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Sight Words Aren't the Problem
231 Plays7 hours ago
Episode 86: In this episode, literacy expert Miss Beth breaks down the biggest misconceptions about sight words and reveals what the science of reading actually tells us about how children learn to read.
Beth explores orthographic mapping (the brain-based process behind how readers store and recognize words) and explains why phonics and phonemic awareness are non-negotiable foundations for early literacy. Whether you're a parent or teacher, you'll walk away with practical, research-backed strategies for teaching high frequency words and building confident, capable readers.
Grab our brand new resource, Sight Word Mastery for Kindergarten! Play on Words listeners can use the code POWFAN12 for $12 off (valid through 2/27/26). Click Here
https://www.bigcityreaders.com/kinder-sight-word-mastery
In this episode:
- Why traditional sight word instruction may be holding kids back
- What orthographic mapping is and why it matters
- How decoding skills accelerate reading development
- Actionable strategies you can use today
If you care about early literacy and want to give children the best start in reading, this episode is a must-listen.
About the Host:
Beth Gaskill (Miss Beth) is a reading specialist, early childhood educator, and founder of Big City Readers. She helps parents support their children's literacy development through research-backed, science of reading strategies.
Follow Miss Beth on Instagram @bigcityreaders
Browse Big City Readers resources at BigCityReaders.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Sight Words
00:00:00
Speaker
Sight words do exist. We're not saying don't work on sight words. We're just saying we're not going to memorize sight words. Play Onwards! Play Onwards! This is Play Onwards from Big City Readers.
00:00:13
Speaker
And this is Beth. So your five-year-old comes home from kindergarten or preschool with a list of 50 words, laminated maybe. It looks fantastic. And your job is to have them memorize this list. Or maybe one of your friends said, oh, they learned their ABCs. The next thing you do is teach them to memorize sight words.
Confusion in Literacy Terms
00:00:33
Speaker
Sight words are a hot, hot topic in the literacy world, and there actually is a lot of confusion around sight words. For one, they're referred to in a lot of different ways. Sight words, heart words, fry words, red words, trick words, snap words, and they all are a little bit different, but they often get grouped together.
00:00:58
Speaker
So is your friend wrong who said, your kid knows their letters, now teach them to memorize sight words? Is your teacher giving you false information by saying this is the best thing you can do?
Introducing a New Guide for Parents
00:01:10
Speaker
We're going to talk about that in today's episode of the Play On Words podcast from Big City Readers. I am Miss Beth, and I'm so excited because actually... I have a brand new resource that goes along with this topic just for kindergarten or preschool parents um if your child is ready for this. So I will link that in the show notes, but it is a brand new guide that teaches you exactly how to teach sight words the right way. um But I'm going to answer all of your questions in this podcast as well. We also have a ton of episodes about sight words, so you can get a lot of information and from this podcast alone or on our blog at bigcityreaders.com. There's tons Tons and tons of free resources, free worksheets, guides. I never want any parent or teacher to feel like I ever did, like lost and not sure what to teach kids. So I fill that with tons of tons of resources. My team is always updating it. They're awesome. So if you ever can't find anything, please, please reach out.
00:02:12
Speaker
But today I'm going to dive in answering tons of your questions in my DMs about sight words. So is it bad? Should kids know these high-frequency words? Should we ignore them? Are sight words fake?
00:02:23
Speaker
Why do literacy people freak out? me being one of them I said to my team today, I was like, am I part of the problem? People are so confused, but they assured me I was not. So hopefully this can shed some light onto this sight word topic.
Common Misunderstandings about Sight Words
00:02:37
Speaker
The issue isn't the words. The issue is how the brain stores them and how we're teaching them. So Let's clarify all this confusion, shall we?
00:02:48
Speaker
There's two common misunderstandings. Cite words usually are words that you memorize visually. And the other misunderstanding is that science of reading people or people that follow the science of reading research think that high frequency words shouldn't be taught. These are both inaccurate.
