Sight Word Practice Puzzles

These little sight word practice puzzles are easy and inexpensive to make. (You can pick them up at your local dollar store.) They work well in literacy centers and for "fast finishers." I also show my students' parents how to make them on our classroom blog. That way, they can practice at home and buy exactly the kind of puzzle they really want... whether it's Elsa or Ironman.

There are several ways to prepare your puzzle, but these are the two we use the most often. In the first example, the children have to decide which letter is missing from the sight word and match it to that space on the board. The words I write on the puzzle pieces are also posted on our word wall, so the kids have a visual resource to use, if needed.

In the next puzzle, the letters in each word are mixed up and the students have to unscramble the letters to determine the word. Each piece matches a correctly spelled word on the puzzle board.

At only $1.00 per puzzle, you can make several of these for your classroom. I have even set them out on team tables in the morning, encouraging students to work on them together while they wait for the announcements to come on. It's a nice surprise treat now and then... especially if I found something new at The Dollar Tree, like an Olaf or Transformer puzzle!

Actually, as I'm typing this, I'm thinking... you could make these for math, too.  Why have I not thought of that until now? Equations could be written on the puzzle pieces and the sums (or differences) could be written on the puzzle board. There could even be multiple equations with the same sum... that would require the kids to really look at the features of the puzzle shape to determine which spot it belonged in. Love it! Now I need a few more puzzles.

Ooh... these would be a fun way to review before a test, too.

What else could we do? The matching possibilities are endless.

Now I'm just rambling.

Happy teaching!