One of the most common questions I am asked is how I taught my four year old to read. I mean…she’s reading Hop on Pop! Before I get into the nitty gritty of details, I would like to mention something extremely important:
It’s really easy to fall into competition and start comparing our children to other children. I have friends whose similarly aged children are more academically advanced than Maya and there are other children who are way behind Maya. This does not necessarily reflect on her comprehension, quality of schooling or my parenting. I refuse to compare her with other children because that will be unfair to her. Her only competition is herself. Please remember, each person learns at their own pace. We must make learning fun, interactive and a positive experience.
I initiated sight words when Maya was almost four years old as she already knew all of her letters, numbers, colors, shapes and took interest in books due to our daily reading time.
1. What are Sight Words
Also referred to as Dolch words, are 220 words; mainly prepositions, adjectives and verbs.
You can find pintables here: http://printables.atozteacherstuff.com/1176/pre-primer-dolch-sight-words-ring-book/
They can start being taught with three words and then adding one to three new words at a time once the previous words are mastered. The idea is for the child to look at the index card and immediately recognize the word in three seconds. I printed the Dolch pre-primer list and wrote the words out onto index cards. The first three words we reviewed were: I, can, play.
2. How to teach them – There are five ways:
A. See and say – child see word on flash card and says the wod while underlining it with finger
B. Spell reading – child says the word, spells out the letters then reads the word again
C. Arm tapping – child says the word and then spells out letters while taping on his/her arm
D. Air writing – child says the word, writes letters in the air in front of flash card
E. Writing – child writes the words
I use A, B and E for my daughter.
3. Review and Reinforce
-See and say all previous words routinely; ideally once a day. Realistically, my daughter reviews them around five times a week.
-Make it interactive
A. Find recognizable words when reading together.
B. Hang words up on walls around the home.
C. Randomly place 10 – 15 words on a table and instruct the child to find words and make a specific sentence.
D. Arrange words on the table in a sentence and have the child read it.
E. You can also make up games such as word search, bingo, tic tac toe etc.
I normally add anywhere from three to five new words weekly. We use the Dolch words reference but also use simple words we come across when reading. I also allow Maya to come up with new words she wants to learn to read. This gives her some autonomy and thereby makes reading more fun.
You can watch “Sight Words” in my Instagram highlights for the progression of Maya’s reading from January 2020 to now.