Apple banana blue walk tree happy sing. Surely you were able to read each of the words in that sentence and understand what they meant independently. An apple is a fruit that is usually round and red, green or yellow. A banana is another fruit that is yellow. Blue is a color…and so on and so forth. However, when you look at the sentence as a whole, does it make sense? Probably not. This nonsense … [Read more...]
Fostering Reading Comprehension and Retention
One of the most complex mental activities we can engage in is reading. When you look at brain scans taken while the subjects are reading you see many of the areas of the brain lit up with activity. As we read we are simultaneously using our knowledge of sound segments (phonemes) and the connection between sound and letters (phonics) to make meaning of the text (reading comprehension). This last … [Read more...]
What are Sight Words?
Successful readers use a number of tools to help them understand texts. One of the most effective and powerful reading tools that parents and teachers can help children develop is sight word recognition. … [Read more...]
Dolch Word List Worksheets and Activities
The Dolch word list includes the most common 220 words and 95 nouns encountered in children's books. Dolch words, or sight words, are critical in early reading development because they represent high-frequency words and are difficult to sound out or to illustrate. The Dolch word list resources below are organized a few different ways: Alphabetically by grade, by frequency by grade, and in some … [Read more...]
Sight Words and Dyslexia
Even though parents and teachers know that sight word acquisition is essential for children learning to read, teaching sight words to children with dyslexia can be particularly challenging. Individuals with dyslexia have great difficulty processing language. … [Read more...]
Teaching Sight Words – Effective Strategies For Reading Success
Sight word acquisition is an important building block in the construction of a child’s ability to read. Once she is able to read all of the words on Dolch’s lists for example, she has access to up to 75% of what is printed in almost any piece of children's literature. How exactly do teachers and parents help children develop their stores of sight words?There are several proven techniques that … [Read more...]
Online Dolch Reading Games & Activities
There are many excellent resources on the Internet for helping children learn to read. Among these are a number of high quality sites devoted to interactive sight word practice and instruction. … [Read more...]
Benefits of Teaching Sight Words
All parents and teachers want their children to be good readers. With so many different approaches to reading instruction choosing strategies and activities to help them develop into strong, confident readers is difficult. To compound the situation today’s kids, parents and teachers are all busy! … [Read more...]
Teaching Kindergarten Reading Comprehension
Beginning reading instruction is an essential part of the kindergarten classroom. Though some students enter school with some basic reading skills, this is a prime period in the children’s development to build the foundation for reading. Kindergarten teachers and parents should focus on all three of the pillars of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics and reading comprehension. This article … [Read more...]
Grade Level Application of Dolch Sight Words
While Dolch created specific lists of sight words to learn at each grade level, each Dolch word list is only meant to provide parents and teachers with a road map and sequence for helping children acquire the words that they will encounter most frequently in their reading. Each list is merely a recommendation. If a child masters all of the words on the grade level list before the end of the school … [Read more...]
