Teachers, parents, and other educators have come up with dozens of ingenious ways to teach sight words! Find a huge list of our favorite sight word activities here. Learn more about sight words and the science of reading here. Most students are likely to benefit from a mix of methods when it comes to learning these important words. For instance, literacy specialist Susan Jones recommends a method called phoneme-grapheme mapping, where students first map out the sounds they hear in a word and then add graphemes (letters) they hear for each sound. These words are generally taught by memorization, but some experts feel this isn’t the only option.

In other words, learners use sight words along with phonics skills to recognize words as they read. One popular science of reading model, Scarborough’s Rope, includes sight recognition as one of its Word Recognition strands, along with decoding and phonological awareness. The science of reading is a theory of research-backed methods to teach literacy. How do sight words fit into the science of reading? The Fry words include 90% of the words found in a typical book, newspaper, or website.įind the Fry Words List here. The Fry list contains the most common 1,000 words in the English language. Edward Fry developed an expanded word list for grades 1–10 in the 1950s (updated in 1980), based on the most common words that appear in reading materials used in grades 3–9. The Dolch word list comprises 80% of the words you would find in a typical children’s book and 50% of the words found in writing for adults.ĭr. The list has 200 “service words” and also 95 high-frequency nouns. Edward Dolch developed his word list, used for pre-K through third grade, by studying the most frequently occurring words in the children’s books of that era. Dolch Wordsĭuring the 1930s and 1940s, Dr. Dolch’s list is shorter, while Fry’s is more comprehensive. Two of the most popular sources are Dolch Words and the Fry List. What are the most common sight word lists? Learn more about the difference between high-frequency words and sight words. Common examples are “school” or “kind.” These words might not be among the most frequently used, but students will encounter them often enough to make it worth being able to read them on sight. However, they can include other words as well, ones that don’t follow standard spelling and pronunciation rules. Sight word lists usually include many high-frequency words. They include words like “the,” “said,” and “or.” Fun fact: 50% of all written material is made up of the 100 most frequently used words, and the top 10 words account for 25% overall! High-frequency words are those most commonly found in written language. We often use these terms interchangeably, but technically there’s a difference. What’s the difference between sight words and high-frequency words? Examples include “come,” “because,” or “laugh.”ĭiscover much more about sight words here. English is a tricky language, with a lot of words that just don’t fit the usual pronunciation rules.

These are words like “and,” “be,” and “go.” Kids can sound these out pretty easily, but since they appear so often, kids usually find it simpler to memorize them. Some sight words are decodable, meaning they follow the standard rules of spelling or the six types of syllables. The goal is for students to be able to recognize these words within three seconds. The general belief is that being able to recognize these words on sight, rather than needing to stop and sound them out, will speed up emergent readers’ progress. In educational settings, sight words are those that appear frequently in everyday writing. This is a slow and painstaking process at first, but it speeds up over time. They do this by using phonics techniques: sounding out letters, blends, and syllables. In their early days, though, readers must decode each word they encounter. Over time, proficient readers recognize nearly all words on sight. But what are sight words, and why are they important? Find out more here. When kids begin learning to read, they’ll likely encounter something known as “sight words.” These are a big part of the early elementary years for most students.

1st grade sight word scale