What are Popcorn/Sight Words?

Popcorn/Sight Words

    What are Popcorn/Sight Words?

      Preschool is a very important time in preparing children with the necessary prereading abilities in order to set them up on the important path of reading! Besides focusing on our letter of the week and SRA reading program, our class will begin to look at and analyze popcorn/sight words. Exactly what are popcorn/sight words? 

·        Popcorn/Sight words are words that often pop up while we are reading. They are the most commonly used words (they make up 50-75% of all words that children are likely to encounter).

·        Many sight words do not sound as they are spelled and are hard to decode, so having sight word repertoire gives the child a better chance to grapple with more difficult and infrequent words.

·        They are words that readers should recognize automatically.

·        Two sight word resources are:1.     Dolch List of Basic Sight Words2.     Fry’s Instant 300 Sight Words  

Why are Popcorn/Sight Words Important?

 ·        Because sight words make up 50-75% of texts that children read, learning sight words will help children develop greater fluency and hence, greater comprehension skills.

·        As children develop greater ease in reading because of sight word knowledge, their confidence, engagement and motivation will increase.

·        Children’s overall reading ability will greatly improve!