Sight words Sight words are words that are found often in texts. Some can be "sounded out", but many are words that do not follow phonetic rules. These are words that should be recognized by readers automatically. Sight words make up approximately 50 to 75 percent of all words that children are likely to encounter. Knowing sight words automatically frees up a reader to spend more time on the more challenging words and understanding what is read.
While sight words are an important part of beginning reading, it is important that beginning readers also have an idea of letter sounds and blending sounds to make words.
The sight words on the lists used at Central Elementary are from the Dolch List of Basic Sight Words and Fry's 300 Instant Sight Words.