High-frequency words, as the name suggests, are the most commonly found words in our written language. While the terms sight words and high-frequency words are often used interchangeably, there are some key differences. Are Sight Words Just High-Frequency Words? Here is a list of the 45 sight words we include in our HOMER reading pathway:Īnd, a, the, on, is, to, I, was, you, your, yes, no, do, they, with, that, are, said, girl, boy, were, this, look, like, want, has, of, what, see, go, play, here, very, good, his, her, there, where, have, walk, talk, know, blue, green, little. For instance, the pre-primer list includes you, said, and where. Some of the 315 words that comprise the two lists are very easy for kids to learn: a, I, it. The words are broken down by levels: pre-primer, primer, first grade, second grade, and third grade. He identified 220 “service words” and 95 nouns. What Words Should You Use For Sight Word Games?ĭecades ago, an educator named Edward Dolch developed a list, used widely by teachers, of the words most frequently used in children’s books. But before we get to these fun activities, let’s be clear on the specific sight words your child will need to be familiar with. For your child, the games are lots of fun, so they can learn without even realizing it. For you, a majority of the activities require minimal supplies and prep time, which is great for a busy parent. And these activities are great for both you and your child. That’s where sight word games come in! We’ve compiled a list of fun activities that you can do with your young reader to help them learn sight words. But early readers who are learning the rules of the English language need a little help. Our reading of these words happens automatically, and that’s what helps us read fluently. We also don’t consider why was and has or have and gave don’t rhyme. As adults who learned to read many years ago, we don’t think twice about why we pronounce sight words the way we do. Why doesn’t the word was rhyme with has? Why doesn’t have rhyme with gave? The first of each is phonetically irregular, despite the fact that they’re some of the most common words in the English language.

Discover sight words through tactile games to get your child’s senses engaged.

Sight words are words that occur very frequently in English and can be hard to sound out, such as: said, and, the.

Learning to read sight words is a key Core Skill, one of the 5 C’s at the heart of the Begin Approach.Sight words are dually helpful in this way: they help your child instantly recognize familiar words and help them bypass trying to sound them out because, phonetically, they often don’t make much sense! The Short Cut

And once your child learns basic sight words they won’t need to spend a lot of time trying to decipher these high-frequency words. These words occur so frequently that readers, including very young readers, need to know them instantly. Sight words aren’t easy to sound out or decode, especially for young readers who are just learning the rules, so we memorize them (in other words, recognize them by sight). Even the simplest text would become grueling to read.Ĭommon words in the English language (like the) are often grouped together as sight words in the early stages of reading. Imagine pausing every time you ran across this word in a book, on a poster, or in a magazine. What’s the most common word in the English language? It’s the.

1st 2nd grade sight word activities