Music is a wonderful medium for presenting and reinforcing information especially for young children. Beyond this parents and teachers can present sight words in short sentences or help them write their own sentences incorporating sight words. There are many leveled texts that are designed to highlight certain age-appropriate sight words. Literature based instruction is an extremely effective method for helping children learn sight words. When children see words used in natural ways rather than in isolation they are more likely to remember them because they develop an understanding of the word’s significance and meaning. Not only will repetitive glancing at the word reinforce it in the child’s memory, it is also easily accessible for the parent or teacher to refer to when talking with the child about it. As a new sight word is learned it is written in large print on a sentence strip or piece of paper and hung up on the wall in a location where the child is likely to see it often. To subtly help children mentally repeat sight words, parents or teachers can create Dolch word walls. When a child writes and says the word at least five times in a row, she is more likely to commit it to memory. Also, to practice spelling sight words, parents and teachers can have children write and say aloud words several times. Repetitive reading of texts featuring certain sight words is one strategy for helping children commit these words to memory. Young readers should be given opportunities to read and write a new sight word multiple times. Repetition is key to sight word acquisition. Teaching Sight Words Through RepetitionĬhildren do not learn new words by being exposed to them only once. This can be as simple as asking them to repeat a sight word while writing it or as involved as having the child search through a pile of sight words written on index cards or sentence strips to find a word that best completes a sentence you have written. Also, adults should have children say the sight words to help them become actively involved in their learning. Pointing to a word while repeating it is one way to do this. Parents and teachers should make explicit connections between the print version of a word and its sound. Because most of the Dolch sight words are already in children’s verbal vocabularies, learning to read them is simply a matter of connecting the print word to the oral version in their prior knowledge banks. Sight words are not only frequently used in writing, they are also essential to conversational English.
In addition, teachers or parents can have children draw their own pictures of each word on the same page to help them link the print with the visual. Flashcards or posters with a colorful picture and the word written under it are excellent sight word teaching tools.
Presenting children with illustrations of sight words along with their print versions helps them make important connections between the object and the word.
Teaching sight words how to#
Even if you used written directions instead of a pictorial map, you probably had a number of visual markers such as unusual sights or signs to help you learn how to get there. Think about the last time you needed to get somewhere you hadn’t been before. Whether we realize it or not, we often visualize what we are attempting to learn to help solidify the information in our memories. The more one-on-one time a child has learning and practicing sight words with an adult, the greater his chances to integrating them into his long-term memory. Whichever strategies are employed, the best success is seen when one adult with a small number of children at a time. How exactly do teachers and parents help children develop their stores of sight words?There are several proven techniques that any adult can use to teach sight words. Once she is able to read all of the words on Dolch’s lists for example, she has access to up to 75% of what is printed in almost any piece of children’s literature. Sight word acquisition is an important building block in the construction of a child’s ability to read.
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