Teaching Sights When Learning to Read

Sight words are a necessity in the world of beginning reading to help your child to read complete sentences and access early reading books. These words act as the bridge between using phonics skills and pictures when first reading books.

What are Sight Words?

The definition of sight words varies a little depending on with whom you are speaking. Most teachers of young child see sight words as words that child should read by sight or read quickly. For an expert reader, almost every word they encounter will be a sight word as they can read these words within one second. However, what does this mean for teaching sight words because we definitely don’t want to teach all words by sight?

This is where a second definitely comes in to play, sight words are words that do not follow the regular phonetic rules of English that a child has learned. Thus, children need to learn to read these words by sight and cannot rely on phonics instruction. With this definition, as child’s knowledge of the phonics rules of the English language grow, less and less words will need to be taught as sight words.

Yet, a third definition of sight words are the most words that occur frequently in the English language. Children need to be able to read these words quickly because these are the words that children will encounter most often while reading. Most reading experts label this group of words as high frequency words.

Sight Words Vs High Frequency Words

Sight words and high frequency words tend to overlap quite a bit. Most words that teachers of young children choose to teach as sight words are really high frequency words which do not follow the phonics rules taught in Kindergarten. Experts have made lists of the most common words, or high frequency words, in the English language and then looked at those words and divided them by grade level for words that appear most in books at those levels. For two lists of high frequency words check out both the Dolch and Fry word lists.

From these lists come most of the words that teachers consider sight words, or words that they want children to learn by sight to read quickly. Most of the words taught by sight use irregular spelling patterns or regular spelling patterns that haven’t been taught yet. This is because children do not have the phonics instruction to accurately sound out the high frequency word, so they will need to learn these words by memorizing.

Decodable vs Non-decodable Words

These high frequency words can then be broken down even further. About 97% of words in English follow regular spelling patterns and are those considered decodable words. Once children have learned the spelling pattern, they are able to decode these words and do not need to memorize them to be able to read the words. This means that only about 3% of English words are non-decodable, or truly need to be memorized in order to read them. Yet, when children are first learning to read, this isn’t really the case because they have not learned most of the phonics rules for the English language.

As children learn more phonics rules and spelling patterns in English, more words become decodable. Therefore you can see the trouble with clearly defining sight words. As children learn additional spelling patterns, the words that need to be learned by sight change. Thus the words that teachers teach as sight words also change, leading to the confusion over the definition.

So, Which Words Need to be Learned as Sight Words

Words that your child cannot sound out using known phonics rules and spelling patterns will need to be taught by sight. The words that we need to learn as sight words changes as child learn more phonics rules. But for a beginning reader, the words that children need to learn as sight words are mostly the high frequency words found on the Dolch and Fry word lists. These are the most common words that your child will encounter when they are beginning to read simple books. Moreover, the picture support of early readers does little to help your child to figure out these words.

As your child begins to read, they know very few phonics rules and spelling patterns. So any words where the vowels make any sound other than the short vowel sound may need to be taught by sight. Children may also need to learn words by sight if the consonants do not make the most common sound also. This includes digraphs (ch, sh, wh, ph, th), soft c (city) and soft g (giant), and y and w when they act as vowels.

If your child can successfully sound out a rule by applying phonics rules and spelling patterns, research suggests not teaching this word by sight. Instead allow your reader to practice their new phonics skills combined with their phonemic awareness skills to actually sound out the word. This allows their limited memory to focus on the words that they will not be able to figure out in a sentence or book. The more your child reads, the more words they will be able to read by sight without sounding them out. Therefore, your child will learn these words through phonics and not by memorizing.

When Should I Introduce Sight Words

After your child learns many letters of the alphabet, begin to teach some simple sight words. Another key indicator of sight word readiness is being able to recognize shapes and numbers. This key skill shows that your child recognizes that symbols represent an idea or concept. A necessary key skill to begin to recognize sight words. If your child is unable to recognize many letters by sight, they may struggle with learning sight words. Sight words are taught by memory, not sounding out, so children will need to be able to recognize the specific letters in the word to ease the short term memory demands when learning the sight word.

