s class learn a new sight word.
The entire class saw incredible success.
Word quickly spread and many teachers started using the songs to teach Sight Words.
Used by teachers, parents, and students around the US, Sight Word Songs have helped early English readers time and time again.
Using familiar tunes and repetition, these songs encourage natural learning with multiple parts of the brain.
For each sight word, you’ll find a collection of resources:
- The sight word song
- Accompaniment track
- Lyric sheet
- Lead sheet
- YouTube link
- Worksheets to practice while listening
How to use this resource:
Sight word songs are rooted in music therapy principles, but using them is intuitive to anyone who listens to music!
We’ve found two different techniques most common, though many people use a combination of these two methods.
Method #1:
Focus on the SONG
- Use the lead sheet to teach the song, line by line.
- Play song with words, encourage students to sing along.
- Repeat often! Sing the song frequently throughout the day.
- Once song familiarity has been established, practice song without words.
- Play song without words while kids sing along.
- Use song as background music while working on related activities.
- Repeat, repeat, repeat!
Play the songs in the background while working on the worksheets.
Use whiteboard to write the word while listening to the song.
Encourage students to form each letter with their body while listening to the song.
Cut out pictures of the word from magazines and glue it to a blank paper, using the song as background music during the activity.
Spell the word while listening to the song.
Use flashcards – have students raise up the letters or word while singing along.Repeat, repeat, repeat!
Method #2:
Focus on the WORD
For best results: Do BOTH!
Teach the songs, then have them playing while students use other learning styles to join forces and solidify the words in their brain.