We call attention to the parts of the word that are phonetic (and there’s usually at least 1-2 of them).
What about words that we CAN’T sound out? Integrating high-frequency words into phonics lessons allows students to make sense of spelling patterns for these words. In order for kids’ brains to make new words a part of their permanent sight word vocabulary (the fancy word for this is orthographic mapping), they need to connect the sounds to the letters. (Those will soon disappear from the site and my shop.)īut research is telling us that this isn’t how the brain learns to read. This is why I used to share a collection of sight word books that taught the words through repeated exposure. I used to think that when we teach sight words to young readers, we should teach them as whole words. It’s time to rethink how we teach sight words. We want our readers to know these words instantly as they work to become fluent readers.
That’s the definition I’ll be using here. Sight words can also refer to words that our readers encounter frequently when reading. When reading researchers use the term sight words, they’re referring to the words that a reader recognizes instantly, on sight.
In this post I’ll show you exactly how to teach sight words using hands-on lessons and free printable sight word books.īut first things first … What ARE sight words, anyway?