00:03:05
Speaker
So no, those are both false statements. sight words need to be memorized, and that people that follow the science of reading research think that you should not teach sight words. Those two statements are not true.
00:03:17
Speaker
So there are high frequency words. They are common words that we see in print, and often it does make sense if you think about it. It seems like if we tell these kids to memorize these 50 words that are going to be in most of the books that they're seeing, like the decodable readers in kindergarten, it does look a lot like they're reading.
The Pitfalls of Memorizing Sight Words
00:03:37
Speaker
But if you've been here for a while, you've heard me say this a lot. We're just creating fake readers. We're teaching kids to the test. When we teach them just to memorize sight words, we're just teaching them to the test. We're passing them, passing them, passing them. And we see the data and research is so, so strong. And it's not new. It's decades and decades, even century, I think over a century old, that shows us that by the time kids get to third grade, they are really missing crucial reading skills because we've pushed so much memorizing. We're just pushing to the tests in kindergarten, first, and second grade, and they're really missing a lot of crucial skills.
00:04:14
Speaker
So there are these high-frequency words that are common in print, like of, like, said, we, because, from, me my.
00:04:26
Speaker
There are irregular words, words with uncommon spelling patterns, like from, for example, sounds like it should be spelled F-R-U-M. So it feels a little tricky and confusing because if you're a parent, you're teaching your child these letters and you're teaching them to blend words like cat. We've taught them C says K, A says A, T says T. We put it together, A, T, cat. But then we see a word like from and we taught them o
00:04:57
Speaker
ah mm And then it doesn't sound quite right. From, from, but it's from. It sounds like that uh sound. So that's an irregular or an uncommon spelling pattern.
00:05:08
Speaker
And then there is the instructional practice of memorizing these by sight. So those these are the things you might experience in your child's elementary or early childhood schooling.
00:05:22
Speaker
I walk by this one daycare and it just, it makes me so mad. I see it's like a three-year-old classroom and they have a sight word wall. And that's different than putting like words on objects.
00:05:36
Speaker
A lot of times in classrooms, they label like trash can. I think the best practice in early literacy development is helping kids by labeling the first sound in the things in the room. So like trash can, you might put a C or a T on that chair, you'd put a CH. So we're noticing those beginning sounds.
00:05:58
Speaker
There are other ways that if we're just labeling the room, we are building on other skills and other print awareness things that really do matter. But right now we're just talking about sight words and memorizing whole words. And that is something that we don't ever want to do.
00:06:12
Speaker
So the problem isn't the words. The problem is the method. So those words exist. We're not saying they don't exist. We're not saying we don't teach them. We're saying the method of memorizing them is not working.
00:06:22
Speaker
So you might have heard have something called orthographic mapping. If you haven't, don't get lost. I'm going to explain it really simply. Orthographic mapping is a brain process. It's not a teaching method.
00:06:37
Speaker
But we can teach kids skills to strengthen and support that brain process.
Understanding Orthographic Mapping
00:06:47
Speaker
This is the way that words become automatic.
00:06:49
Speaker
So eventually we do stop decoding sound by sound of each of these words. But that doesn't mean that we're just teaching kids to memorize them. That's something that automatically happens because our brain has orthographically mapped those words.
00:07:04
Speaker
So this connects sounds or phonemes. So you might have heard me talk about phonological awareness, which is the ability to play with sounds. That's like asking your child, how many sounds do you hear in the word shoo, shoo, two sounds. So that's two phonemes.
00:07:22
Speaker
But then we're connecting those phonemes to the letters or known as graphemes. So sh is the grapheme. We spell it as sh. The sound is sh, and it's spelled sh. So we're connecting the sound and the letter and the meaning.
00:07:37
Speaker
Words are not stored by shape. When we teach kids to memorize words, they are storing them by shape. Now, that might look like if you have a child. I've done so many assessments with kids, like literally tens of thousands. I hated it. But when I was a reading specialist in an elementary school, I respond was responsible for testing every single kid in the entire school three times a year for seven years. So,
00:08:05
Speaker
I did a lot of assessments, and you don't just do one each time. You try to find their independent level and their instructional level and their frustrational level. I have analyzed assessments so, so, so deeply.
