Sight Words: Flashcards: Single-Response (Ferkis, Belfiore, & Skinner, 1997). The tutor has a deck of 5 flashcards with sight words. Prior to the session, the tutor sets a session criterion for mastery: e.g., the student will name all sight words in the deck correctly 3 times in a row. The session opens with the tutor saying to the student "We are going to practice some words." The tutor shows each flashcard to the student with the prompt, "Look at this word and say the word." If the student responds correctly within 3 seconds, the tutor says, "Yes, the word is [word]." If the student responds incorrectly, the tutor says, "No, the word is [word]. Say [word]." If the student hesitates for longer than 3 seconds, the tutor says, "The word is [word]. Say [word]." When all flashcards have been presented, the tutor shuffles the cards and repeats. When the student attains the mastery criterion, the tutor repeats the above procedures with a new deck of 5 sight words.
Sight Words: Flashcards: Direct Instruction (Ruwe, McLaughlin, Derby, & Johnson, 2011).The tutor prepares a deck of 10 flashcards with sight words. Prior to the session, the tutor sets a session criterion for mastery: e.g., the student will name all sight words in the deck correctly 3 times in a row. The tutor shows each card to the student and asks, "What is this word?" If the student names the card correctly within 2 seconds, the tutor puts the card at the back of the deck and presents the next card. If the student names the card incorrectly or hesitates for longer than 2 seconds, that card temporarily becomes a 'drill card'. The tutor (1) shows the drill card, says the sight word aloud, and has the student repeat the sight word correctly, (2) returns that drill card to the deck 2 places back from the front of the stack, (3) following each subsequent appearance of the drill card continues to re-place it 2 places from the beginning of the stack until the student responds to it correctly 3 times in succession, and (4) then ends the drill-card procedure by placing that flashcard at the back of the stack. When the tutor has reviewed all of the flashcards in the stack at least once and has no drill cards in play, the tutor shuffles the cards before again presenting them to the student. When the student attains the mastery criterion, the tutor repeats the above procedures with a new deck of 10 sight words.
Sight Words: Flash Cards: Folding-In (Baranek, Fienup, & Pace, 2011). The tutor creates a deck of flashcards taken from a master sight word list (e.g., Dolch word list). In preparation for the intervention, the tutor shows each flashcard from the master deck to the student. Any card that the student is able to read correctly within 3 seconds is sorted into a "known" pile, while any card that the student reads incorrectly or hesitates on for more than 3 seconds is sorted into an "unknown" pile. Before each session, the tutor creates a daily deck of 10 cards, with 3 drawn from the "unknown" pile and 7 drawn from the "known" pile. The tutor shuffles the deck, presents each card to the student, and says, "What is this word?" If the student responds correctly within 3 seconds, the tutor says, "Yes, the word is [word]." If the student responds incorrectly, the tutor says, "No, the word is [word]. Say [word]." If the student hesitates for longer than 3 seconds, the tutor says, "The word is [word]. Say [word]." When all flashcards have been presented, the tutor shuffles the cards and repeats. When the student is able to read all sight words in the daily deck correctly 3 times in a row, the daily deck is updated: The tutor pulls any 3 cards from the daily deck, places them in the "known" pile, and adds 3 new cards from the "unknown" pile to the daily deck. The tutor then shuffles and repeats the above procedure.
Sight Words: Word List Preview and Repeated Reading (Baranek, Fienup, & Pace, 2011). For each session, the tutor creates a worksheet listing 10 sight words. Before beginning the tutoring session, the tutor sets a criterion for mastery: e.g., a word is mastered when the student has read it aloud correctly within 3 seconds 3 times in succession. The tutor first reads all of the words on the list aloud, while the student follows along silently. Then the student reads the list of words aloud, 3 times in a row. If while reading the word list, the student misreads a word or hesitates for longer than 3 seconds, the tutor points to the error word and says, "This word is [word]. Say [word]." After responding correctly, the student continues until the word list has been read 3 times. The tutor then records any words mastered during the session. In preparation for the next session, a new word list is created that includes those words from the previous list not yet mastered.
Materials. To use the Reading Racetrack, the tutor will need these materials:
Master list of sight words (e.g., Dolch Wordlist; Fry Wordlist)
Reading Racetrack form filled out with words from the master sight-word list
Stopwatch
Preparation. To prepare for a session:
The tutor compiles 4 short word-lists. The tutor creates 4 lists of seven words each from the master sight-word list, with no word appearing on more than one list.
The tutor fills out 4 'target' versions of the Reading Racetrack. For each of the 4 lists, the tutor fills out a copy of the Reading Racetrack, copying one word into each numbered blank and repeating them in random order until all 28 blanks of the Racetrack are filled in. (NOTE: When a 'target' Racetrack form is completed, each word from the seven-word list associated with it should appear 4 times on the sheet.) The tutor checks the appropriate checkbox on the Racetrack to identify it as a 'target' version of the sheet.
The tutor fills out a culminating 'review' version of the Reading Racetrack. The tutor copies the words from all 4 word-lists (7 words per list; 28 items in all) onto a single Racetrack form in random order. The tutor checks the appropriate checkbox on the Racetrack to identify it as a 'review' version of the sheet.
Directions. Here are directions for administering a single ('target' or 'review') Reading Racetrack.
The tutor provides directions. The tutor gives the student a copy of a Reading Racetrack filled out with sight words. The tutor tells the student that he or she will have 1 minute to read off as many words from the Racetrack sheet as possible. If the student is able to complete the circuit, reading all 28 words on the sheet before the time expires, he or she is directed to continue reading words in sequence from the Racetrack sheet until told to stop.
The tutor administers the timed Racetrack and records student performance. The tutor says to the student, "On your mark, get set...go!" and starts the stopwatch. As the student reads words aloud, the tutor records any errors. The tutor also tracks the number of complete circuits the student is able to make around the Racetrack (with each circuit signifying 28 words attempted). If the student hesitates for longer than 3 seconds on any word, the tutor states the correct word, directs the student to the next word, and records the hesitation as an error. At the end of one minute, the tutor tells the student to stop reading and puts a check next to the final word read.
The tutor and student tally and record the student's score. The tutor prompts the student to tally the total number of words read correctly and shares with the student the number of errors observed. The tutor has the student record both the number of correctly read words and errors on the Reading Racetrack Score Sheet. NOTE: The tutor also has the option of copying specific error words into the space marked 'Practice Words' on the Reading Racetrack Score Sheet.
The student practices error words. The tutor engages the student in error correction. For each error word from the reading, the tutor (a) points to the word and says it aloud, (b) has the student say the word in unison with the tutor, (c) has the student say the word aloud independently, and (d) has the student repeat the word correctly 3 times in succession.
The student repeats the Racetrack until reaching criterion. The tutor has the student continue timed readings of the current Reading Racetrack using the procedures described above until the student either (1) reads at least 90 words correctly in 1 minute, or (2) has attempted the Racetrack list a total of 5 times.
Steps. Here are the steps for completing a full Racetrack session. With guidance from the tutor:
The student completes 4 'target' Racetracks. The student completes each of 4 'target' Racetrack sheets as explained above.
The student completes the culminating 'review' Racetrack. At the end of the session, the student completes a 'review' Racetrack sheet as explained above.
Pre-K (40 words) — Download (PDF)
Kindergarten (52 words) — Download (PDF)
1st Grade (41 words) — Download (PDF)
1st 100 (100 words) — Download (PDF)