Sight Words

What Are Sight Words?

• Sight words are words that appear very often in everything we read (like "the," "is," and "of").
• They are called "sight" words because you should be able to recognize them instantly—at a single glance—without having to sound them out.
• Many of these words are "rule-breakers," meaning they don't follow the normal rules of phonics.

Examples of Sight Words Sight words are often grouped by how often they appear. Here are some of the most common ones:

• Level 1: the, a, is, it, in, to, and, go, me, my.
• Level 2: you, said, was, she, he, for, they, are, on, they.
• Level 3: with, what, could, there, because, through, about.

How to Learn Sight Words Since you can't always sound these words out, you have to "photograph" them with your brain!

1. Flashcards: Look at the word, say it out loud, and flip the card.
2. Read, Write, Check: Read the word, write it down, and check if you spelled it correctly.
3. Sight Word Hunt: Open a book and see how many times you can find the word "the" or "and" on one page.
4. Air Writing: Use your finger to "write" the word in the air while saying each letter.

Rule-Breakers (The Tricky Words) Some sight words are extra tricky because they sound nothing like they look. These are often called "Heart Words" because you have to learn the tricky parts by heart:

• Said: Looks like "say-id," but sounds like "sed."
• Was: Looks like "wass," but sounds like "wuz."
• The: Looks like "th-eh," but sounds like "th-uh."

Lesson Summary

• Sight words are high-frequency words we see everywhere.
• We learn them by memorizing how they look, not just sounding them out.
• Knowing them makes us fluent, confident readers.