Customer Reviews

Preschool Prep Series: Sight Words Pack (Meet the Sight Words 1-3)

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I purchased the entire 7 Preschool Prep videos. I was very pleased with the "Meet the sight word" series. I purchased them as an experiment but after watching them 10-12 times (at about 20 min. a time since we didn't watch the repeats) my 5 year old learned almost all of the sight words and my 4 year old learned about 1/2 of the the sight words. It is WELL worth your money, as I have spent an entire school year trying to teach these words. Once the kids know them, it makes reading so much easier because they don't have to sound out every word. I prefer "Meet the sight words" over Your Baby Can Read just because the kids will see the sight words in print in almost any book they pick up.
As for "Meet the Letters" it is a huge disappointment. My kids were so bored with it that they wouldn't even sit through 1/3 of it. Also, IT DOES NOT INCLUDE LETTER SOUNDS, which is fundamental for reading success. I purchased "LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD." which is much better for teaching letters and sounds. It is 35 min. long and is much more engaging. I will be using the letter factory DVD and the meet the sight words DVD. I suggest buying the Meet the Sight words and not the "Meet the Letters, Numbers, Colors, or Shapes.

That is the tagline for Preschool Prep and it is absolutely true. I would never have bought any of the DVDs but for a friend loaning us Meet the Letters, Meet the Shapes and Meet the Colors. My son went crazy for them and picked up information from them like a sponge, so for Christmas I bought him this set and they were his favorite gift by far. He loves the videos and has mastered recognizing all of the sight words and spelling most of them. I find that they have also been an excellent jumping off point for learning other words. (After learning "at" and "that", he has been able to learn "bat" "hat" "cat" "fat", etc.) It really is amazing. Between this and learning a few other words, my 2 year old can read a few books. He loves to point out his sight words when we are out and about and people never cease to be surprised that he is 2 and picking out words like "play" and "they" by himself. I don't know if all children will be as interested, but my little one thinks these DVDs are the best.

While the DVDs are meant to be viewed by preschoolers, they do a fantastic job at capturing the attention of kindergarteners as well. I am a big proponent of phonics, but some words just do not follow the phonic rules; we call them sight words. The videos are animated in a way that repeats the information in a way that continues to capture the child's attention. For example, the word is repeated several times while changing the background. My only criticism is that the DVD does not play continuously, that is, you have to play each segment separately. It would be more convenient if the DVD has a "play all" selection. If you are homeschooling a beginning reader, then these are definitely worth the cost. They are a wonderful supplement to your lessons. DVD quality is also very good.

Unlike other reveiwers, i did not get these videos for my 2 year old. Because, there's really no reason a two year old needs to learn to read. My daughter is 5, and loves them. After watching video number one for two weeks she knows all the words, and picks them out in books. Same thing with video 2. I pair these videos with her sight word books, and sometimes she can read a whole sentence by herself, just from all the sight words she's learned. While the video is a little boring for me, saying the word a million times, this is how kids learn, and i have no problem listening to "AND" fifty times. Also, my daughter is like a lot of kids growing up with CGI movies, but she still has no problem with these videos being regular cartoons. I would recommend this set to anyone wanted to help their kids.

My daughter's teacher recommended these DVD's. I use them in the car when we are driving. I was hoping they would be a bit more like the Leap Dvd's but instead they use repetition as the sole source of learning. It tends to get a bit boring after a while. My 6 year old will watch them for a little while but does get bored with them. My 3 year old will watch them longer. Overall, not a bad way to introduce the sight words and in the car where there is nothing else to watch the dvd will hold their attention a bit more.