Effective Strategies for Teaching Sight Words

When teaching sight words, you will want your child to have many different experiences with the words. Your child will need to learn the letters in the word and the special order of those letters. Just like your child learned that a specific shape is called a circle, they need to learn that the letters t h e spells the word the. How do you start teaching sight words?

Engage Multiple Senses

When teaching sight words to your child, you will want to use a multisensory approach. A multisensory approach is a great strategy to teach sight word recognition. But it doesn’t stop there. It is also a great strategy to teach sight word spelling. This means that your child can listen, feel, and see the words. If you can find a way for your child to taste and smell the words, go for it. The more senses that your child engages, the better likely they will remember the sight word. Also, the more repetition of the word you offer, the quicker your child will learn the word.

Provide your child a visual reminder of the sight words to stimulate their visual sense. Spelling the sight word together and use the word in a sentence to add auditory input. Trace the sight word or create the letters with blocks to engage their tactile perception.

Snap Words

Just as with learning letters and sounds, sight words are best taught using multiple modalities. We absolutely love “Snap Words.” This is a simple sight word program that turns each sight word into a picture for visual learners. Each card includes a motion for your tactile learners and a sentence for your auditory learners.

When learning sight words, we used the pictures, motions and sentence with all of the words. When my child was stuck while reading, we could use the motion to prompt. If that didn’t work, we would find the correct card to access the picture. And finally, we would use the sentence to help my little ones be successful.

Songs and Dances

Another great sight word resource are Heidi Songs. She is amazing! She turned common songs into songs that teach the spelling of sight words. Of course, she has so much more too! Each of her songs includes music, words, movements, and even a video. My kids loved dancing to these songs and the tunes always stuck in their heads. Great music to listen to on car rides also. Not only do these songs help your child to read the new words, but it also helps them to learn to spell them too!

Go Beyond Flash Cards and Play with Sight Words

Many times we get so stuck in just using flash cards to work on sight words. While flash cards are a great tool for working on memorizing, children prefer some variety when learning. So how do we help a child to learn sight words?

Find Sight Words in Books

My little ones always loved to find these words in books they read, books their older siblings read, books we read to them, words in their environment, and even in the stories that they wrote. Looking for these words helps to solidify their learning and keep your little one interested in words and reading.

Play Games with Flash Cards

Don’t get stalled on only flash cards for learning, use those flash cards to play games with these words. We love creating a track with the flash cards and trying to read all the words as quickly as possible.

If you have two sets of words, concentration or memory is always fun. Just lay down the flash cards and let your child match the different words. You can lay the cards with the words facing up for younger children and flip the cards upside down for more of a challenge.

With two sets of sight word cards you could also play Go Fish. Instead of asking for a specific number, just ask for the word that you want to match. If your child cannot read one of the words, they can just show you the word to ask if you have a match. Take a moment whenever this happens to remind your child of the word and the letters in the sight word.

Create a few “BOOM” cards to add to your flashcard deck and take turns reading cards. If you can read the card, you collect it. If you draw a “BOOM” card, you put all your cards back in the deck. The more simple, the better. The more practice, the more your little one will read.

Change Board Games to Sight Word Learning

Children love playing board games and you can easily add sight words into the fun. With each turn, add a step to draw a sight word card and read it. If your child successfully reads the word, they get to take their turn. If your child cannot read the word, have them practice the word before taking their turn. They can practice by spelling the word, tracing the word, or even making the motion for the word.

There are so many board games that you can easily add a sight word reading step. Candy Land is a great board game to ask your child to read a sight word before they draw a card to move. With Chutes and Ladders, your child can read a sight word card before spinning. Before each turn in Checkers, have your child read a sight word before they can move. With Sorry or Trouble, you child can read a sight word before rolling the dice. One simple change and your child will practice quite a few sight words during each game.

You could even create a new board game focusing just on sight words. Use the board from any board game you have at home. Place sight word cards face down in the draw pile. Pick up a sight word card. If you can read the sight word, you get to move one space for each letter in the word. For example, if you draw the word “see” you can move 3 spaces but if you draw the word “have” you get to move 4 spaces.