00:08:20
Speaker
And it's exhausting and boring. But there are some really interesting things that you can pick up in these kind of assessments. So when kids are memorizing sight words, they're often storing them by shape. So that would mean, like, if they're reading...
00:08:36
Speaker
The horse was in the barn, but they read it as the horse was in the born because the word barn and born are basically the same shape, right? B-A-R-N-B-O-R-N. It's the same shape of the word.
00:08:51
Speaker
So does it change the meaning? Yes. But a lot of times kids can realize that's not that's not the right word. That's not what I meant. And they get the gist of it. So in a lot of these assessments, if they fix it,
00:09:05
Speaker
because they realize it doesn't make sense, that doesn't get marked. But we're seeing that they're actually struggling with reading that word. Their brain is not reading the word. It's just looking for the shape of the word that they know.
00:09:17
Speaker
Words are not stored by shape. They are stored by sound to symbol mapping, orthographic mapping. That's something we do in our brain. So we don't memorize words like logos. We anchor them to sound and structure. So your child might notice McDonald's. That's great. That's ah that's an early pre-literacy
Teaching Sight Words: A Personal Reflection
00:09:39
Speaker
skill. That's not an actual literacy skill that they've memorized that logo. That's just a different thing that our brain does.
00:09:46
Speaker
So I got to be honest, this is sort of embarrassing to admit, but I've said it before, so it's not a secret. But I was a teacher that did tell kids to memorize sight words. In fact, who was once in a parent-teacher conference, and I told this parent how to teach their child to memorize sight words.
00:10:04
Speaker
And I said, is before I got trained in the science of reading research, but I said, you know, sometimes when they're when you're doing the flashcards, they might look at the word from and say said. And that's okay.
00:10:15
Speaker
That just shows that they are on the right path of where they're storing all those sight words. Oh my gosh, can you believe that? So obviously that's a huge red flag.
00:10:27
Speaker
But I didn't know any better. I was a teacher. i didn't know any better. Somebody told me this is what you do. Somebody told you this is what you do. So don't beat yourself up if you have had your child memorize sight words. And let me be honest, it is so easy.
00:10:40
Speaker
Kids, love to memorize. So I often think, wow, I'm trying to convince all these people of the right way to teach their kids how to read. But I really could probably make a lot more money if I just said, I can teach your kid how to read and I teach them how to memorize sight words because then, you know, it's going to look like they're reading for three years and they're probably not going to pin it back to me if they're struggling years later.
00:11:03
Speaker
But that's not my goal. I believe in this. I believe In changing our education system, I believe that literacy matters so much for everyone. And i was a child who struggled with reading. So that is my biggest, biggest, biggest driving force is that I still...
00:11:23
Speaker
30 years later, remember what it felt like. I remember the shame. I remember the embarrassment. And I remember feeling anxiety, not just in those years of learning to read, but going to school for my entire life.
00:11:34
Speaker
And I'm not really an anxious person. And so that just like makes me so sad for my younger self that this one little tweak, like if we just changed our The way that I was learning how to read, i wouldn't have felt so bad about myself for so many years in school. And it it wasn't visible to other people. Everyone thought I was happy, a good kid, I got good grades.
00:11:56
Speaker
I just know, I know how I felt. I was worried all the time. I was embarrassed. I was comparing myself. I felt like I wasn't good enough. And that carries over it beyond just reading. It doesn't just, okay, that was there and now it's recess and I'm happy and phew, reading's over. it No, you feel those feelings the whole time. So I'm not going to just try and sell you something that is going to ah hurt your child later down the road.
00:12:21
Speaker
So I was one of the teachers that sent home the list to be memorized. I feel for you teachers if you've done that too. But when we know better, we do
The Dangers of Whole-Word Memorization
00:12:31
Speaker
better.
