Sight Word Incentives

I am attempting today to link up with two other blogs today.  The first is from Fourth Grade Flipper.

This Tuesday, I am linking up for the very first time!!!  I consider that something new that I have tried!

The second is a link that I just found.  It is from Head Over Heels For Teaching.  It is a Saturday link (but it is still open)!  

This linky party focuses on student motivation.  So, I thought I would share what I do with motivating students to learn their sight words!

Last week, I posted about how I assess sight words.  This idea of growing the amount of sight words that a child knows is enough for most students.  Just being able to see their numbers go up and up and up is all they need.  However, there are those few students that just need a little extra push to practice what you already know is important.

Therefore, I have created a Sight Word Incentive program called SIGHT WORD CELEBRITIES for students to be even further motivated to learn their sight words.

I called it Sight Word Celebrities so it fits along with my whole "Popcorn" assessment theme.  Sight words should pop like popcorn into your head.  And, I figure when you are a celebrity, you go to movies and have popcorn!  Personally, I put my Milk Duds in my popcorn as soon as the movie starts.  Then I have warm, salty, chocolaty goodness with my popcorn.  (Got that trick from my mom, thanks mom)!

The incentive program is a year long with the end of the year culminating in a MOVIE PREMIERE!  We are talking the whole shebang, red carpet (or fabric) and everything!  The sight words that I use are the sight words from the Dolch grade level lists, and they are organized within the grade level according to frequency of use.

Let me show you how the incentive program works.  Let's take the pre-primer list for example.  Here is how I divided the words from that level.  I divided the words into 10 lists.  This way, you can introduce the new words to the students in small chunks so the whole list does not seem that overwhelming.

Each child gets a Progress Chart.  This is where they (or you) can keep track of their progress toward mastering all 10 lists. 

As you can see from the chart above, every child gets invited to the Movie Premiere after they have mastered List 2.  I made the decision to have every child earn the ticket to the premiere early on in the program.  Remember, this is supposed to be motivating for students so I wanted to ensure success for all at this early stage.  After they have mastered list 4, then they will get to have popcorn at the Movie Premiere; after list 6, a drink; after list 8, candy; and after all lists, movie star sunglasses!  When the students have reached each milestone, they glue the proper icon onto their charts.  The icons I use are shown below.

The treats all vary depending on what the children can eat and allergies and such.  And the movie changes depending on what is current.  But the fun stays the same!  I like this program, because it is structured, but loose enough for me to make changes if needed.

I have made incentive programs for each of the Dolch lists:  pre-primer, primer, first grade, second grade, and third grade.  Each incentive pack comes with:

Table of Contents
Explanation of Program
Sight Word Certificates

Student Progress Sheet

Student Icons

Corresponding Assessment Pack

Parent Letters

Class Progress Forms

I am so looking forward to using it with the kids this year!

What do you do to motivate your students?