Q&A for How to Teach Your Child Sight Words

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What are the first sight words I should begin teaching my child?

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You can choose to start with the most common words in their native language (such as "the," "a," "he," "she" etc.) or you can choose to start with words that are meaningful to them (such as their name or the name of the family pet).

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What is the proper age to teach sight words? I feel we should not be teaching them to students below the age of 4.

Community Answer

You can start at any time. If the children act like they would like to start learning to read, that's great, and they should be taught. If they get bored or frustrated while you're trying to teach them, they may not be ready. You can always do a practice session and see how it goes.

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Should I teach children to understand the sight word meanings?

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Yes, because it will help them to better identify and understand the word if they know the meaning of the word.

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Should I teach my 18 month old the alphabet before sight words?

Community Answer

Eighteen months is early to start with either, but if you have the time and your child seems eager, either one is acceptable. Most teachers teach the alphabet before sight words, but it is not necessary. Sight words are not "read" but rather "memorized" as symbols for the word. So a child will learn that "HE" is the symbol for the word "he," rather than learning to pronounce it phonetically. In short, you can teach your child the alphabet or sight words first, whichever you prefer.

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I notice the words on the word cards in this article are written in CAPITAL letters. Sight words are spelled as they would appear in books in lower case letters, as "water jug", "orange", etc.

KY_GirlatHeart

Community Answer

It is entirely up to you how you would like to do it, but this is just a picture for the sake of the article. If you want and if you know how, you can replace the image with something else.

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