Soo Jung Hong

 

Overview

When we mention sight words as part of the recognition process of words, it refers to words that readers recognize automatically. Our brains seem to process the words in the same way that we recognize a familiar face. There is no need to decode these words. The other meaning of the term sight words is the body of high frequency words that populate children’s texts. If there is a word list such as a highly used words list in your first grade child’s homework packet, this would probably be a good example of what sight words look like.

An idea of sight word recognition was developed in Helping Young Children Learn Language and Literacy (Vukelich, 2002, p. 159). It puts forth the idea that many children, conversely from the old view in which they needed to learn to recognize the letters of the alphabet before they were ready to learn to recognize whole words, learn to recognize personally significant words. They learn their names and environmental print (e.g. McDonald’s, Pepsi) before they learn to recognize the more abstract letters that make up these words. Therefore, recognizing sight words means figuring out the words in the sense of the whole body instead of a collaboration of alphabet letters.

Most students approaching first grade could acquire 6,000 words in spoken language (Temple et al., 2005, p. 167). In their primary school years, they are expected to learn to recognize most of the words in print. If they can learn to read words in print confidently, the words will be their sight vocabulary. Children of primary age encounter one hundred high frequency words (Temple et al., 2005, p. 167) in their text, and, as long as they go forward to higher grades, they will acquire more complicated words through practice.

A: about, after, all, am, an, and, are, around, as, at, a
B: back, be, because, but, by
C: came, can, could
D: day, did, didn’t, do, don’t, down
F: for, from, fun
G: get, go, got
H: had, have, he, her, him, his, home, house, how
I: I, if, in, into, is, it
J: just
K: know
L: little, like, no, not, now
M: man, me, mother, my
O: of, on, one, or, our, out, over
P: people, put
S: said, saw, school, see, she, so, some
T: that, the, them, then, there, they, things, think, time, to, too, two
U: up, us
V: very
W: was, we, well, went, were, what, when, who, will, with, would
Y: yes

As you can see from above, many parts of sight words are glue words such as about, an, for, and of. They can be difficult for children to learn because they are meaningless in isolation. The others, such as home, house, and mother, are the words that convey meanings in text. In addition, Dolch’s Basic Sight words of 220 words (preschool through Grade 3) are more generally used in children’s book and school texts.

Sight word recognition has been a useful strategy to enhance reading fluency and reading comprehension. If children are taught to recognize sight words in the given sentence instantly, they will have more than enough capability to focus on a text’s meaning. If they are given the understanding of the rest, the initial reading process would be speeded up and children would find learning to read more satisfying. Incorporating high frequency words in word study activities such as word walls, word sorts, and making and breaking words are useful to improve children’s sight vocabulary.

Activities for learning sight words are identified below.

 

In the Classroom

*Word Wall (Schulman, 2000, p. 116-118): This helps students develop a common bank of words and promotes awareness that words have a correct spelling. Place the word wall at a comfortable height for the students and arrange the high frequency words in alphabetical order. Variation: before putting on high frequency words, students’ names could be attached. 

*Word bank: Put words from the word wall on four inch by six inch blank index cards. Place in a file box or punch a hole in the top and secure with a metal ring. Students can refer to these when they write independently and can practice reading the words during independent reading.

*Key words (Vukelich, 2002, p. 160): The teacher asks children in the class to pick a favorite word that they would like to learn to read. This word is written on a large card while the child watches. The children then write their key words plus any other words that they remember.

*Word games: Using the high frequency words card from the word bank and key words
- Retrieving words from the floor: The word cards are placed face down on the floor. On the signal, each child is to find one of his own words, hold it up, and read it aloud.
- Classifying words: The teacher selects categories that encompass all of words selected by the children. The categories are introduced. Labels are placed on the floor for each category.
- Illustrating: The child can draw a picture about the key word, dictate the word to a teacher to write on a card, and then copy the word into a picture dictionary word book.
- Finding words: Children might find their key words in books, magazines, and newspapers.

 

 

Family Activities

In the Home and Community

Flash cards: Old fashioned but still effective. For every word that your child brings home, write it boldly on two index cards so that you have doubles. Then file it in shoe box and organize with alphabetical dividers. Give your child time to become comfortable with words before using the cards quickly.

Word scavenger: Hide sight word index cards around the house. Set a timer and invite your child to be at the clock.

Concentration: With your extra set of flash cards, place 10 matching cards on the table. Turn 2 cards over to see if they match.  If they match, you keep them. If they don’t match, place them face down again.

Shopping list: Take the junk shopping mail you receive and have your child create a shopping list for special days such as Thanksgiving Day, birthday, and special family occasions from the advertisements received in the mail.

Fill in the blank: Write funny sentences leaving sight words blank or do shared reading with your child with a book in which sight words are covered.

 

 

Resources

Useful Bibliography

Burns, M., Griffin, P., & Snow, C (1999). Starting out right: A guide to promoting children’s reading success. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
This book allows us to go on a journey from acknowledging the linguistic development of kindergarten-third grade children to the proper word recognition activities by their age. It also includes spelling and writing instruction related to sight word.

Cambers, J. Ready, set, read. (2003). Tucson, Arizona: Zephyr Press.
This book includes sight recognition vocabulary activities such as “fill in the word,” “teddy’s word review,” “twister word review,” “word wall,” and “personal flash cards” based on author’s teaching experiences. You can get ample ideas about multi-sensory phonics activities also.

Hauser, J. Growing up reading: Learning to read through creative play. (1993). Charlotte, Vermont: Williams Publishing.
This book tells us the definition of sight word, readiness to learn, and activities such as “word scrapbook,” “words everywhere,” “word link-up,” “word bank,” “charades,” “word sets,” “and “word collage.”    

Mills, B. Hey! I’m reading! (1995). New York, NY: Random House.
This book is wonderful to encourage young children and their parents who want to share reading time with them. While parents read this book with their children, they will get the idea about how sight works in reading process.

Wood, T. Teaching kids to read for dummies. (2004). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
This book provides a definition of sight word, Dolch Words List, an advice in instructing, some challenges and suggestions in activities, and descriptions of fun activities with sight words such as “word envelope” and “flash cards.” This also includes an explanation about natural transition process from sight words to reading.

 

Web Sites

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/hfwords/starwords/index.shtml
This online activity provides practice at sight recognition and spelling of 200 words. This can be played at three different levels of difficulty. A single game will feature 10 words which can either be chosen randomly by the software, or can be selected manually from a list of all the words available before the game begins

www.iu5.org/cvelem/RR/Fry_Words.html
This site presents 100 high frequency word lists for the students from kindergarten to sixth grade.

www.literacyconnection.com/sightwordPractice.html
This site includes creative activities such as “imaginary chalkboard,” “blast-off,” “pumping iron,” “lumber Jack,” “word wall activities,” and “word wall chants.”

www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/1224.html
This site introduces the story contains all of 220 Dolch sight words and guidelines for oral assessment.

www.theschoolbell.com/Links/Dolch/Contents.html
This website includes many practice activities for students to use while they learn the Dolch words such as “flash cards” in a printable manner, “bingo,” and “game boards.”

 

 

References

Mukherji, P., & O’Dea, T. (2000). Understanding children’s language and literacy. Cheltenham, UK: Stanley Thornes.

Schulman, M., & Payne, C. (2000). Guided reading: Making it work. Broadway, NY: Scholastic.

Temple, C., Ogle, D., Crawford, A., & Freppon, P. (2005). All children read: Teaching for literacy in today’s diverse classroom. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Vukelich, C., J., & Enz, B. (2002). Helping young children learn language and literacy. Boston, MA: Pearson.