High Frequency Words - Amazing Facts!

• 12 Sight Words make up 25% of those we read and write.

• 100 Sight Words make up 50% of those we read and write

• About 300 Sight Words account for 75% of those we read and write

From looking at the above statisics, some teachers argue that it is important for your child to learns Sight Words because these are the words that are most frequently used in the English Language and they therefore provide an essential starting point for learning to become a confident reader.  Indeed in many schools, a student's reading level is estimated by having them identify the Dolch Basic Sight Words. The number of words recognized is the basis for assigning his/her equivalent reading level.

I think there needs to be some caution in teaching sightwords.  If you look at the list below, you can see that many of the words can be sounded out phoneticaly.  

Here is a list of the High Frequency Word Lists:  

Here are some high frequency words printables which include:

• Sight Word Bingo printables, which come with printed sentence strips for practice using these words in context.

• Word Search Puzzles which include all the Dolch sight words.

• Dolch Flash Cards for the high frequency words & Record Chart

However, if you are teaching synthetic phonics then encourage your child to sound out the words where necessary rather than guess the sight word.