31.07.

2023

Dear Parents,

Greetings!

Enhancing reading fluency is one of the key academic goals for the children of Grade I and to
achieve this we will be implementing a number of innovative strategies and programmes
throughout the year. One such endeavor is the introduction of the Dolch lists. In the following
seven months we will be mailing seven Dolch Sight words lists (each containing twenty sight
words) for the children to study. These words need to be memorized for improving reading
fluency. We will be reading the Dolch words daily in class to help the students learn these
spellings.

To convey the importance of this exercise, let me briefly introduce Dolch Sight Words-

Dolch Sight words are a set of 220 words identified by Dr. Edward W. Dolch, an eminent
researcher of English pedagogy. They are the foundation of teaching reading and writing
English.

Dolch words should be recognized on sight (instantly) and students who learn these words
have a good base for beginning reading. The Dolch lists have held up over time as a reliable
high frequency word list that is used in beginning reading programmes.

There is an additional reason why it is important to give sight words an extra priority- Phonetic
analysis can’t be applied to many of the sight words; that is, many of these words cannot be
sounded out because they do not follow decoding rules and hence the need to recognize the
Dolch words “on sight” or instantly in order for reading to flow smoothly.

Even though it may take some effort for the child to learn the entire Dolch Word List, it will be
worth it.

Kindly take a printout and paste/pin–up these lists (as and when you receive them) where they
are visible to your child when he/she sits down to study. Do spend a minimum of 10 minutes
daily assisting your child in reading and memorizing the spellings in the lists. Your ward’s
teacher will be doing the same in class.

So let us join hands to set our children on the road to reading!

Warm regards,

Ms. Nandita Mathur

Head of School