We all know how important sight words are for our students to become readers and writers. We also know how much our kids love to build things. So how about a simple and FUN idea that combines sight words and building! SIGHT WORD CUPS! These sight word cups will bring literacy and STEM into your classroom in an easy, hands-on, engaging way!
These cups took me about an hour from start to finish and cost me about $10.
You’ll need Solo Cups and labels!
I used Avery Labels 18163! You can download the labels I made by clicking on the image or clicking here! These labels are for the 100 words our district uses. These are PDF files and are not editable. You can download a free template on Avery.com to make your own labels to match your sight words. The font I used is KG Red Hands. I went with gold and silver cups just because I like shiny things. Gold and silver=shiny. Shiny=happy. ALL THE SHINY THINGS!
To make the sight word cups, I first printed the labels. Then I attached the labels to the cups. TIP: Look at the placement of the labels. I learned quickly to place the labels close to the top of the cup so they stick better! Notice the silver sight word cup label is at the top and the gold cup label is in the middle. When I put the labels in the middle they started to loosen a bit. At the top, they stick just fine!
BAM! That’s it. Print and stick. And you have sight word cups.
So how will we use our sight word cups?
An easy literacy and STEM activity. Students choose a cup, then they read the word and write the word and build a sight word tower!
You can do relay races and divide the class into the gold team and silver team. They choose a cup and then read the word and stack.
You can do word building. Student chooses a word and then uses magnetic letters or letter tiles to build the word.
Differentiate the words by only including the words you want your students to practice. Use your ESGI data to easily and quickly assess sight words and analyze the data!
You could make two sets of cups for matching activities.
You can place the cups on the floor and roll a ball. Read and write and build the word you know down. Or toss a ring and you have to read the word the ring lands on.
So many possibilities for such and easy and cheap project!
Thanks Teacher Mom of 3 for the inspiration!
For more sight word ideas check out these posts:
