The new research on the science of reading indicates that students’ literacy levels increase more rapidly when they are able to make connections to the sounds and patters with high frequency words. Therefore it’s better to teach words this way rather than the old rote memorization way. The new term are: High Frequency words used to be called sight words. Today, a sight word is a word that your student can read without sounding out.
When I was in teacher training, we were taught that sight words, or high frequency words just had to be memorized. In the 1980s research came out that having students work on sight words 15-20 minutes per day was the most important thing to do for reading fluency. Also, I was taught to focus only on the beginning letter because that was the main phonics pattern. THIS IS SO NOT TRUE ! In fact, most high frequency words follow the 6 syllable patterns. Each pattern has “rule breakers” that can teach the students as much about the pattern as the rule followers.
This is actually great news for teachers. No longer do you have to squeeze phonics centers and sight word centers into your language arts block! You can do both at once, saving time AND space on your classroom shelves.
The 6 Syllable Types
In first grade, 5 of the 6 syllable types are taught:
- open syllables
- closed syllables (I split this one into 3 sub-levels:
- *simple-CVC
- *blends
- *digraphs
- Magic e
- Bossy R
- Vowel Teams
- Diphthongs
I color-code my resources with the colors of the rainbow to make clean-up easier, and so I can easily see what level the students are working.
Here are some of my products that have to do with High Frequency Word Work. I am still working on the bundle, so follow me on TPT to see my new products. As always, the first 48 hours are half-priced.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Jacque-Jones