00:12:31
Speaker
It's not the list itself. It's what usually comes with it. Things that are emphasizing memorizing a whole word instead of sounding it out. Just remember it. It's a tricky word.
00:12:43
Speaker
It's a rule breaker. You just have to memorize it. Or you'll just know it. These are things we don't want to hear. These are the red flags. This signals weak phonemic awareness instruction, weak phonics alignment,
00:12:57
Speaker
possible 3-queuing or guessing habits, and over-reliance on visual memory that is not the part of the brain that we're using to learn how to read. If your child is expected to memorize 50 words but hasn't been explicitly taught how to segment and map sounds, that's where the big concern is.
00:13:19
Speaker
So what does that mean? If your child is sent a sight word list but they aren't able to read words like Pip, zip, dop, cat, dog, mom.
00:13:31
Speaker
These are decodable words. So if they're sent home this list of sight words to memorize, but they're not able to read those three-letter CBC, consonant, vowel, consonant, words that are real or nonsense independently, then they shouldn't be doing this yet. They need to have a strong foundation in building these words that do make sense before we introduce irregular words.
Practical Steps for Teaching Sight Words
00:13:52
Speaker
So I'm going to give you some practical steps to practice sight words here. And again, I'm linking in my show notes. We just dropped a brand new resource. It is under $30. It is over 100 pages. And it is the 50 words, not memorizing them, but mastering them. It is hundreds of activities. So I'm going teach you the method to do And then I'm going to teach you some activities. But in this guide, you will get literally my scripts of what you should say to your child and what they should say. How to teach, how to build that orthographic mapping in the brain. And hundreds of activities that you'll do. So this is the first 50 words that your child should know. So grab it in the show notes. It is on sale right now, this week only. It's obviously going to increase in price. But for this week, it is under $30.
00:14:43
Speaker
Okay, so here's how to teach high frequency words the right way. You're going to say the word. You're going to use it in a sentence. You're going to stretch the sounds. So let's say the word is said.
00:14:57
Speaker
ed Three sounds or three sound boxes. Then you're going to map each sound to the letters. So the first sound ssss. That letter is spelled with an S. Your child is probably going to be able to know that. Ssss.
00:15:15
Speaker
Then we go to the last sound. we We're going to do the sounds that make sense first and then teach the irregular part. The last sound is That letter is usually spelled with a D. So your child can fill that in. Then we have that one more sound box in the middle.
00:15:28
Speaker
And you might ask your child what sound they hear. Hopefully they tell you the sound, not the letter, and they say eh. And then you can say what letter usually spells eh. They should tell you e. If they don't, this is a good indication that they are struggling with CVC words and might not be ready for this.
00:15:47
Speaker
You can say, yes, that's what it usually is. But this is the tricky part, the irregular part. It's actually spelled A-I. Oftentimes we put a heart over it. That's the part you have to know by heart. Not memorizing the whole word, just memorizing the irregular part with a heart.
00:16:03
Speaker
We're noticing, we're talking about it, we're noticing the parts that are regular, identifying the heart part, the irregular chunk. And then they're going to write that word. After they've mapped it, then they're going to write it below it.
00:16:14
Speaker
Then they're going to read it in in a decodable sentence. And then I like to have them write it in a decodable sentence. I said run. So then they can write that sentence. You're going to emphasize words that are the sight words that we're memorizing. So said, was, they. Those words are mostly decodable, meaning there's just one irregular part. So those ones I like to start with. But also in this guide that I've just made,
00:16:42
Speaker
We've grouped the words like four a time. You can do it week by week in 10 weeks, or um if your child is mastering it, you can do more. But I like to say like four to six words a week. I would stick with and make sure that they're really mastering them.
00:16:56
Speaker
The irregular parts in sight words are usually pretty small, so it's pretty easy once they understand the concept of orthographic mapping. Well, they're not going to understand the concept of orthographic mapping, but they understand mapping words that they do know. It's going to be easy to introduce words that have irregular parts that they don't know.
