Teaching sight words to kids is an essential part in helping kindergarteners learn how to read. Parents and caregivers can support the child’s literacy development by teaching sight words to kindergarteners at home. In this blog, we will explore what sight words are, the best sight words to focus on, fun games to make learning for kids easier and some teaching tips to build the reading skills.
What are sight words?
Sight words are those that show up a lot in sentences and should be recognised by little children instantly by sight without sounding them out one letter at a time. With time and practise the human brain develops the ability to recognise these sight words automatically.
Identifying these sight words helps children learn to read more quickly. Knowing sight words can also help boost the kid’s reading confidence. This can further create a love for reading and motivate your child to read more difficult texts.
Types of kindergarten sight words
Educators researched these sight words and came up with lists that compiled the best sight words. There are two recognised sight word lists – the Dolch sight words list and the fry sight words list.
Dolch Sight Words – The Dolch list consists of the most common words used in children’s literature. According to Dr. Edward William Dolch, there are 220 words which form the foundation of these children’s books and in everyday communication. Learning these words by heart helps children improve their reading speed, comprehension and confidence in reading. Some of the Dolch sight list words are all, am, but, did, eat, get, have, must, now, what, yes, etc.
Fry Sight Words – The fry sight words are a list of commonly used words in English which is compiled by Dr.Edward Fry. These words are essential for developing reading fluency. The progression from Dolch list to Fry list is a slow transition into the more complex words and expands the kids vocabulary, preparing kindergarten students for more advanced reading skills. This list is organized by grade level and includes 1000 words, divided into groups of 100. Some of the beginning words of this list are they, when, first, number, words, write, place, picture, etc.
How to introduce sight words?
There are several ways in teaching sight words to your kids. This includes a combination of engaging interactive strategies and continuous practice. Some of these strategies include –
- Flash Cards – Flash cards are a classic way to teach your kids sight words. Having colourful cards with a word and a picture related to the word will help kids recognise and remember words quickly.
For example, a flash card with the word “apple” and a picture of an apple makes it easier for children to memorise that word.
- Make it Interactive – Games are another way to make learning sight words easier and fun. You can play word hunt by hiding a few flash cards around the house and asking your child to look for them and read the word out loud whenever they find one. Another game you can play is the memory game where you flip two cards at a time and find the matching pair. Nalanda, the best pre-school in Hyderabad conducts interactive games with all the students to introduce sight words.
Tips and tricks for parents
Here are some tips when teaching children sight words
- Do not overload your kids with too many words. Stick to one word at a time and let them learn gradually.
- Do not teach two words that sound/spelled similar to each other at once. This might cause confusion and will take longer for the kid to learn.
- Reading the sight words out loud can make the kids active and motivate them to learn faster.
- Enrolling your kid in the best pre-school in Hyderabad can help your kid learn sight words quickly.
Conclusion
Teaching sight words to kindergarteners is an essential step in building a strong foundation for their reading journey. By combining effective strategies, interactive games, and regular practice, you can make the learning process enjoyable and impactful. Nalanda, the best pre-school in Hyderabad, teaches kids these sight words using fun strategies that help them learn words quicker.
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