A special February Message from Marjie Calla:

Over the years that I have been reading for VRP, February can be a time of reckoning for our little readers. Every year there are a few children who don’t seem to be making clear progress so please don’t feel discouraged.  One area that seems to come up often is ‘sight words’ now more likely referred to as ‘heart words’.  I have put together some suggestions to help those children who don’t seem to be picking up these words.

Heart Words: To review, heart words are high frequency words that contain “heart” parts- letter combinations that do not follow standard phonics rules. The first 20 high frequency words that children should learn, which form the foundation of reading and cover a large percentage of early texts are; the, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it, he, was, for, on, are, as, with, his, they and at. The ones that are in bold are heart words. Part of each word can be sounded out but the other part must be learned by heart. The e in the is the heart part as it makes the sound of a short u.

One idea that I came across for children who are having difficulty remembering these words is an activity that uses sound, touch, sight and hearing to help the child experiencing difficulty remember these foundational words.  This worksheet will help illustrate the process.

A: Look at the focus word, then ask the child if they know what word it is. If not, tell them.

B: Tap the two sounds, counting them as you go.

C: Underline each sound or phoneme and put a heart under the irregular part.  For example: letter e in heart word the.

D: Have them trace the word and finally write it. You don’t need a fancy worksheet and can do all of this on the white board. Depending on the child you could review several high frequency words in this manner.

After this activity, I would read a simple book with the child pointing word for word and have them read the focus word or words as you read aloud.

Games are a fun way to learn sight words too.

A: Concentration:  Using 16-20 blank cards (for 8-10 pairs) print two of each word that you want the child to learn on a card. Put the cards face down. Each person flips two cards and reads the word on them. If they are a match the player gets to keep the card. The game is over when all the cards have been matched. The player with the most cards wins the game.

B: Race to the Pond: Here is a blank copy of this game. You can fill it in with the high frequency words that you want your reader to learn.  You need dice and two place holders (can be coins). The goal of the game is for the frog to get to the pond. The person who gets there first wins. Each player takes a turn rolling their die and moving their coin the number they roll.  At each turn the player must read the word they land on!

I have also included Race to the Pond with consonant, vowel, consonant words. You can help the child sound out each letter and blend them together. As you are well aware, short vowels are difficult for some children and this is a fun way to practise.

Snowperson: This is just Hangman revisited. You build a snow person as you play along using the high frequency words that you are teaching.

Last but not least are Bob Books or any other decodable series that you might have available at your school. They introduce high frequency words and sounds gradually and can be motivating for the child that is learning to read slowly.

Most importantly, I hope you have fun!

Marjie