When you’re a new teacher, the number of buzzwords that you have to master seems overwhelming at times. You’ve probably heard about many concepts, but you may not be entirely sure what they are or how to use them in your classroom. For example, new teacher Katy B. asks, “This seems like a really basic question, but what are sight words, and where do I find them?” No worries, Katy. We have you covered!
What’s the difference between sight words and high-frequency words?
Oftentimes we use the terms sight words and high-frequency words interchangeably. Opinions differ, but our research shows that there is a difference. High-frequency words are words that are most commonly found in written language. Although some fit standard phonetic patterns, some do not. Sight words are a subset of high-frequency words that do not fit standard phonetic patterns and are therefore not easily decoded.
We use both types of words consistently in spoken and written language, and they also appear in books, including textbooks, and stories. Once students learn to quickly recognize these words, reading comes more easily.
What are sight words and how can I teach my students to memorize them?
Sight words are words like come, does, or who that do not follow the rules of spelling or the six types of syllables. Decoding these words can be very difficult for young learners. The common practice has been to teach students to memorize these words as a whole, by sight, so that they can recognize them immediately (within three seconds) and read them without having to use decoding skills.
Can I teach sight words using the science of reading?
On the other hand, recent findings based on the science of reading suggests we can use strategies beyond rote memorization. According to the the science of reading, it is possible to sound out many sight words because they have recognizable patterns. Literacy specialist Susan Jones, a proponent of using the science of reading to teach sight words, recommends a method called phoneme-grapheme mapping where students first map out the sounds they hear in a word and then add graphemes (letters) they hear for each sound.
How else can I teach sight words?
There are many fun and engaging ways to teach sight words. Dozens of books on the subject have been published, including the much-revered Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Guide by Fountas & Pinnell. Also, resources like games, manipulatives, and flash cards are readily available online and in stores. To help get you started, check out these Creative and Simple Sight Word Activities for the Classroom. Also, check out Susan Jones Teaching for three science-of-reading-based ideas and more.
Where do I find sight word lists?
Two of the most popular sources are the Dolch High Frequency Words list and the Fry High Frequency Words list.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Dr. Edward Dolch developed his word list, used for pre-K through third grade, by studying the most frequently occurring words in the children’s books of that era. The list has 200 “service words” and also 95 high-frequency nouns. The Dolch word list comprises 80 percent of the words you would find in a typical children’s book and 50 percent of the words found in writing for adults.
Dr. Edward Fry developed an expanded word list for grades 1–10 in the 1950s (updated in 1980), based on the most common words that appear in reading materials used in grades 3–9. The Fry list contains the most common 1,000 words in the English language. The Fry words include 90 percent of the words found in a typical book, newspaper, or website.
Looking for more sight word activities? Check out 20 Fun Phonics Activities and Games for Early Readers.
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Как можно облегчить “вхождение” в чтение? В этом поможет “волшебная кнопка”, благодаря которой ребенку будет проще бегло читать незнакомые английские тексты начального уровня.
Этой кнопкой являются высокочастотные слова (sight words), составляющие примерно 2/3 лексики, встречающейся в детских книжках начального уровня.
К sight words относят:
- Слова, которые не подчиняются правилам чтения phonics, например, was, two, laugh
- Слова, которые нельзя «показать», например, the, been
- Множество других слов, которые провинились тем, что всплывали и всплывают в детском чтиве с завидным постоянством
Существуют списки sight words, разработанные Дольчем в середине XX века. Всего слов 220, и они разбиты на уровни. Например, уровень Pre-K включает 40 слов: a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you.
В дополнение к этому списку есть еще и список из 90+ существительных. Учить, так учить! Доктор Фрай пошел дальше и разработал список из 1000 слов, запомнив которые ребенок сможет бегло читать обычные газеты, книги.
Основной смысл заучивания списков заключается в том, чтобы в долговременную память ребенка попало как можно больше высокочастотных слов, автоматически узнаваемых впоследствии в процессе чтения. Тогда ребенок не тратит время на декодирование, читает бегло и уверенно.
Как вводить эти слова:
- постепенно, не больше 2-3 в день
- с помощью карточек, записав на доске или повесив над столом а ля слово дня
- в играх, проводилках, прописях
- через книги, специально разработанные для первого чтения (например, на книжках от Oxford Reading Tree всегда пишут, на какие слова направлен фокус)
Обязательно ли заучивать все три сотни из списка Дольча, чтобы ребенок зачитал? Нет. Из всего списка лишь 10% слов не подчиняются никаким правилам и являются камнем преткновения при чтении и письме. Остальные вполне подлежат фонетическому декодированию.
Ресурсы вам в помощь
sightwords.com – списки, готовые карточки любых размеров и т.п.
k12reader.com – хорошая организация списка Фрая.
Автор статьи – анломама, преподаватель, автор марафонов о живой природе Ася Виноградова
Автор: Горбушина Оксана Сергеевна
Организация: МБОУ «СОШ №18»
Населенный пункт: Челябинская область, г. Миасс
Обучение чтению на английском языке — достаточно сложное занятие, так как есть много слов, которые читаются не по правилам, в большинстве случаев это ставит детей любого возраста в тупик, и поэтому усложняется процесс обучения чтению.
Как следствие педагог, который обучает ребенка данному виду навыка, должен владеть не просто методикой преподавания иностранного языка, а желательно современными способами преподавания, чтобы процесс обучению чтению проходил быстро, эффективно и увлекательно для детей.
Мой педагогический опят в школе составляет 11 лет, за это время мы проходили разные курсы повышения квалификации, но, к сожалению, лично я не нашла той «изюминки», за которую хотелось зацепиться и начать использовать в своей практике. Но 2 года назад случилось чудо, я познакомилась с фонетическим подходом в обучении чтению и понятием «sight words». Если о фонетическом подходе я слышала, то о понятие « sight words » в университете и на курсах повышении квалификации не говорили, поэтому я стала изучать эту тему более подробно, чтобы понять, как знание sight words может облегчить процесс обучения чтению.
Понятие «Sight words» было введено американским писателем Едвардом Уиллиан Долч в 1930 — 1940 годах. Слово « sight » с английского переводится как «взгляд», а «words» — слова. В русском языке такого понятия не существует, но можно провести аналогию с высокочастотными словами. Так вот, sight words – это слова, которые ребенку важно запомнить, чтобы научиться читать и писать. Их нужно запоминать целиком как образ, без необходимости разбивать их на буквы. Изучение sight words помогает детям быстрее научиться читать на ранних этапах. Как правило, дети запоминают слова и при чтении не задумываются, почему буква в этом слове так читается, вследствие этого увеличивается скорость чтения. Дальше перечислены некоторые примеры sight words: I, you, she, he, one, two, this, that, have, some, come и т. д.
Теперь давайте поговорим подробнее, как мы знакомимся с этими словами на занятиях с детьми возрастом от 5 до 10 лет.
Я предпочитаю вводить sight word, когда оно встречается в контексте урока или искусственно создаю ситуацию, что бы нужное слово встретилось. Так, например, мы с детьми запоминали языковую конструкцию „She is …“, и на этом этапе я ввела sight word «she».
На доске я пишу изучаемое слово и прошу детей посмотреть сначала на доску, а затем видео, где показывается параллельно графическое написание слова и его звуковое произношение. Затем после просмотра видео дети должны сказать мне, как оно произноситься. В своей работе я использую видео с ютуб канала «Preschool Prep Company» . Каждое видео – это маленькая история о слове, которая воспринимается с удовольствием.
После того, как мы познакомились со звуковым содержанием слова, дети вырезают фигуру понравившегося им животного или фрукта из бумаги и клеят на нее печатный вариант слова. Затем с помощью скотча крепят эту картинку на тонкую шашлычную палочку и втыкают ее в коробку, где «живут» у нас все sight words. Такие веселые палочки повышают мотивацию детей и позволяют педагогу быстро повторить с детьми все изученные sight words.
На следующем уроке мы опять обращаемся к нашим коробочкам, сначала вспоминаем уже изученные слова, а потом продолжаем работу над новым словом. На втором этапе дети делают рабочий лист « worksheet », который помогает ученикам запомнить написание слова. Эти рабочие листы можно найти в интернете и распечатать. Обычно они включают в себя следующие задания: найди слово и обведи его в кружок, обведи буквы слова, раскрась буквы разными цветами, найди слово и выдели его маркером, напиши его, вырежи буквы слова и приклей их в правильном порядке. Работа с рабочим листом занимает максимум минут 10, но зато дети начинают его узнавать. Однако этого не достаточно, чтобы запомнить его окончательно.
Кроме того, периодически на занятиях мы возвращаемся к sight words и играем с ними. На листах формата А4 я печатаю по одному изучаемому слову, раскладываю листы на полу, предварительно вспомнив с детьми какое слово как читается. Задание заключается в том, что дети должны наступить на то слово, которое называет учитель. Здесь важно время от времени перемещать листы на полу, так как некоторые дети запоминают не слово, а место где лежит слово. Данная игра активная, позволяет детям подвигаться, отдохнуть и заодно выучить sight words.
И последнее, что я создала для лучшего изучения sight words – это была интерактивная игра на сайте Wordwall. Wordwall – представляет собой многофункциональный инструмент для создания как интерактивных, так и печатных материалов. Игры, созданные на этом сайте, очень удобно использовать при дистанционном обучении. Мной было создано вращающиеся колесо, которое делится на несколько разноцветных секторов. В каждом секторе написано определенное sight word. Задача детей — крутить колесо и называть то слово, на которое покажет стрелка. Ребята играют в эту игру с большим интересом.
После того, как мы проходим через все эти этапы, обычно дети без проблем узнают изученные слова и они не вызывают у них никаких трудностей на всех этапах обучения чтению и письму. Чтобы читатель мог прочувствовать и понять, как детям нравится изучать sight words, я создала презентацию, где можно проследить все этапы изучения этих « обычных необычных » слов.
Список литературы:
1. http://didaktor.ru/wordwall-zamechatelnaya-kollekciya-shablonov-didakticheskix-igr/
2. https://letterland.ru/cards/
3. https://vk.com/@english.stepbystep-sight-words-chto-eto-i-kak-s-nimi-rabotat.
Приложения:
- file1.pptx.zip.. 1,9 МБ
- file0.docx.. 20,0 КБ
Опубликовано: 17.05.2021
A. See & Say
A child sees the word on the flash card and says the word while underlining it with her finger.
B. Spell Reading
The child says the word and spells out the letters, then reads the word again.
C. Arm Tapping
The child says the word and then spells out the letters while tapping them on her arm.
D. Air Writing
A child says the word, then writes the letters in the air in front of the flash card.
E. Table Writing
A child writes the letters on a table, first looking at and then not looking at the flash card.
Corrections Procedure
Correct a child’s mistake by clearly stating and reinforcing the right word several times.
- Overview
- Plan a Lesson
- Teaching Techniques
- Correcting Mistakes
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Questions and Answers
1. Overview
Sight words instruction is an excellent supplement to phonics instruction. Phonics is a method for learning to read in general, while sight words instruction increases a child’s familiarity with the high frequency words he will encounter most often.
Use lesson time to introduce up to three new words, and use game time to practice the new words.
