Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Adapted Dolch Sight Words


All of my students start out with the Fairview Adapted Dolch Words. For those of you unfamiliar with Fairview, Adapted Dolch words are the most common sight words, and many of which have multiple signs and meanings. Students learn all of the various signs for a word to increase their comprehension when reading. For example, the word "run" has 11 signs. Yes, 11! I have to run out the door. The students run at PE. I'm going to run some copies. The teacher runs the class. Obama runs for President. Etc, etc. So our Deaf/Hard of Hearing students learn the multiple signs and meanings for the Adapted Dolch sight words preprimer through third grade.
 
I have two sixth graders that have mastered the lists. The rest are all working at their own pace through the lists. (This is the part that I love about Fairview- all of our students are getting what they need at their level.) This is probably the most challenging part of the Dolch rotation during our Fairview time. Every single student has their own list they are working from. Luckily, my instructional assistant takes the lists I give her from my assessments with the students and then develops the word lists and homework for the week. We keep the student word lists and Adapted Dolch word lists in a binder at her table.
 
When a student arrives to her table they bring their FV word box with them. She introduces the new word. She explains and describes each sign and meaning. Many times this means using a picture to really give the students a mental image of the meaning. The students make a 5x8 index card with the word and number of signs/meanings on the front and a picture and sentence for each meaning on the back. Then she reviews all of the words the student has been working on. The younger students also make a sight word watch that they wear home for the day. They love to make these watches and it's a good reminder to practice their new sight word with their parents.
 
When I first started to use the Adapted Dolch word lists a few years ago, I decided to make file folders for each and every word. Yes, it was a lot of work, but in the end, it makes it so much easier to just pull out the files we need for the week. The files are in a crate out on the counter for easy access.
Within in the folder are all of the activities I've accumulated for that sight word. This includes the multiple signs for the word, sight word watches, writing practice, homework I've created, and other activities. I've been able to find a lot of fun activities like play dough sight words, sight word graphing, pokey pin sight words, and sight word practice pages online at Teachers Pay Teachers. These have made our center activities lots of fun for the students and are great practice using what we've learned. A lot of my students need repetition and practice to master their sight words.


4 comments:

  1. What all is included in your folders? I see some ASL vocabulary pictures for each meaning of "blue." How do you use them and are they available on TPT?

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  2. What all is included in your folders? I see some ASL vocabulary pictures for each meaning of "blue." How do you use them and are they available on TPT?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alyssa,
      These are just folders where I have gathered all sorts of activities for each sight word. Those ASL signs are just copies from the sign language book. We use Fairview Learning and I use the signs for all sorts of activities. Sadly, I cannot sell anything related to Adapted Dolch with the multiple meanings due to copyright from Fairview. I had to pull stuff down off of TPT. =( I do have lots of basic Dolch sight word activities in my TPT store. It does not reference any of the multiple meanings, just the word lists themselves. I hope that helps.

      Thanks for stopping by my blog,
      Kelly

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  3. Hi Kelly, I am starting to implement Fairview Learning for some of my ASL students. I wondered if I could ask you some questions regarding how to get started? This is my first year as a deaf educator.

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