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PSPKK12321 Comments

How to teach sight words

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Are you here to learn how to teach high frequency words? You’re in the right place!

What are sight words?

Traditionally, when teachers say “sight words” they are referring to high frequency words that children should know by sight.

We often define sight words as words that kids can’t sound out – words like the, for example.

However, reading researchers have a different definition of sight words.

A sight word is a word that is instantly and effortlessly recalled from memory, regardless of whether it is phonically regular or irregular. A sight-word vocabulary refers to the pool of words a student can effortlessly recognize.

David A. Kilpatrick, PhD

So should we get lists of sight words and get our students to memorize them using flash cards?

Not so fast.

This doesn’t fit with how the brain learns to read.

We are not trying to get students to cram pictures of words in their brains, because there’s a limit to how many words any of us can remember by sight.

How does the brain learn “sight words”?

Researchers have discovered that strong readers do not call upon thousands of pictures of words in their brains. Instead, they (very, very quickly) connect the letters to the sounds in each word. They do this so quickly and effortlessly that it takes a tiny fraction of a second to identify each word.

How?

How do we move from sounding out words letter by letter, to recognizing thousands and thousands of words instantly?

It’s through a mental process called orthographic mapping.

Say what?

Stick with me … I promise it’s not as complicated as it sounds.

Orthographic mapping is the process we use to store printed words in long-term memory.

David A. Kilpatrick, PhD

In order for us to read words and then store them for future retrieval, we must be able to match the phonemes (sounds) to the graphemes (letters).

Does that sound familiar to you?

It’s phonemic awareness and phonics.

We need to teach children to identify individual sounds in words and then connect those sounds to letters. We teach them to sound out words, even sight words.

What about sight words that aren’t regular, like the?

We call attention to the parts of the word that are phonetic (and there’s usually at least 1-2 of them). Then we teach learners to learn the tricky parts by heart.

So what does this tell us about the big sight word lists … like Dolch and Fry?

I don’t think it’s wrong to teach kids to read words using those lists as a reference, but we need to approach it a different way.

We shouldn’t be sending home lists of 50 “sight words” for our kindergartners to master.

Instead, we should integrate those words into phonics lessons as often as possible.

For example, the Dolch primer list includes words like these:

on, at, did, that, ran

Each of those words is perfectly decodable, and rather than teach them by sight, we should teach kids to read them using their phonics knowledge.

When we give then opportunities to sound out the words when reading them, we are providing an environment for orthographic mapping to take place.

Is there ever room for teaching kids to memorize high frequency words?

Yes, but only a small amount (think 10-15 words), and only to make our students’ early reading material readable.

For example, a good decodable book (that actually sounds like a story) will need words like the. You will need to teach early readers to recognize the word the. And yet you can STILL call attention to the “th,” which is not irregular at all.

How to introduce sight words

  • Assuming your learner has phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge, you’re ready to begin. (Not sure about the phonemic awareness? Give this free assessment.)
  • Name the new word, and have your learner repeat it.
  • Name the individual phonemes (sounds) in the word. For example, in the word is, there are two phonemes: /i/ and /z/.
  • Spell the sounds. Call attention to any unexpected spelling. In is, we spell /i/ with i and /z/ with s.
  • If possible, have your learner read related words. Has and his are great words to read alongside is because they are short vowel words with an s that represents the the /z/ sound.
  • Have your learner read connected text. Connected text can be decodable sentences or books.

More resources for learning about high frequency words

  • Free lessons and decodable books for teaching high frequency words
  • A new model for teaching high frequency words – Reading Rockets
  • Teaching Every Reader (online course)

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Filed Under: Reading, Sight words Tagged With: kindergarten, first grade, second grade

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Reader Interactions

21 Comments

  1. Robin

    August 24, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    There are no sight words if you teach your child the correct phonemes and sounds. I have dyslexia and the best program that I am also trained in to give reading interventions is the DuBard Method. It teaches the science of reading. If a child knows how to decode the phonemes he can read anything and therefore sight words are no longer an issue. These words should be called frequently used words NOT sight words. Teach the children to decode the sounds! Love a lot of the printables on this

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      September 1, 2018 at 7:05 am

      I’d hate to see kids using all their energy to sound out words that can be learned by sight. I recommend these posts for more information: https://thisreadingmama.com/phonics-or-sight-words/
      https://thisreadingmama.com/two-kinds-of-sight-words/

      Reply to this comment
  2. Lisa Brouillette

    July 3, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    That was awesome. I’ve been teaching 4th & 5th grade special education for the past 11 years. This year I am moving down to K-1 special education. Your video was very helpful and informative. Thank you for sharing.

    Lisa B.
    Dracut MA

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      July 8, 2018 at 3:20 pm

      I’m so glad to hear that, Lisa!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Mercedes Armstrong

    July 1, 2018 at 8:24 am

    Ana,
    Thanks so much! I really enjoy your blog and love the activities you add to the topic! You give me new ideas to work with.
    Mercedes

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      July 2, 2018 at 7:17 am

      You’re very welcome, Mercedes!

      Reply to this comment
  4. Juliet

    June 22, 2018 at 11:11 am

    I bless the name of the lord for ordering my step in your website Anna. you are simply amazing.
    God bless you and give you more wisdom.juliet

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      June 23, 2018 at 6:32 am

      Thank you, Juliet!

      Reply to this comment
  5. Sherree

    June 20, 2018 at 6:39 pm

    This was so good! I got new tips and was reminded of some tips that I have forgotten to use!!! Thank you so much.

    How do I save it to watch again?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      June 20, 2018 at 8:04 pm

      Hi Sherree! I think the easiest thing would be to save the link to this blog post so you can come back again. 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  6. Ruchika Issar

    June 19, 2018 at 3:42 pm

    Anna I am glad that I have joined u ,there is so much to learn from you and the resources are really awesome.
    Thanks dear
    Love
    Ruchika

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      June 20, 2018 at 8:04 pm

      Thanks, Ruchika!

      Reply to this comment
  7. Emily Boone

    June 19, 2018 at 11:16 am

    Thank you for the tips! I love all your resources! They are so helpful to me. I also use the preschool prep videos and workbooks for my kids. I wish they had more words but they are great as well.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      June 20, 2018 at 8:04 pm

      I’m glad you enjoy my resources, Emily!

      Reply to this comment
  8. Babita Pradhan

    June 18, 2018 at 9:52 pm

    You are awesm and very helpful Anna…thamk u solo much for what you do to help the young learners.. .I jst luv d way u do….

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      June 20, 2018 at 8:05 pm

      Thanks so much, Babita!

      Reply to this comment
  9. Laura

    June 18, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    You are amazing. Very organized and thoughtfully made video. Thanks for sharing tips and resources.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      June 20, 2018 at 8:06 pm

      Thanks so much for the kind words, Laura!

      Reply to this comment

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