A sight words instruction session should be about 30 minutes long, divided into two components:
- Sight Words Lesson — Use our Teaching Techniques to introduce new words and to review words from previous lessons — 10 minutes
- Sight Words Games — Use our games to provide reinforcement of the lesson and some review of already mastered sight words to help your child develop speed and fluency — 20 minutes
Video: Introduction to Teaching Sight Words
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2. Plan a Lesson
2.1 Introduce New Words
When first beginning sight words, work on no more than three unfamiliar words at a time to make it manageable for your child. Introduce one word at a time, using the five teaching techniques. Hold up the flash card for the first word, and go through all five techniques, in order. Then introduce the second word, and go through all five teaching techniques, and so on.
This lesson should establish basic familiarity with the new words. This part of a sight words session should be brisk and last no more than ten minutes. As your child gets more advanced, you might increase the number of words you work on in each lesson.
2.2 Review Old Words
Begin each subsequent lesson by reviewing words from the previous lesson. Words often need to be covered a few times for the child to fully internalize them. Remember: solid knowledge of a few words is better than weak knowledge of a lot of words!
Go through the See & Say exercise for each of the review words. If your child struggles to recognize a word, cover that word again in the main lesson, going through all five teaching techniques. If he has trouble with more than two of the review words, then set aside the new words you were planning to introduce and devote that day’s lesson to review.
Note: The child should have a good grasp of — but does not need to have completely mastered — a word before it gets replaced in your lesson plan. Use your game time to provide lots of repetition for these words until the child has thoroughly mastered them.
2.3 Reinforce with Games
Learning sight words takes lots of repetition. We have numerous sight words games that will make that repetition fun and entertaining for you and your child.
The games are of course the most entertaining part of the sight words program, but they need to wait until after the first part of the sight words lesson.
Games reinforce what the lesson teaches.
Do not use games to introduce new words.
NOTE: Be sure the child has a pretty good grasp of a sight word before using it in a game, especially if you are working with a group of children. You do not want one child to be regularly embarrassed in front of his classmates when he struggles with words the others have already mastered!
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3. Sight Words Teaching Techniques
Introduce new sight words using this sequence of five teaching techniques:
- See & Say — A child sees the word on the flash card and says the word while underlining it with her finger.
- Spell Reading — The child says the word and spells out the letters, then reads the word again.
- Arm Tapping — The child says the word and then spells out the letters while tapping them on his arm, then reads the word again.
- Air Writing — A child says the word, then writes the letters in the air in front of the flash card.
- Table Writing — A child writes the letters on a table, first looking at and then not looking at the flash card.
These techniques work together to activate different parts of the brain. The exercises combine many repetitions of the word (seeing, hearing, speaking, spelling, and writing) with physical movements that focus the child’s attention and cement each word into the child’s long-term memory.
The lessons get the child up to a baseline level of competence that is then reinforced by the games, which take them up to the level of mastery. All you need is a flash card for each of the sight words you are covering in the lesson.
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4. Correcting Mistakes
Of course, every child will make mistakes in the process of learning sight words. They might get confused between similar-looking words or struggle to remember phonetically irregular words.
Use our Corrections Procedure every time your child makes a mistake in a sight words lesson or game. Simple and straightforward, it focuses on reinforcing the correct identification and pronunciation of the word. It can be done quickly without disrupting the flow of the activity.
Do not scold the child for making a mistake or even repeat the incorrect word. Just reinforce the correct word using our script, and then move on.
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5. Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Progress is slow. We have been on the same five words for a week!
A: It is not unusual to have to repeat the same set of words several times, especially in the first weeks of sight words instruction. The child is learning how to learn the words and is developing pattern recognition approaches that will speed his progress. Give him time to grow confident with his current set of words, and avoid overwhelming the child with new words when he hasn’t yet become familiar with the old words.
Q: Do I really need to do all five techniques for every word?