My son was struggling with most other DVD programs because they were targeted for "babies". My 5 year old learned all 47 sight words with only viewing each video 4 times and he still wants to watch them. A good addition to this set is the flashcards Meet the Sight Words - Flashcards. We have come up with lots of games to play while using the flashcards and watching the videos. (Flashcards can also be made using index cards)

Games:
1. Flyswatters to hit the flashcards for the words shown on the screen (provided in another reviewer's feedback)
2. Flyswatter Race - pick up correct flashcard with flyswatter and make it back to parent without dropping it before next word appears on the screen
3. Use shaving cream to write the words that appear on the screen - use flashcards to help with spelling if DVD moves on to next word
4. Flashcard Hunt - hide flashcards around the house then play the DVD
5. Flashcard Jump - show a flashcard and have child jump up and say the word. (Helps with children with extra energy)
6. Flashcard Dash - place the cards around a large room or throughout the house, play the DVD and have your child run to stand on the correct flashcard

Another enhancement to these DVDs are the Meet the Sight Words readers Meet the Sight Words - Level 1 - Easy Reader Books (boxed set of 12 books), Meet the Sight Words - Level 2 - Easy Reader Books (boxed set of 12 books), Meet the Sight Words - Level 3 - Easy Reader Books (boxed set of 12 books). My 5 year old has also started sounding out words all around him because of these DVDs and book sets. He was very stubborn about learning to read until the Meet the Sight Words collection.

I bought these videos for my 2 1/2 year old and within about a month he knew all the words. I had purchased Your Baby Can Read for his 2nd birthday and he had mastered all the words on it in 5 months and I wanted to further his reading skills and found this series. He already knew letters, numbers, shapes and colors so I didn't need those but am sure they are also wonderful videos. The Meet The Sight Words series helped him learn the sight words for Kindergarten in a fun way and he found many of the scenes to be comical and wants to watch them over and over still 6 months later. By watching this video series he has learned sight words faster than my friend's 6 year old who is in Kindergarten. At 2 years old he knew more sight words than 2 children I knew who are both in Kindergarten! Their Mom's were not happy that a 2 year old knew more words than their 6 year olds. Your Baby Can Read gave my son a great foundation for reading skills and Meet The Sight Words built on those skills! I'm not saying you have to purchase Your Baby Can Read to make these videos a success I already owned it and wanted to find more similar DVD's to continue his reading skills, My cousin's 4 year old also loves Meet The Sight Words and her pre-k teacher can't get over how many words she knows before Kindergarten thanks to these videos. My son has special needs due to a brain hemorrhage at birth, he has Sensory isues, gross motor delays and a speech delay but these videos helped his speech delay because he wanted to say the words, because the word repeats several times he is hearing it more and tries to say the words with better success. His speech has dramatically improved. I highly recommend these videos to all children ages 2-5.

I purchased this video for my 26 month old daughter. This video is great but, it is not for 2 year olds. While the video kept her entertained and helped with articulation, it really confused a lot of the things that she had recently learned, like her letters and numbers.

Here's How:
The word IN => Sounds like The Letter "N"
The word SEE => Sounds like the letter "C"
The word YOU => Sounds like the letter "U"
The word ARE => Sounds like the letter "R"
The word TO => Sounds like the number "2"

So the narrater of the video is repeating the word "SEE, SEE, SEE, SEE" but my 2yr old just learned that a "C" looks like this "C". So now when I point to the letter "C" she does not respond at all, it's just way to much for a 2yr old to conceptualize.

Wait until your little one acutally understands the world before you start drilling in "sight words".

Smart Moms Care about other Moms,
Christina

I originally really liked 'meet the letters', but then when my son began to watch "meet the sight words' , he did retain the information....but what he was learning was incorrect. When he saw the word 'the' he would say..'mommy that says ant' (because the words they are presenting, are represented by a visual of something else, as in, the word 'the' traipsing around as an ant). I found this completely confusing, and it was obviously confusing to my son, who would remember the image of 'what the word was pretending to be', instead of the actual word. I got rid of all these Dvd's.

I received the DvDs about two weeks ago. They have proven to be a helpful tool in teaching my girls basic words. I used the word tool because it does require assistance from an active adult. You have to make it fun and sit with your children while they watch (at least the first time). I have a 2yr old and 3yr old (18mths apart), and they both have learned almost all the words from dvd #1. Parents must be active with their children while reviewing these tapes, otherwise they may not enjoy it or get full use of these dvds. I personally made flash cards to assist me with helping the girls.