Abc letter books and sight word books can be used to teach so many different beginning reading skills. We have used them to teach letter recognition, beginning sounds, sight words, beginning reading strategies, and writing! The printable letter books and sight word books for kindergarten can be easily differentiated. We have broken down how you can teach each skill previously mentioned. To differentiate, have students focus on whichever skill they are working on at that time. We have also provided a sample lesson to see exactly how we taught these books in our classroom!
Letter Recognition
Before reading the book, go over the name of the letter and the sound the letter makes. While reading the book, stop after reading each page, and ask if they can find the letter and frame it in with their fingers. After reading the book with the students, have them find and highlight all the letters that correspond with that book.
Beginning Sounds
Before reading the book, go over the focus letter and sound. Have students search for words that begin with that sound.
Sight Words
The best sight word books for kindergarten have different sight words in each book that become more challenging as the books progress. Go over the new sight words in the book before reading the book. For example, show them the new sight words on flash cards, and tell them what the new words are, then have them read the new words. Add them to your word wall in your classroom. After reading the book, have students look for the new sight words on each page.
Beginning Reading Strategies
Printable sight word books and alphabet letter books work so well to teach beginning reading strategies:
- Look at the picture.
- Point to each word.
- Start the word.
- Think about what makes sense.
- Read the words you know.
- Go back and reread.
Before reading the book, have students look through all the pictures to get clues to what the book is going to be about. On the first page, have students point to the first word, get their mouth ready and start the word. Then students point to each word as they read and use the picture to think about what makes sense. If they don’t know a word, have them skip it and read the words they do know. Then have them go back and reread the sentence correctly.
Writing
If you are using printable letter/sight word books, the last page can be used for writing. This page can be easily differentiated. For students learning the alphabet, have them write the letter the book focuses on and draw a picture of something that starts with that letter. When students are ready for the next step, have them write a word and draw a picture that starts with the focus letter. For even more of a challenge, have them write a sentence that follows the pattern of the book and draw a picture to match their sentence. We always stressed that the word and picture that starts with the focus letter be different than what is already found in the book.
Sample Lesson
Discuss the reading strategies students can use to read the book. We had students tell us the strategies they can use and we wrote them on the board. At the beginning of the year, it might just be to look at the pictures and point to each word. Then review the letter name and sound and go over any new sight words found in the book. Do a picture walk: have students turn each page and name the picture. You may also want them to find the word that matches the picture during the picture walk. Model reading the book with your students, noticing the words that begin with the focus letter and the sight words. Have them continue reading using the strategies we discussed. Students read the book on their own, and underline all the sight words. On the last page, students can either draw and label their picture of another word that begins with the focus letter or write and illustrate a sentence following the pattern of the book.
Letter / Sight Word Books on Google Slides
These digital letter books / sight word books are a great way to reinforce the letter of the week, teach and review sight words and reading strategies. Each letter of the alphabet has its own 19 + page interactive digital slideshow. These slides are the perfect mini-lesson and a great way to engage your students. You can use these slides in your classroom or for distance learning.
Our Printable Alphabet Books
Our printable alphabet books can be used as individual alphabet letter books and are also some of the best sight word books for kindergarten we have found. The sight words become more challenging as the weeks progress. You will notice the order of the books is as follows: cmat rsip bfog hjul dwen kqvxyz. Based on research and experience, we recommend that you teach the alphabet in this order. Research has shown that this order gives students a good foundation for reading. This sequence is designed to help students be able to put sounds together and start building words. However, you may teach the alphabet in whatever order works best for you and your students.
Check out our Reading Skills Curriculum page to see our entire Alphabet Animals Reading Skills Curriculum! It is a year long curriculum that starts out teaching the alphabet and builds up to beginning sounds, long vowels sounds, digraphs, interactive writing, and more!