A: Start out by using all five techniques with each new word. The techniques use different teaching methods and physical senses to support and reinforce the child’s memorization of the word. After a few weeks of lessons, you will have a sense for how long it takes your child to learn new words and whether all five exercises are necessary. Start by eliminating the last activity, Table Writing, but be sure to review those words at the next lesson to see if the child actually retained them without that last exercise. If the child learns fine without Table Writing, then you can try leaving out the fourth technique, Air Writing. Children who learn quickly may only need to use two or three of the techniques.
Q: How long will it take to get through a whole word list? I want my child to learn ALL the words!!!
A: That depends on a number of factors, including frequency of your lessons as well as your child’s ability to focus. But do not get obsessed with the idea of racing through the word lists to the finish line. It is much, much better for your child to solidly know just 50 words than to “kind of” know 300 words. We are building a foundation here, and we want that foundation to be made of rock, not sand!
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© 2023 Sight Words: Teach Your Child to Read
Like many families this week, your children are heading back to the classroom and coming home with a worksheet or two of homework. (Make that dozens of worksheets for your older kids!) The homework that caught my eye this week is the list of “sight words.” What are sight words? Sight words (high-frequency words, core words or even popcorn words) are the words that are used most often in reading and writing. According to Teach Stix:
In classrooms across America, the development of sight word recognition continues to be a top priority when instructing emerging and beginning readers.
They are called “sight” words because the goal is for your child to recognize these words instantly, at first sight.
Why are Sight Words Important?
Sight words are very important for your child to master because, believe it or not, “sight words account for up to 75% of the words used in beginning children’s printed material”, according to Study to Identify High-Frequency Words in Printed Materials, by D.J. Kear & M.A. Gladhart. There are different sight words for every grade level. Each set of words builds upon the other, meaning that once your child learns the sight words in Kindergarten, he will be expected to still recognize those words as he learns new words in first grade, and so forth.
Many of the over 200 “sight words” do not follow the basic phonics principles, thus they cannot be “sounded out.” Beginning readers need an effective strategy for decoding unknown words, and being familiar with sight words is an effective method. Other benefits of sight words include:
- Sight words promote confidence. Because the first 100 sight words represent over 50% of English text, a child who has mastered the list of sight words can already recognize at least half of a sentence. If your child begins to read a book and can already recognize the words, chances are he won’t feel discouraged and put the book down, rather he’ll have more confidence to read it all the way through. And, choose another!
- Sight words help promote reading comprehension. When your child opens her book for the first time, instead of trying to decipher what ALL of the words mean, she can shift her attention to focus on those words she is not familiar with. She will already know at least half of the words, so focusing on the other half helps strengthen her understanding of the text.
- Sight words provide clues to the context of the text. If your child is familiar with the sight words, she may be able to decode the meaning of the paragraph or sentence by reading the sight words. And, if a picture accompanies the text, your child may be able to determine what the story is about and come away with a few new words under her belt.
How to Practice Sight Words
You will want to become familiar with all of the sight words for each grade. Both the Dolch List of Basic Sight Words and Fry’s 300 Instant Sight Words, each of which can be downloaded from the Literacy and Information Communication System (LINCS) website. The key to mastering the list of sight words? Practice and repeat! The more opportunity your child has to become familiar with these words, the better. Of course, you’ll see sight words come home in the homework folder, or you may even be asked by the teacher to use flashcards, but there are many FUN activities and games that you can do together to help promote learning of the sight words.
Educational website, Ed Helper has an extensive collection of printables and worksheets designed to help kids conquer their list of sight words. Even Pinterest has jumped aboard with creative ideas to help your child work on sight words. There is an entire Pinterest site dedicated to sight word activities for your kids! Think Skittles, snowballs, chalkboards…the choices are endless! Take a look!
Creative Ways to Conquer Sight Words. Pinned Image from teacherspayteachers.com
Sight words help your child build a foundation for reading comprehension and fluency. How about using online tools to help perfect those words? Most kids will welcome the chance to “play” online, even if it is educational. Our new Bitsboard app is a great way to target certain sounds and sight words in an engaging way. Enjoy!
Language Development