In today’s blog, we’re going to learn the basic techniques and simple methods to teach sight words to kids.
If your kid is in preschool or has started kindergarten. Then you must have heard this term ‘Sight Words’ for sure. So, we will see today what they actually are!
What are Sight Words?
Sight Words are common words that can be recognized easily by simply looking at them. You can identify them instantly and these are the most common words which we use every day.
OR
You can say that sight words are the words that have a higher frequency of occurring in a sentence.
For example, I, am, as, the, me, was, we, she, of, for, etc.
Difference Between Sight Words and CVC Words
Before jumping into the comparison between CVC words and Sight words. Let’s recall what CVC words are. If you haven’t read our blog on CVC words, you can get a quick read on
CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) words are three-letter words that can be pronounced by taking a phonic sound of each letter and blending that sound with the preceding letter. You can check our previous blog on How to Teach 3 Letter Words (CVC Words) to Kindergarten Kids: Step-by-Step Guide.
Whereas, sight words are the common words that do not require phonic sound blending. They can be identified and read easily without any urge to follow a certain schema to pronounce it.
How to Teach Sight Words to Kids?
Easy and Quick Approach to Learning Sight Words
We shall discover the easiest and most common ways of teaching sight words to the kids.
And believe me, all these methods have been tried and tested. I have adapted these methods and now my daughter can easily read all the sight words.
Let’s explore each learning technique one by one.
Start from a few Words
Begin with one or two words at a time. As previously stated, sight words need no rule of thumb to follow, these are the common words.
So, a child can easily memorize two or three words a day. In this way, a child can remember and become able to identify the specific word more easily and quickly as well.
Mention them in a sentence
When you are talking to your child or you can say you’re having everyday conversation with your kid. You can mention them like see, we have used ‘the’, ‘for’, etc. words in the sentence.
Like when I wanted to say, “Give me the ball”, I emphasized the word THE, and I used to ask my daughter what was the tricky word in the sentence in which I just spoke.
This was one of the different methods I used to teach my daughter, like learning with fun. Maybe you can try it too!
Introduce More When Done with Previous
The key is to keep revising the sight words every day. Only in this way your child could get a firm grip on sight words.
Gradually then, introduce your kid to more sight words. Add -on one or two words every 3 -4 days or make a weekly chart for some specific words that you want your child to learn.
Make Groups – Make a Chart!
The best way is to divide the sight words and make a chart out of them. (A complete list is provided at the end of this blog)
You can make a colorful or fancy chart even on A4 paper or you can use a card sheet to make one and stick it in your kid’s favorite place.
And focus on only one part at a time. No need to rush to learn all the words at one time.
Read Books
Practice makes not only a man but anyone perfect! The same is the case with children.
And honestly, I found books to be the best partner in learning sight words.
Invest into kids’ storybooks, toddler learning books, or books with short sentences. This is the best practice for kids to learn sight words.
As sight words occur frequently in books that are designed especially for toddlers. The more they try to read, the higher the chances that they may notice and recognize sight words at a glance.
And even if they don’t, after all, you’re there to help them out, isn’t it? 😊
Kids Learning Apps and Videos
Another popular and perhaps the easiest technique is to seek help from kids learning videos.
Kids are so much into the digital world these days, that they learn quickly what they see, in a fun way.
There are many kids learning videos and apps that help kids to learn and practice sight words.
I shall be sharing some useful apps links soon.
Interesting Worksheets for Beginners
Now here comes the conventional part, worksheets. Ah! I just love them. Nothing I love to do more than solving worksheets with my little one using a pencil.
This method can never get old. No matter how many online worksheets you solve, how much you digitally learn. But when it comes to solving worksheets, then I always get excited to get it in a printed form and make my little one solve it.
Group-wise List of Sight Words
Bonus Section: Difference Between Sight Words and Tricky Words – Aren’t both the same?
Here comes an interesting fact. You might have seen sight words and tricky words similar at times. The key difference is that the Tricky words are also the common unblended words that can be recognized by sight but take longer to decode.
Another difference is that their frequency of occurrence is a little lower in comparison with high-frequency words (sight words).
Final Words
We have covered all the basics and the steps to teach sight words to kids. This all comes straight from a mommy’s pen.
Teach your little ones fun, and try to make it interesting for them. It’s easy. The kids nowadays are sharp enough to get hands-on with their learning stuff.
For this purpose, I have shared the tips and methods to teach sight words to kids. Hope you may find it useful. Please leave your feedback so that we can know how much you find it useful. Your suggestions are more than welcome.
See you with the next blog, stay connected.
Happy Learning 😊
