I would even propose that the reason we teach phonics by studying word features is to help words stick better into memory for reading AND spelling. We want readers to understand the nuts and bolts of decoding words (phonics). It’s the same with phonics and sight words. As a matter of fact, if the basic math facts do not become automatic, it could potentially hinder further growth in math. While they could still show us HOW they got their answer, it isn’t so necessary anymore. We want their basic math facts to become locked in their memory. We want them to have the ability to solve different problems by showing us HOW they did it.īut as young children become older children, we want them to move past using, or even needing, those manipulatives to solve 4+4=8. We want children to understand how the math fact works (the nuts and bolts, if you please).
#Teaching sight words plus#
When we first teach young children their math facts (4+4=8 and such), we start by pulling out the manipulatives, showing them in concrete ways how 4 of this plus 4 of that equals 8. If you’re a math person, allow me to venture here for a moment. Sight words typically become automatic when a child has had multiple and meaningful exposure to the word (it goes back to integrating and immersing your kids into words everyday through reading, writing, playing, etc.) Why BOTH Sight Words and Phonics?
If a child knows the word by sight, it is a sight word for that child. Personally, I like Fry’s list better (it’s more comprehensive), but NOTE THIS: ANY word came be a sight word for a child if she knows it by sight, even her name.
Both lists include words that are most commonly found in independent readers for kids, starting in early Kindergarten. Two common lists of sight words are Dolch’s word list and Fry’s word lists. But note also that there are some sight words young readers cannot figure out through phonics alone (the, was, and of are just a few). It most certainly helps a young reader to understand that she can sound out did that she can apply her phonics knowledge to the word and read it. This DOES NOT mean, however, that phonics cannot come into play, too. Instead of stopping each time to figure out the word using decoding skills (sounding it out or finding word patterns, such as ow), we want the word to become automatic to be read within one second of seeing it. There are some words that appear with enough frequency in a child’s “diet” of reading and writing that we want her to know them by sight. In my post, Sight Words: When they Just Don’t “Stick”, I talk more about how kids develop through word learning and when the best time is to introduce the idea of sight words to kids. Without this basic knowledge of letters and their corresponding sounds, learning words would be quite a futile task for most, if not all, children. Phonics begins with making letter-sound associations.
Programs that focus on learning words by sight only unfortunately ignore the “code” of our language that our language is indeed alphabetic. The goal of any spelling or phonics program should be to help kids “crack the code” and apply the “codes” in other words as they read and spell. Word study is a great way to help kids understand the logic (or “rules”, if you’d like) of these patterns. And these letter patterns/combinations are more reliable than you think if you study them closely. Letters make sounds, certain combinations of letters make sounds, etc. The English language is based on the alphabetic principal. Undoubtedly, my answer to the question is BOTH, with a high dose of naturally immersing and integrating it into your day, such reading (everything) together, pointing out letters, words, and phonics patterns, singing, playing with sounds in words, watching educational shows, playing educational games multiple and meaningful exposure is what I like call it. And you also know that I’m setting you up by asking the question with an or in the middle of it. It’s got to be one OR the other. But if you’ve read my blog for very long, you already know my answer. So which is it? Phonics or sight words? This is how some approach the art of teaching reading.