I Can Read

The Principle: As a child begins to make the transition from oral to written language, he begins to notice the same few words that are in every story. These high-frequency words or sight words include such words as “I, me, a, the.” These sight words are often grouped in lists, by difficulty and grade, to help educators determine the reading level of the child.

High-frequency words: There are a number of highly respected basic sight word lists. In the list below, we have included the 25 most frequently identified sight words. Please note that in addition to these, a child will often recognize more difficult words because of the letter pattern (visual discrimination), unusual sound (auditory discrimination), or some other reason. An example is the word “balloon.”

a	all	and	are	as	at
be	big	but	can	do	for
go	had	he	her	him	I
in	is	it	man	me	my
not	of	on	one	our	ou
said	see	she	that	the	this
three	to	two	was	we	what
when	will	with	yes	you	your

Learning to read by playing with Initial Consonant Sounds: Some independent children begin to take responsibility for their own learning early in their pre-school education. To satisfy this strong learner, consider making sets of flashcards in which the child can cut out and interchange the initial letter, forming four different words in each set.

Learning to read using a Rebus: A Rebus-type story is one in which certain words are represented using pictures instead of words. For the emerging reader, these stories are ideal as a first step to literacy.

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