Dear Parents,

There are many different pieces to becoming a strong reader. Sight words, often
referred to as high frequency words, are words that children learn to recognize automatically.
Simply put, sight words are those that you know with your eyes, as most do not follow
specific decoding rules and are less likely to be sounded out. Having a solid core of sight
words will free up the readers brain to do the difficult work during reading. When readers
lack solid sight word vocabulary, reading is often interrupted, causing both fluency and
comprehension to be negatively impacted.
Our K-2 students will be using a set of 12 lists with 25 words each to help them gain a
large core of sight words. These lists are based on common sight word banks, representing
those words that occur most frequently in reading and writing in the early grades. Your child
will work to gain automaticity of one list at a time. Their progress will be monitored
throughout the year. Once a child has mastered all 12 lists their sight word instruction will
come to an end, as they will then be working on different skill areas to support reading
growth. These lists are a K-2 continuum, meaning they will be a focus in the primary grades,
rather than a specific number of words/lists expected for each grade. Your child will progress
through these lists at the pace that is most developmentally appropriate for them.
Ways you can help at home:
**When your child brings a list of words home to practice please focus only on 5-6 words at a
time, rather than the entire list of 25. This will help to gain security of those specific words
and will deter them from making haphazard guesses that could become habituated incorrect
responses.
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Make flashcards out of the current sight word list your child is working on
Practice writing the sight words with various materials (markers, crayons, dry-erase markers,
sand)
Play games with the words such as bingo, memory and my pile/your pile (challenge your
children to read the words quickly (less than 3 seconds) or else you get the word in your
pile- Whoever gets the most wins!)
Build the sight words with magnetic letters
Tape the words up in various areas of your house and ask your child to say/touch the word
each time he/she passes
Thank you for your continued home support. Your participation to support your child in
building a solid core of sight words will prove beneficial for the reading process.
Please do not hesitate to contact your childs teacher with any questions and/or concerns.
Sincerely,
Curriculum & Instruction
Westerville City Schools
May, 2015