What Are Sight Words?
Our SpellCasters VS series are decks for students in grades from kindergarten to 3rd grade, and contain sight words that kids encounter in school. But what exactly are sight words? Also called high frequency words, sight words are commonly used words that young children are encouraged to memorize as a whole by sight, so that they can automatically recognize these words in print without having to use any strategies to decode.[1]
Sight words for those in kindergarten are often called popcorn words, because these words tend to "pop" up whenever students are learning to read and write. Our kindergarten deck features several popcorn words.
A great resource for sight words is the aptly named sightwords.com! They provide additional insight, and also how sight words assist in phonics: "Sight words instruction is an excellent supplement to phonics instruction. Phonics is a method for learning to read in general, while sight words instruction increases a child’s familiarity with the high frequency words he will encounter most often. The best way to learn sight words is through lots and lots of repetition, in the form of flashcard exercises and word-focused games."[2]
I decided to make the SpellCasters VS series because I felt there wasn't much in the market aside from flash cards and bingo for supplementing my kids' education at home. Rather than grouping decks together, I decided to make decks specific to grades so kids see what words they need to know in the grade they are in and not words above or below them. This means students can either work on their grade-appropriate words, improve words from the grade they might need help in to become a better reader, or preparing for the grade ahead.
The young child in your life is already learning sight words at school. Why not spend some quality time with them at home by playing a fun game that will help strengthen their sight word skills? Take a look at our SpellCasters VS series for kindergarten and 1st grade decks, and stay tuned for decks for 2nd and 3rd grades.
