Fry sight word list 1st grade how to#

Learn sight words becomes more efficient when we help students differentiate the simple from the challenging letter patterns. All of the sight words should eventually be memorized for fluent reading.įortunately, typically developing readers can commit words to memory after one to four repetitions of sounding them out (Reitsma, 1983). We don’t want them to stop and sound these words out every time.” You might be thinking, “Wait! Sight words are supposed to be memorized so students can read them quickly. Only the words that are not decodable at all will have to be learned solely through memorization. Simple Fry words can be learned through phonics (or sounding-out).įor mixed simple/challenging pattern words, point out the patterns that must be memorized and use phonics to decode the rest. There are just a few Fry words that are made of only challenging patterns and must be learned through rote memorization. Most of the Fry words have at least some simple patterns that can be sounded out. Words can have all simple patterns, all challenging patterns, or a mix of simple/challenging. unfamiliar – a phonics pattern the student hasn’t learned yet.inconsistent – the pattern has more than one sound it can make (like ow in “ cow” or “ snow“).irregular – they don’t make the expected sound (like the ai in “ said”).These are words like “just,”man”, or “set.”Ĭhallenging patterns are not easy to sound out. Simple letter patterns make their expected sounds. Instead of teaching all sight words through memorization, a better approach is to integrate phonics when possible (2014, Ehri).Īll words are made up of letters and letter patterns that are either simple or challenging. (see orthographic mapping).įry’s process of looking at a word, being told what it says and memorizing it steps around the sounding out (or orthographic mapping) process. Going through this “sounding out” process helps kids to store the word in their memory for future reading. We know that kids learn new words by turning letters into sounds and then blending the sounds into words. Unfortunately, this technique is not effective for many children. Teachers followed this advice for many years. Kids would look at the words, be told what they said, and remember them.

The Traditional Method of Learning Sight Words –įry felt that the sight words should be learned through rote memorization.

Fry sight word list 1st grade how to#

That means teachers must know how to teach sight words effectively. (McArthur et al., 2015)Ĭlearly, skill with sight words is important. So, effective sight word instruction leads to better reading comprehension. When kids read fluently, they have an easier time comprehending what they read. When kids can read a lot of the most common words, they are able to read text more fluently. The first 100 words make up about half of all written material, and the first 300 words account for about 65% of all written material. The first 25 Fry words make up about a third of all written material. You’ll also hear them called “sight words” and “high-frequency words.” Fry called the words on his list “instant words” because kids should learn to recognize them quickly. Edward Fry developed a list of the most commonly used words in reading materials for grades 3-9. With limited time to teach reading, it makes sense to focus on teaching words students will encounter frequently.ĭr. Perfect for teachers working with the Fry words. Improve reading by learning how to teach sight words using a research-based method.