Do sight words or sounding out words come easiest for your child?

[Susie in MS]

I have heard a few say that their child learned to read by sight before they started a phonics program. That made me think cuz my dd can sound out cvc words and words ending in ck easily. But the word *the* is a pill for her. We haven't done much in the way of sight words, but she has seen this one over and over and it does not stick for her.

 

So I am wondering....

From the time she was 2 I taught her consonant sounds and short vowel sounds. Then she would watch Leap Frog Letter Factory occasionally. A few times in the past few weeks she has watched Leap Frog Code Word Caper and we have started Adventures in Phonics. So I am wondering if it is the phonics influence that has her to where she can sound out good, but maybe I am missing something with the sight words??

 

For those that have children that learned to read by sight easily do you feel that there was some influence that lead to this? I have read to my dd abundantly since she was an infant. She breaths books, sleeps with books, and eats books. But she struggles with any attempt at sight reading.

 

Could it just be her age? She is 4.

[kalanamak]

For my kid, it is sight that comes easily. That was a sticking point for us. And 4 is far too young to worry. Have fun, don't stick on it.

Edited July 18, 2009 by kalanamak

[MerryAtHope]

I wouldn't worry about it at age 4. She'll get it in time. Just keep telling her the word if she can't read it.

 

Merry :-)

[JenneinCA]

You asked if there was a reason that some kids do mostly sight words, I think that for my older son the answer is YES! He had ear infections almost constantly from about 10 months to almost 24 months. He didn't get tubes but was very close several times. I think that all those ear infections messed up his ability to process sound properly and he switched to an almost totally visual way of learning. And that is why he didn't understand phonics.

 

He is now eight and hasn't had an ear infection since he was four years old. This year we are going to try to teach him some phonics, not to teach him to read, but to teach him to spell. He isn't looking forward to it, but it needs to happen anyway.

[Susie in MS]

Thanks for all of the replies! I feel better now! :D

[Goldilocks]

My son was the same way. We would have a whole row of cat, mat, rat, sat... and he would sound out every one! When we came to "the" I would have to tell him not to sound it out (he would try every time). Once he really knew the words and was reading them by sight because of familiarity, it ceased to be a problem. He did this right around his 8th birthday.

[crl]

My son was the same way. We would have a whole row of cat, mat, rat, sat... and he would sound out every one! When we came to "the" I would have to tell him not to sound it out (he would try every time). Once he really knew the words and was reading them by sight because of familiarity, it ceased to be a problem. He did this right around his 8th birthday.

 

 

My DD is 6 and this was her start. She is finally starting to recognize the as a sight word. But we have so many more sight words to go. So for her sounding it out comes easier.

[Ellie]

Yes, it's her age. I wouldn't worry about it very much right now.

 

An organized, phonics-based method works best for *most* children. Some dc seem to pick up reading all on their own; some dc only need a few phonics rules tossed their way once in a while; but *most* children will do best with an organized, phonics-based method.

 

My favorite is the Spalding Method. It teaches dc to read by teaching them to spell, and it includes penmanship, basic capitalization and punctuation, and simple writing. You can even do some things with her now, before she's ready to Official Start.

 

FTR, "the" is a perfectly phonetic word. "TH" has two sounds: a "soft" sound (as in "thing") and a "hard" sound (as in "that"). "The" uses the "hard" sound. The letter "e" usually says its long sound at the end of a short word or syllable; you can teach the child to say the long e, and point out that often we slur the sound of e at the end of the word when we're speaking so it comes out "uh" (although "the" is often pronounced with the long e). Most dc don't have a problem with that concept.

[mktyler]

There really is no reason 'the' can't be sounded out, it contains perfectly reasonable parts. TH spell /TH/ in words such as 'that', 'this' 'thus' 'then' 'there', etc. You can easily teach the 'e' for the sound /ee/ to rhyme with he, she, we, be. This pronunciation is appropriate for words that start with a vowel sound, like 'the apple'. You can also teach the 'e' for the more common pronunciation /uh/. I described it as a 'lazy' sound. So if it's not sticking as a sight word use her strengths and teach her to sound it out.

 

Melissa

Minnesota

Reading Program Junkie

dd(11) dd)7) ds(5) ds(1)

[LizzyBee]

My oldest understood phonics after being taught the alphabet and letter sounds. It was intuitive for her. I don't remember her having any particular issues with sight words or sounding out words.

 

My second did not hear individual sounds in words, but unfortunately, when she was learning to read I knew nothing about right-brained (whole to parts) learners or dyslexia. She was taught phonics in ps kindergarten and 3 years of homeschooling, but it was a real struggle for her to learn to sound out words. Eventually all that phonics torture (oops, I mean instruction) clicked for her, though.

 

My third is dyslexic with auditory processing disorder and poor auditory memory. Her visual processing and memory skills are strong except when it comes to words. For the longest time, she couldn't compensate for poor auditory skills by using visual skills. However, her visual memory is improving faster than her auditory memory. Based on the MWIA (and my observations), she reads better by sight than by sounding out words. However, I've not ever taught her a single sight word. Rather, her brain takes words that she's learned via phonics and remembers them by sight, because that's the way she's wired. Hopefully, in a few years, she'll have tons of phonics instruction under her belt and she'll be able to use it.

 

As for your dd, if she enjoys reading, but irregular words are tripping her up, I would make some flashcards for her to practice. I wouldn't make it something she has to do, since she's so young. But it sounds as though she wants to read, so she might enjoy practicing with flashcards.

[Susie in MS]

Thanks everyone!! I appreciate you all sharing and the tips! It really helps!

[cillakat]

 

For those that have children that learned to read by sight easily do you feel that there was some influence that lead to this? I have read to my dd abundantly since she was an infant. She breaths books, sleeps with books, and eats books. But she struggles with any attempt at sight reading.

 

Could it just be her age? She is 4.

 

I see this as a good thing. A very good thing. Nearly all words in our language fit into the framework of phonics. The few that are sight can be taught as needed. At four, if she's interested in working on phonics with you: Yay!!!!!

 

the sight words will come soon.

 

:)

K

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I would not worry due to her age:) I would keep reading to her.

 

However, If you check out ElizabethB's posts and Don Potter's Education page, you will learn that sight words are really bad for learning reading. I would stick to phonics since the majority of words are phonetically regular.

 

I found Between the Lions which is available on PBS and on Discovery Education United Streaming to be very helpful to my ds who now reads at a 7.5 grade level per testing. The library also has DVDs of between the Lions. We also used Starfall.com:)

[skaterbabs]

Dot taught herself to read phonetically with no input from me by watching Between the Lions on PBS and playing starfall.com.

[kokotg]

I've had one of each so far. My oldest more or less taught himself to read when he was 3--and it was almost all sight reading. I wanted to make sure he had phonics, but it was a challenge finding a program for him because he knew all the words on sight; when he did come across a word that he needed to sound out, it was clearly a challenge. I don't think it's anything I did; I think he's just a very visual kid, and that's how his brain works. He sees a word and remembers it.

 

DS2 is a different story entirely. He can read a word 10 times today and still need to sound it out when he sees it again tomorrow. Learning to read is much slower going for him, but it's progressing much more "by the book." He's slowly getting the phonics rules and being able to sound out more and more.

 

And, yes, at 4? Don't worry at all!

[FO4UR]

She can make a mental picture of a "cat." "the" is not something she can picture.