Fun Reading Activities: Shark Sight Words

We have been enjoying  a wonderful series of phonics readers in our house as my son begins his learning to read adventure.

And, as we do with most learning in our house, we surround it with hands-on activities.  Here is a fun reading activity for beginning readers that practices sight words.

Book and Activity

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Shark in the Park by Phil Roxbee Cox fun and silly book in the Usborne Phonics Readers series.  The animals all rush to the pond fearing that there is a shark in the park.  Is there really a shark in the park?  Young readers will delight to find out why the animals thought there was a shark in the pond.

This book along with the others in the series showcases simple rhyming text and phonics repetition specially designed to develop essential language and early reading skills.

We have so many of the Usborne Phonics Readers including our favorites Underpants for Ants and  Hen’s Pens.  We have been enjoying them as read-alouds, but now my son is almost ready to read them on his own.  As a mom and reading specialist, I highly recommend this series for new readers.

Guidance notes for parents are also included at the back of the book.

Usborne Books also has some other great books about sharks that will interest your child.  Check out these titles that are packed with information and realistic pictures of sharks.

Sharks

Lift the Flap Sharks

After enjoying several readings of the book, we created a fun sight word reading activity to practice some of the words from the story.

Shark Sight Words

Materials Needed:  blue and white foam sheets, scissors, permanent black marker, water tableor container to hold water

1. Cut 6 shark fins from blue foam sheets.  Write one sight word on each fin.  Use the following words from the book: you, what, no, she, to, and your

2. Cut 11 teeth from white foam sheets.  Write a letter on each fin.  Use the following letters: h,a,e,n,o,r,s,t, u, w, and y

3.  Fill a water table, bathtub or large wide container with water.

4.  Float the fins with the sight words facing down.  Float the teeth with the letters facing up.

You are ready to play!

Call out one of the sight words.  Your child “catches” a shark from the sea and reads the word.  If it is the word that was called, they get to keep the word and proceed to the next step.  If it is not the word called, it is returned to the sea and a new shark is caught until the correct one is found.

The next step is to gather all the teeth that belong to the shark.  Your child should find each letter that is used to spell the word.  Arrange the letters in the correct order.

Then, return the teeth to the sea and announce a new word!

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Sing this shark themed song to work on beginning sounds.

Enjoy reading, playing and learning more sight words!