Sight Words Definition

What are sight words? "Sight words" is a term thatpictures and often cannot be sounded out. Additionally,
parents of early elementary students have most likelyphonic analysis and decoding rules generally do not
heard before, but not many people outside of theapply to sight words learning. To learn these important
educational community know what these importantwords a child will want to have them memorized.
words actually are. A simple sight words definitionThere are many ways effective ways of teaching
would be common words that a reader shouldthese important words. Many teachers teach these
recognize on "sight." These important words are alsoimportant words to their students by using online word
referred to as "high-frequency words" or "instantgames, word lists and word activities. Learning sight
words."words will ultimately help children develop into a
Sight words are a group of common words with asmoother and more efficient readers.
high-frequency of use that readers must know onStudies show sight words make up 50-75 percent of
sight, instantly, and automatically in order to develop intoall words used in school books, library books,
an efficient and smooth reader. Some examples ofnewspapers, and magazines. And the 25 most
these important words are a, is, the, of, and, that, in,common sight words make up about one-third of our
you, I, and to. The two most popular sight words listswritten material. Without question, these important
are the Dolch word list and Fry word list.words will play an important role in your child's early
Many sight words are "service words" (pronouns,childhood education and impact your child's reading
adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, andefficiency and reading development.
verbs), which cannot be learned through the use of© 2008 FishForWords.