SIGHT WORDS – THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF BEGINNING READING
What are sight words?
Sight words are the building blocks of beginning reading. They are very important! They are easy words such as it, is, am, and, the, you, I, he, she and here.
It’s important to build up a word bank. These are words that your child will be able to recognize on sight, quickly, without actually having to read them. This will speed up the reading process and make things easier for your child.
Sight words will be important for beginning writing, too. Reading and writing go hand-in-hand.
Use the books you’re reading to your child to teach sight words…
When you’re starting out with a child that is about 3 to 4 years old, I’d use the books you’re reading with your child as a teaching tool for sight words. Why?
This way the word is in context in a story, and not isolated and without meaning, on a flash card. It’ll make more sense to your child. Reading is all about making sense of what’s on the page. You can use flashcards with sight words later.
After reading a short book, go back to the first page. Look for a sight word you’d like to teach. Let’s say the word is up and you know that the word occurs several times in the book you’ve chosen. Read the sentence with the word in it, point to the word and say: This is the word up. Can you find another up on this page? Or the next page?
Super Hammy Can Teach Sight Words!
Super Hammy books from DC Canada Education Publishing are perfect for teaching sight words!
Oksanna Crawley 