00:17:12
Speaker
So don't panic. You don't need to email the principal. Instead, you can take that list that gets sent home and you can practice sound mapping at home. You can do that with all the ways I just told you. You can do that with my guide that we just dropped.
00:17:27
Speaker
But you can change what's happening. If you are seeing that your child is really struggling, even though you're teaching them the proper way at home, then I would have a conversation with the the school, the teacher first, then the principal. The teacher might not have a lot of...
00:17:42
Speaker
say over the curriculum that they're using. Of course, we want to change the curriculum that's happening to school, but your best next move might be just teaching them the right way to do it at home. You say, we don't memorize words. That's not really reading. You can teach them. So you take that list, you work on five words at a time, and don't quiz them with pure flashcards.
00:18:03
Speaker
Have them tap and map the sounds. Write the word in dictation. That means you're giving them a sentence and they're writing it. Use it in real reading. Just if the school gives you a list, try to turn it into a phonics lesson. And if this episode didn't help you do that, send me a message and I will give you some ideas on Instagram at Big City Readers. I love to help with homework over there. So please, please send me a message if you ever feel overwhelmed by this.
00:18:30
Speaker
The bigger picture why this matters. Memorization-heavy systems teach to the test. They work for kids with a strong working memory, and they work short-term.
00:18:41
Speaker
It fails kids with dyslexia, any sort of learning disability. It masks a lot of learning disabilities, and it masks decoding weaknesses when we could catch them really quickly and early in kindergarten and first grade. And it creates guessing habits. So these are things we don't want.
00:19:00
Speaker
Orthographic mapping is something that our brain is ready to do. It is efficient. It is inclusive. It works for most kids. And it is aligned with how the brain stores words and how we read.
00:19:13
Speaker
Sight words absolutely exist, but they become sight words because of phonics, not instead of it. Let me say that again. Sight words absolutely exist, but they become sight words because of phonics, not instead of it. So we want to make sure that we are teaching kids how to properly read all words, not teaching them two different methods for words that they can sound out and words that they can't.
00:19:39
Speaker
Every word wants to be a sight word. Every word becomes a sight word. Hopefully, we're teaching kids true reading skills that they just automatically are reading all the words that they see.
00:19:50
Speaker
The goal is for them to read rapidly and fluidly. It seems like it's taking a while right now, but we're just building those foundations brick by brick, one foot in front of the other, and then it becomes more fluid and effortless, and they're reading to you before you even
Effectiveness of Orthographic Mapping
00:20:08
Speaker
know it.
00:20:08
Speaker
Key points to remember. We don't store words by shape. We store them by sound. Memorizing words teaches kids to store them by shape. If your kindergartner is memorizing 50 words but can't segment or sound out three sound words, that's a red flag.
00:20:24
Speaker
The brain is not a flashcard machine. It is ready to orthographic map. You can teach your child how to support that. Irregular words do not mean unsoundoutable.
00:20:35
Speaker
Okay, I hope that helps. Sight words do exist. We're not saying don't work on sight words. We're just saying we're not going to memorize sight words. So if you have any questions or need help with this or need help with talking to your child's teacher or school, please let me know. i would love to help. But you do have what it takes to change the trajectory of your child's reading journey. You don't have to change the whole school system right now. Of course, I want to empower you to feel good about talking to your child's teacher and your child's administration, but you actually do have what it takes to do this at home. You don't need to change the whole school system. system You just need a few tools, and now hopefully you have them. And with our new Mastering Sight Words guide, I hope that you feel even more empowered to help your child at home. So grab it in the show notes on sale for, I think, $27 week only.
00:21:27
Speaker
give it to any friend that you have that has a five-year-old i promise this is going to change not only their reading journey but their entire school journey if we can just start the right way from the very beginning that's my goal i hope this was helpful if you found it helpful please send it to a friend like this episode make sure you're following subscribed i don't even know all the things we're on youtube Spotify and Apple. Give us a review if you like it too That helps our team so much. So from all of us here at Big City Readers, thank you so much for listening and I will see you in the next episode.