Reading is one of those things that many people take for granted. It’s not uncommon and unknown to hear some people say they aren’t bookworms or readers, and it doesn’t bother them. Some adults are so nonchalant about not being able to read that they have their children sign legal documents. But reading can be difficult even for adults once you get past the picture books and into more advanced reading material. This is where sight words come in handy.
Readers who struggle with decoding – or identifying the meaning of each word – might have trouble understanding what they read at first. Still, some tricks can make things easier before moving on to more complex strategies, such as learning new words and using context clues to help you understand what you read better.
What Are Sight Words?
Sight words often occur in multiple places throughout a text, meaning the reader’s context infers their meaning. To become skilled readers, children learn sight words as a building block to reading comprehension.
Reading to yourself and reading out loud are the most common types of reading that people do. Different genres have certain conventions and styles. Like dictation examples, if you’re reading a nonfiction book, you’ll probably want to read it aloud.
Why Are Sight Words Important?
If you’re a beginning reader or someone who struggles with the written word, sight words are a crucial part of your learning process. When you recognize words visually instead of sounding them out, you can more easily understand what you’re reading. When you’re reading a text, you’re probably looking for two things: The main idea of the text and how the author supports that idea.
In most cases, you can get this information just by skimming the reading, but sometimes, you’ll want to go back and read the text carefully. Reading sight words helps you skim the text more quickly and focus on the main idea. If you’re starting to learn how to read, it’s essential to recognize and understand sight words, so you don’t get frustrated.
How to Teach Sight Words?
It’s best to start teaching sight words as soon as kids start to read. Preschoolers just starting to read teach pre-primer sight words, such as the, and, you, is, you see, we, come, me, have, can, are, and so on. In kindergarten, teach the next level of sight words, such as of, to, you, your, and, one, two, I, he, she, and so on. In first grade, focus on the next level of sight words, such as was, are, the little, when, where, this, and so on.
You want to start focusing on more difficult words by second or third grade. As kids progress through school, they encounter more and more complex words, so it’s essential to prepare them for more challenging reading material.
Identifying Sight Words
When kids start learning to read, you may want to help them learn their sight words. One way to do that is to use flashcards. You can write the word on one side of the card and the definition on the other. You can also try an online quiz or app to help your child become familiar with these words. You can also create a list of sight words your child encounters at school or home. The words in books or magazines, write them down and then quiz them to see how many they can remember.
Using Sight Words to Learn to Read
When you recognize sight words, you can begin to read faster. You can also understand the meaning of the text better because you don’t have to guess what each word means. This is helpful when you’re reading something difficult or skimming for information. You can use certain words to help you understand the rest of the text when you recognize certain words. For example, you may come across the word “the,” which may help you understand that the sentence is about a specific thing. When you’re reading something more advanced or a more complex piece of text, you may find that using context clues is helpful.
3 Strategies to Help Kids Learn Sight Words
Teach kids to sound out words to help them understand words’ individual sounds. You can also have them use pictures as a map to help them understand the words they’re trying to read. Picture maps are a great way to visually break down complex words so kids can better understand them. Teach kids to use context clues to understand better words they don’t recognize. Context clues are helpful if a word is unfamiliar to you, but the sentence still makes sense. Have kids read aloud. It can also help them to learn new words.
Conclusion
Reading is a skill that many people take for granted. The ability to read is something that most people start to develop when they are young. There are a few ways to make reading easier for people who are struggling with it. Reading aloud is a great way to become more familiar with the sound of different words. It can also be helpful to use context clues to understand the meaning of difficult words. And most importantly, it can be helpful to learn and recognize sight words.
These words are commonly found in books, newspapers, and magazines. When you start recognizing these words, they can help you better understand what you are reading.
