The irregular part of the word is the part they must “learn by heart”, thus the name Heart Words. You explicitly teach them the sounds that are irregular in the word. The Heart Word Method requires students to use their phoneme knowledge to map the regular part of the words. Instead, integrate irregularly spelled, high-frequency words into your phonics lessons using the Heart Word Method. This means you must stop expecting students to learn sight words through flashcards and rote memorization.
The Science of Reading tells us that effective instruction follows the “ I do, We do, You do” model. What is the best way to teach sight words? * It should be noted that while technically there is a difference between sight words and high frequency words (high frequency words are the most commonly occurring words in print and sight words are any word a student can read “at first sight”), when I refer to “sight words” I am referring to the words in the High Frequency Dolch Sight Words list. Secondly, knowing sight words is a huge confidence booster for students! Strong sight word knowledge allows them to understand the majority of the text, even when their decoding skills are still developing. Sight word practice is so important for young readers! For one, it allows them to free up cognitive resources so they can focus on the tougher words that require strong decoding skills. Words that can be recognized this way are known as sight words. While there are many skills and strategies we use to do so, one that gets a lot of time and attention is word recognition.Īlthough not a substitute for the ability to decode (also important!), the ability to recognize some words automatically, or on sight, contributes to reading effortlessly and with understanding. Teaching students to read is one of the most important (and best!) responsibilities we have as teachers. Each sight word game offers plenty of word recognition activities perfect for beginning readers. Students will love these free online sight word games.