Creative Lesson: Fry Words Leaf Rubbing Activity

• Teaching Fry Words, or sight words, covers standards in grades 1-5 and builds a foundation for reading and writing.

• Turning learning sight words into a fun and engaging activity will keep your children excited and eager to learn.

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What are Fry Words

 Fry words are a specific set of sight words, or high frequency words used for teaching the written English language to children. They are a list of the most common words found in printed works. Developed by Dr. Edward Fry in the 1950s, and updated in the 1980s, the list of 1,000 words accounts for the top 50-75% of words used in printed materials such as books and magazines and around 90% of words used in children’s reading materials. They are an updated and more modern version of the Dolch words which were developed in the 1930s.

Fry words are broken up into groups of 100 words. The first 100 words, typically taught in kindergarten and 1^st grade, are the most frequently used words in the English language. The second 100 are the next most frequently used words and so continues the groups. Words are usually broken up into sets of 5 or 10, letting the child memorize the entire group before moving on to the next.

Sight words are important for children to learn to help with their reading fluency and to build a strong foundation for reading. The goal when teaching sight words to children is for them to instantly recognize these frequently used words so that they can focus more on reading comprehension. Many of the words listed in the Fry word groups are words with uncommon spelling patterns that may be difficult to sound out phonetically. Being able to recognize these words on sight instead of having to spend time trying to sound them out gives your child the ability to focus more on what they are reading.

Fry Words Leaf Rubbing Activity

I always enjoy being able to add a little art to my other subject areas. Not to mention, who doesn’t enjoy some cute fall décor to add to your classroom? And this activity does both.  

For this activity you will need to either print out or draw leaf outlines on a piece of white printer paper. On each leaf write or print a sight word that you are currently working on. Gather fall colored crayons (red, yellow, orange, green, and brown). Have your child go outside or join you outside and pick out several different leaves. Place a real leaf beneath the paper leaf and use a crayon to gently color over the leaf to make a rubbing. It is sometimes easier to use a crayon that has had the paper taken off and then you use it by rubbing the crayon on the leaf in a horizontal motion.

For the display you can decorate a wall or bulletin board with your falling leaves or make a tree trunk and branches with brown construction paper and make a tree.

Some alternative ideas include:

1. Color the leaves pink to make a cherry (sakura) tree.

2. Color the leaves according to the season that you are currently in (summer = different shades of dark and medium green; fall = red, orange, yellow, and brown; winter = brown or white; spring = different shades of light green and yellow-green).

• Make a tree and slowly add the words as you are teaching them.

      4. Color the leaves all different colors to make a cool rainbow tree.

      5. Instead of a tree, make a pile of leaves. Your child can watch the pile grow as they learn more words.

 If you would like to use my pre-made fry words fall leaves, which come in sets of 100 words starting with the first 100 Fry words and includes both a white set and a pre-colored set of leaves, check out my TeachersPayTeachers store here. I have the first 4 sets of 100 posted so far and will be continuing through the entire 1000 words.

Fry Words Worksheets

My Fry words fall leaves and leaf rubbing activity lets you add a little art to your ela lesson as well as some nice fall décor for your classroom. Each set includes 100 fry words, in order, with each word on an individual leaf and 10 leaves per page. A set of 10 pages of white leaves and a set of 10 pages of pre-colored fall leaves come with each set for a total of 20 pages. Whether you want your child to do the leaf-rubbing activity with white leaves or you decide to use the pre-colored leaves, you will end up with a cute and interactive word display.

This worksheet and the cutouts are a part of my 100 Fry Word Fall Leaves and Leaf-Rubbing sets.

Do you have another way that your children like to learn sight words in a creative way? Share with the community in the comments below to give them more ideas.