An important part of teaching word study is teaching sight words and high frequency words. What’s the difference? Not much, really. The difference lies in the word’s decodability. High frequency words are words that are important for students to know because they occur with such high frequency in written English. Due to their frequency, we tend to learn them because we are exposed to them so often. Many of them are decodable. Children can sound many of these words out when they are reading or writing as they commit them memory. In contrast, sight words need to be recognized rather than decoded. Some high frequency words are sight words. They are words that do not follow easily recognized spelling patterns, and must be committed to memory by sight.
Sight words and high frequency words impact students’ automaticity in fluency and spelling. When students know these words, their brains are free to focus on the content of what they are reading and writing. They are not bogged down with decoding words that they’ve been exposed to frequently or that can’t be decoded. Teaching sight words and high frequency words are an integral part in developing independent readers and writers.
No matter how you choose to teach these words, teach them you must if your little learners are to become fluent readers and writers. If you don’t know where to start, I have a FREEBIE list available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/High-Frequency-Sight-Words-FREEBIE-6121272. You can use my lists to focus on a few words each week with your class. I would LOVE to know how you teach high frequency and sight words. Leave a comment below and share your incredible knowledge with the world!
Happy Teaching!
Pina Rose
PinaRose Education 