• Sight Words

     

    Sight words, also called high frequency words, are the words that appear with the highest frequency in written text.  Many “sight words” do not follow the basic phonics principles, thus they cannot be “sounded out.”  Beginning readers need an effective strategy for decoding unknown words, and being familiar with sight words is an effective method. Sight words promote confidence, reading comprehension, . and provide clues to the context of the text.  Learning sight words can speed up how quickly your child learns to read. They are important to learn so your child doesn’t get discouraged when they have to stop and sound out every. single. word.

     

    **All students are expected to know 1000 Sight Words from the Muhlenberg Sight Word List by the end of fourth grade. Your child practiced these sight words from kindergarten through fourth grade.  Throughout their elementary years there was a benchmark they were expected to meet.  Each sight word list consists of 25 words and a student must pass a list before moving on to the next list.

     

    Sight Word Online Flashcards ( 1-1000 )

     

    There are many ways in which you can give your child practice with identifying sight words and other whole words:

    • Expand your Letter Wall into a Word Wall: Prominently place sight words, especially phonetically irregular words like “from” and “or,” on a magnetic surface, whiteboard, bulletin board or other area. As your child becomes familiar with other new words, include them on your word wall.
    • Word Games: Play word games such as Bingo and Memory, which involve whole word recognition.
    • Flash cards: Give your child extra practice with sight words by running through sight word flash cards.
    • Writing Activities: Offer your child the opportunity to begin writing known words. Practice with encoding (spelling) familiar words will help their familiarity with new words.
    • Sight Words in Text: Pause to point out sight words when reading with your child.
    • Playing Online Learning Games: There are many websites that have games to practice reading sight words.