Which sight words are on the wheel?
The wheel comes loaded with twelve of the most common Dolch pre-primer and primer words: the, and, a, to, said, was, you, they, this, then, went, with. These are words that fluent readers recognise instantly on the page — but early readers need deliberate, repeated exposure to before that recognition clicks.
You can add, remove, or edit any entry in the panel beside the wheel. If you want to focus on a smaller set — say, only the words a student is still missing — delete the others with the X button and spin just those. To swap in a different word list entirely, use the bulk-import text area: paste your words one per line and they replace whatever's there.
How teachers are using the sight words wheel
Whole-class warm-up
Spin at the start of a reading lesson. Whoever the teacher calls on reads the word, uses it in a sentence, or finds it on a word wall. Because the spin is random, every student stays alert — anyone might be next.
Small-group intervention
Trim the wheel down to the four or five words the group is currently working on. Spin repeatedly; each time a word comes up, the student reads it and the teacher notes fluency. The Remove Winner toggle (below the wheel) takes each word out of the pool after it's been read, so every word gets practised exactly once before the round ends.
Partner reading games
Two students take turns spinning. The one who reads the word correctly first keeps a tally. Because the wheel is free and runs in any browser, students can use it on a shared tablet or a classroom computer with no login required.
Homework review
Parents can open the same page on their phone and run through the words at home. The spin history section underneath the wheel lists every word that has come up this session, so there's a simple record of what was practised.
Customising the sight words wheel for your class
The wheel's entry panel lets you adjust more than just the word list. Give each word a different colour using the per-entry hex colour override — useful when you want to colour-code by word family or difficulty tier. You can also use the weight field on any entry to make a tricky word appear more often; bump its weight to 2 or 3 and it takes up a proportionally larger slice of the wheel.
For a livelier session, pick a spin sound from the catalog and a win sound that plays when the wheel lands. The countdown option adds a 3-beat audio cue before each spin, which younger students tend to enjoy.
If you need a wheel for a different classroom activity, the Classroom hub has a full set of purpose-built wheels. Or visit the Classroom Wheel to randomly pick from classroom-management options. For something completely custom, the wheel generator lets you build a wheel from scratch.