Every elementary education teacher with a focus on early literacy understands the importance of teaching sight words. These high-frequency words pop up consistently in elementary school and other English language texts, and recognizing them is crucial for young students to develop fluency and comprehension. All students are initially challenged when it comes to learning sight words, but those new to English have additional challenges. Developing the right strategies is critical to teach sight words for grade 1.
The Importance of Knowing What Are Sight Words for Grade 1
Simply put, sight words are high-frequency English vocabulary words that are not easily decodable and should be memorized for students to develop a solid foundation for reading and communicating. Percentage-wise they comprise over 50 percent of the words found in the age-appropriate texts young students will be reading along their journey to better reading capabilities. It’s vital for teachers to encourage students to recognize and become familiar with these words, because developing such skill helps increase their ability to read fluently. Once students have become comfortable with sight words, their next step is developing stronger comprehension of the materials they’re reading. Strong recognition of sight words means students aren’t struggling to decode words when reading.
Using sight words for grade 1 worksheets is a great tool to help in building sight word vocabulary. There are many other tools and processes that can be incorporated into curriculums dealing with sight words for grade 1. For example, use of repetition is a key strategy. Incorporating the words into daily practice whether through use of flashcards, smart boards, online software, or other methods is only going to help students. The more they see the words and commit them to memory, the stronger their reading skills will become. Engaging students with regular interactive activities is a fun way to incorporate visuals and sensory aspects into the daily sight word lessons. Regular reading practice, including word games, word walls, word hunts, matching games, and more are exceptional teaching tools and an easy way to incorporate sight words.
Incorporate Essential Skills Sight Words Programs into Your Classroom Curriculum
Essential Skills Sight Words teaches students the 220 Dolch sight words and more than 100 other high frequency words. Words are introduced in a logical progression starting at the kindergarten level and building to sight words for grade 1 and 2. Sight Words Level 2 teaches the next 400 words that have the highest frequency in the English language to students at a grade 2 to 4 level. The Essential Skills Sight Words and Sight Words Level 2 programs include a variety of auditory, visual, and tactile typing activities to help ensure automatic recognition of hundreds of sight words that will greatly improve reading comprehension and fluency.