Once your child has mastered the list (can read all words automatically without sounding them out), please sign the small sheet and send it back to school.
The Importance of Learning Sight Words – Reading Essentials #12Posted on October 28, 2012 by Tammy Bennecke
Ever wonder why your child’s teacher stresses the importance of practicing the words on those dreaded flash cards in Kindergarten and First Grade? Believe it or not, the top three hundred or so sight words make up about two-thirds of all written matter. Imagine, then, how much easier it will be for your child to read once she masters them!
Reading words as whole words is what more advanced readers do when they read. As you read this post, you’re not taking the time to break down every individual word you read into its basic phonemes (if you did, reading one simple sentence might take all day!).
Advanced readers have enough practice with reading that almost all words are familiar, and are recognized as a whole unit. For example, when you see the word “family,” you do not have to sound out /f/ /a/ /m/ /i/ /l/ /y/, but rather your brain recognizes the word, associates it with its meaning, and places it within a logical context in the sentence. This enables you to read quickly, and that in turn ensures that you understand what you are reading.
Your child will also begin to identify whole words while learning how to read. For example, he or she will start to understand that the word “cat” is more than just the letters “c,” “a,” and “t,” put together, that it is just the whole word “cat,” and it will be associated with a small furry creature. Other whole words that your child may begin to identify are sight words.
Sight words, also called high frequency words, are the words that appear with the highest frequency in written text.
Some sight words, such as “at” and “an,” are phonetically regular and can be sounded out by beginning readers. Many of them, however, are not (for example “about” and “could”) and must therefore be recognized as whole words. Even if a sight word is phonetically regular, since it appears with such frequency in text it is better for the word to be read automatically. This will speed up the reading process for a beginning reader, leading to greater fluency and stronger comprehension.
Here are some fun ways to practice words at home:
http://childhood101.com/sight-words-activity-ideas/
We will also be working on sight words at school. Every week we will be introduced to 5 words of the week starting on list 1. This week's words are: I, see, the, and, a.
Benchmarks - (at grade level)
Completed list 3 by mid January
Completed all 8 lists by mid June.