High Frequency Sight Words ▬ Keys To Literacy

High Frequency Sight Words

Keys To Literacy: 1.05.2021 by Joan Sedita

Dr Fry's Phonics Patterns

Educators sometimes confuse the following related terms: sight words, high frequency words, decodable words, irregular words. Sight words are words that are instantly recognized and identified without conscious effort. High frequency words are the words most commonly used in the English language. Because high frequency words are essential to learning how to read, teachers should begin to teach some high frequency words as sight words to children in primary grades at the same time children are being taught how to use phonics to decode words. Teachers introduce these words as soon as kindergarten if their students are ready.

Some high frequency words are decodable – they can be “sounded out” using regular phonics concepts (e.g., in, and, had, that, him, did, then, with, down, at, on, can, like). Some high frequency words are irregular – they are not phonetic and must be read as a unique word (e.g., the, was, from, have, of, there, want, you, said, does). When a teacher introduces a new high frequency word, it is helpful to point out to children if it is irregular or if it is decodable using the phonics concepts the children have learned.

At first, high frequency words are the words young students learn to read by sight (e.g., the, what) along with words that are meaningful to each child (e.g., family names, name of their town). Over time, many words that young students read by applying decoding skills eventually become sight words – that is, students learn to read them automatically by sight through the orthographic mapping process.

There is no definitive list of which high frequency words should be taught at which grade level or at which time of year in a grade level. Reading programs typically incorporate some instruction of high frequency words into daily lessons.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 9

Reading Level: standard / average.

Reader's Age: 13-15 yrs. old

(Eighth and Ninth graders)