Tips on learning sight words for dd (4 and a half)

[dinny]

She's got about 28 of the 45 she needs to know and is kind of stuck and sooooo bored with them, tbh. Any tips to help her remember them? tia, Dinny

IMO I would take it on myself with some of those words that she can sound out encourage her, strange how schools differ, we get the word building first! (dont mean to be rude but do you know how to word build?)

dinny, not sure what you mean. surely sounding out IS word building??

oh, sorry, am mistaking word-building for formation. yes, she does sound out and learnt all her letter sounds early on in reception.

Then I would plod on with that, because when she comes to starts writing then she will be able to sound words out and write really well!

dinny, did you see my point about WRITING the words she's trying to learn ?

noonar, sorry, I did and it is a good tip I will try, thanks (sorry, got carried away writing an essay to dd's teacher in her reading book, lol)

Dinny you asked what should I say at parents' evening when dd's reception teacher produces those stupid scores

Answer to that is simple - this is an extract from the Dfes Progression in Phonics scheme -

"High frequency words
The high frequency words listed in the back of the Framework are not intended to be taught by rote. They are included because they represent a high proportion of he words children are likely to meet in the early stages of reading. Many of these words are phonically regular and thus perfectly decodable. A proportion are irregular and will need to be taught as ?tricky? words?. You should use this list as a checklist to ensure that all the regular words can be decoded, as children learn the relevant phonic skills. You should teach children to recognise the other words as they encounter them in Shared and Guided Reading."

Also you can quote the Rose Report that states that high quality phonics teaching shuld be 'first and fast' so NO sight learning of words by rote, and certianly not before blending / segmenting is secure.

Just because they are highly regarded teachers does not mean they are always right , and your daughter is too important for teachers to mess around with the single most important thing she will learn - to read!

Lots of wise words and knowledge on here, but what I also love and find fascinating about reading is the magic of it. Phonics etc are clever stuff yet my mum says she remembers reading just 'happening' to her; she was certainly never taught or even helped - not that sort of household but she remembers one day a page of words meant nothing, another day she could read it. She had five siblings and read with them and they all just picked it up without recognised schemes, or phonics, and this certainly has not had a detrimental effect on these individuals who are now pretty highly qualified and two of whom teach others now.

There's a bit of magic involved too, the brain is a wonderful thing

Lets not get hung up on these 45 words. I have a ds in reception and am trying hard to practice what I preach.

thanks for the posts! so, how can I best help dd? concentrate on blending letter sounds at home and ignore sight words as poss? at school they'll still be testing her sight words once a week, how do I over come that?

I've found all the posts very informative and helpful, please keep them coming

like the colouring-in idea, Cat64

thanks, cat64 - funnily she did her sight words in school today with her teacher and got 39... was soooo pleased with herself.

teacher basically said not to worry if she's not keen, just to take it at her pace/continue reading lots of stories.

thanks for all the advice, this thread has really helped

oh, cat64, she also suggested snap and Post-its too

lol, that'd be mad!