What Are Sight Words And Why Do They Matter?

A lot of research has been done on the material that children read. What has resulted is some pretty specific lists of words that comprise between 60% to 85% of all words appearing in children's texts. These words are commonly called Sight Words or High Frequency Words and there is a big push in most schools for children to memorize these words so that they can experience success in reading. Our Sight Words are a combination of a couple of lists. Our idea is not to replace a systematic, explicit phonics instruction curriculum that includes a frequent dose of phonemic awareness activities, and expect children to memorize 306 words. Rather, our product designers embed visuals into the letters and high frequency words to allow the child to focus on what he or she's reading. Children who have difficulty in working on left-brain functions will learn good phonics strategies that, when combined with visuals, will help make him or her a fluent reader. While the child is learning these high frequency words, practicing them using our decodable text books, all in a way that is fun and easy for him, he will be building new neural pathways that will ensure his subsequent success at reading new words in later texts. Our goal is to give every kindergartner a super chance at reading and success in school!

Teaching children to read using Dolch sight words:

Child1st sight word cards propel children into reading... no matter how difficult reading has seemed before. For those children who cannot decode, are stuck in the decoding stage, or who have little short term memory, Child1st sight words are the answer. Providing multisensory reading instruction is vital for learners with dyslexia, asperger's, autism, ADD, reading comprehension problems, and those who learn most easily through visuals. For these children, we provide a path to reading success using explicit phonics instruction combined with visual, kinesthetic (body movement), & tactile elements that provide multiple channels into the brain.

Suggestions for using Stylized Sight Words:

Rather than adding one word at a time to a word wall, I prefer to display groups of words from one set in a pocket chart easily visible to all the children, then play some of the games and word wall activities that you will find in the free booklet, Activities For Use With Stylized SnapWords that accompanies each Sight Word order. There are many activities to teach the sight words including "Pop Up" in which children take turns popping up to identify and read a word they know. As the days go by, choose together which words may be turned over to the plain side until all the words in the chart have been turned over. While the group of words is still displayed, children can collaborate in creating short sentences or phrases from the words, such as "See me run!"

Early Childhood applications:

Even in pre-school and kindergarten, learning to recognize those high frequency words becomes child's play when you have our sight words displayed in a chart. Children are attracted to them and love hanging around together where the words are. It will amaze you the learning that goes on in those situations!

For more information, visit Child-1st.