Phonics Reading Pro wonders if these words remind you of a previous discussion we’ve had: The, Your, Of, Are, Come, To, For, Have, What…
If you answered “sight words”, you are correct! Sight words are those little tricksters that might throw you a curveball when you are trying to teach your child how to sound out words phonetically. Just try sounding out “your” when the vowels are pronounced with their short sound: “y (as in yoyo) o (as in octopus) u (as in umbrella) and r (as in rabbit). That doesn’t sound anything like “your” does it? If you tried to teach your child that way they’d be totally confused!
That’s why it’s important to introduce sight words early. Let your child know there are certain words that can’t be sounded out called sight words. After that you’ll have to teach your child sight words through rote memory (repetition) to recognize words that can be sounded out and words that can’t. After a while your child will be able to see a sight word coming a mile away and be able to tell you “that’s a sight word isn’t it?”
Here are some tips:
- Make flashcards of the most common sight words and go over them with your child daily
- Ask your child to search and find sight words in their favorite books
- When writing sentences ask your child to point to the sight words
In other words, sight words are just a small stepping stone for your child to cross before becoming a phonics reading pro J
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