I have experienced the same problem with students not learning sight words. I have had to seek out older siblings and beg them to help students with their sight words at home. The best solution I have found thus far is to incorporate sight words into classroom practices everyday. I have cut outs of hands at each door with a sight word written on the door. Students "high five" the sight word and say the word when the enter and exit the classroom. I also teach phonics in small groups and incorporate 5 sight words per week in these groups. I have just had to look at the problem with sight words as one that has to be addressed within the school building, parents are not technically responsible for helping students meet sight word standards, although help at home is ideal. Best of luck!

Enlist the students' help. If the students are motivated to learn the words maybe they will go home and ask their parents to help them learn the words. Reward your students when they reach smaller goals. The 100 club is a great idea but hard for some younger students to reach, make the goal smaller and maybe they will be more motivated to get parental help.

I might try to motivate the student to study even if the parents aren't helping. Make flash cards for the student. He or she can ask a sibling to study with her (or him). If you take the responsibility away from the adult and let the student try, the parent might come around and help!

Active participation of a parent in their child's education is desired and optimal for a students successful achievement of goals in many cases. Unfortunately, that is one of the many factors that as teachers we cannot control in our student's lives. What we can control is the strategies, interventions, and methodology in our teaching to help those students who have little or not parental involvement in their child's education. A kindergartner can be given ownership of their learning process but not on a large scale. It is best to incorporate an Instructional Aid into the classroom to work with small groups on reinforcement of the sight words. The use of flashcards, picture cards, and even playing sight word Bingo will not only provide an element of fun in the classroom but reinforces sight word usage and activities. Regarding the parents, continue to communicate with them the importance of working with their child at home in order to attain mastery. Encourage the student to ask their parents for help; sometimes this is the catalyst that is needed for parents to realize that it is a team effort in educating their child.

You don't know what their home life is. Some parens may work night shifts and are unable to study with their students. I would maybe request a phone conference, or a face-to-face conference with some of the parents in order to show the strides, and improvements needed for their child. I would provide the parens with a copy of the sight word list and maybe break the words down into groups with dates they should master them by. I would write everyday in the planner "study sight words" as a gentle reminder. You could also send home a letter to all parents with the request for them to practice sight words with their children and a list of activities to enhance the learning at home. Maybe street signs, or menus at restaurants, have the children point out various sight words as they see them. EXPOSURE EXPOSURE EXPOSURE :)

I would suggest sending emails out to all of the families and explain why these words need to be practice at home. You can also create flashcards with words and pictures and have the parents sign their initials after they work on this with their child.

In my classroom, I have a most supportive parent award. Based on the data from the assessment of the sight words, parents can win a $5 gift card to Walmart. I know it is not much, but parents are competitive and love winning.

Hello, this is a great question. Parent participation at this age is so vital. Sometimes you have to understand that parents have jobs. They are not always able to help their students daily. Nowadays we have a lot of latchkey students and the way to make that better would be to give them weekly homework sessions instead of daily. You will see a better result if you give them time.