Sight Words


What are sight words and why are they important?



Most words found in textbooks, reading books, magazines and newspapers are common words that do not follow the rules for sounding out the pronunciation. People with difficulties reading may not know these words or may not know how to pronounce the words they already know in their oral vocabulary.

Memorizing sight words can make reading much more easy. The reader can glance at a word and know what the word is, instead of stopping to sound it out every time they see it. The more familiar the reader is with the sight words, the faster they are able to read and the easier it is for the reader to understand what is being read.

Readers need to know how to recognize these words as well as how to spell them when they are writing. I suggest learning how to recognize them first, then learn how to spell them. One way to help the reader learn how to recognize these words is to have the reader, an older child, parent, or teacher write the words out on 3 x 5 index cards. Then use these as flash cards with the reader. This is a two person activity because someone must hear and correct the pronunciation in order to help with the learning process.

Once the flash cards are created, ask the reader to say the words out loud, one by one. Make two piles. One pile for the words the reader said out loud correctly the first time and the other pile for the words the reader either hesitated saying correctly or made a mistake. Continue going through the second pile of cards until the reader can say them all out loud correctly the first time. This activity should be repeated every day or every other day. The repetition will help move this information to the long term memory. Once the first set of words has been memorized, move on to the next set of sight words. Don't discard the old sets of words. These should be reviewed periodically to ensure the reader does not forget them.

One way to work towards spelling skill is to use a random selection of ten words from the pile of sight word flash cards. Have the reader write them down on a page of a spiral notebook. Then have the student write them ten times each on several pages of the notebook. Eash reader is different. Ten times may not be enough times for some readers. Once the reader feels he or she is ready to show what he or she knows, give a spelling test. Make sure the reader uses a new page in the notebook and numbers the page before beginning the test. Read each word out loud and use the word in a sentence. Allow enough time for the reader to write the word down on the page before continuing. It does not help to add stress to the activity. This activity also heads off test anxiety when this process is done in a classroom setting.

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Home Page last updated 02/06/07