Magnetic Letters, Letter Blocks, and Foam Letters

Any kind of letter tiles can be fabulous for learning sight words. We have letter blocks for building, but now can turn these into sight word building letters. Our foam letters live in the bath or water table so we can practice making our sight words in the tub. We love practicing in the tub since you need to be there with your child and they want to play. We keep magnetic letters on our fridge so we can practice our sight words while making breakfast and dinner. This helps keep your child occupied and learning while you cook.

There are so many different activities you can try. Parents can build words using the letters for your child to read. You can ask your child to build a word to practice spelling. You could even have your child use flashcards to determine which word to build next. They pick a flash card, then build that specific sight word. If they are unsure which word it is, they can simply ask you to remind them.

Tracing Sight Words

We love to use all different materials for our children to trace sight words when they are first learning. This adds a tactile approach to learning sight words. Teaching with the Brain in Mind by Jeff Jensen (2005) emphasizes that movement helps to improve learning and memory while also increasing motivation to learn. Even the National Education Association (NEA) encourages using movement to improve academics.

There are so many ways your child can trace sight words. Yes, you can trace sight words on paper with a pencil. But don’t stop there. Rainbow write the sight words by tracing a word with different color crayons so the word becomes colorful. Trace the sight word on the floor, your pants, or even your table. You can even sky write the sight words by using your fingers to write the words in the air.

Make salt trays for tracing sight words. Take a cookie sheet and fill the bottom with sand, dirt, salt, sugar, flour, or really any powder substance you like. You only need a thin layer for your child to trace the sight words. Between each word, you can gently shake the tray to create a new writing area. You don’t have to stick to powders either. You can trace sight words in shaving cream, shampoo, oil, paint, or any thicker liquid. To avoid the mess, we like to put the thick liquids into a Ziploc bag and trace the words on top of the bag.

You can make your own tracing cards too! We love to write the sight words on note cards with a dark marker. Then trace over the marker with glue to leave a raised bump. Let the glue dry. Then your child can trace the glue and feel the sight word with their fingers.

Building Sight Words

Our children always loved building sight words. You really can use anything you have to build sight words. We love to build letters with Legos and any other connecting blocks we have at home. We suggest having your child build the sight words using capital letters as these will be easier for your child to form using Legos.

Create sight words using slime or playdough. You can let your child roll out the letters for the sight words or even create little balls to make the letters. Some children can do this from memory, others will need to make the words on top of their flash cards.

Children can also use yarn and string to make the sight words. Just shape pieces of yarn into the shape of the letters to build a sight word. You can cut one long piece to make the entire word or cut shorter pieces to make each letter separately.

Jump Out Sight Words

Take a set of letter cards and lay them out on the floor. We love to lay them out like the letters on a keyboard to start working on keyboard, but you can also put them in alphabetical order or just random. Say or show your child a sight word and let them jump out the word on the letter cards.

Can’t find your letter cards? No worries, grab some chalk and head outside. Write out the letters on your driveway or even in a hopscotch. Then let your child jump out their sight words.

Tips for Parents to Teach Sight Words

While schools will usually introduce sight words to children and offer some opportunities to practice, many children need more practice opportunities. This is where parents come in. We will need to help our children to memorize the sight words introduced by the teachers. We are including some tips to teach sight words to help families work with their child.

1. Ask the teacher for a list of sight words your child should read by the end of the year. If possible, obtain a list that shows approximately when the teacher will introduce each new word.
2. Set up areas in your home for easy sight word practice. Put magnet letters on the refrigerator, add foam letters into the bath, make sets of sight words to keep with your games or even in your car.
3. The more exposure that you can provide your child to the words, the more quickly they will learn the words.
4. Sometimes your child may know a word and then forget the word. This is normal and with a little more practice, your child will be able to read these words consistently. As new words are introduced and your child begins to read words by sounding them out, sometimes they mix up certain sight words that they once knew.
5. A little practice goes a long way. Even just 5 minutes a day working with sight words is appreciated. Any help you provide for your child is a wonderful gift you give to your child.

Don’t miss the next post in the learning to read series, Simple Sentences. Simple sentences are were your child can begin to use their phonics skills, sight words, and picture support to read sentences. If you enjoyed this post, drop of us comment below. We’d love to hear about your favorite sight words activities. For more parenting tips, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter below.

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.