The sentences

Each sentence is the one the app shows under that word. Tap to hear it.

What a sight word sentence is for

A card teaches a word in isolation. A sentence checks that the word survived the trip into real text, which is where children who look fluent on cards often come apart. The sentences are built so that everything except the target word is already known, which keeps the load on the one thing being practiced. The federal practice guide describes the same move: read a word aloud, then have the child find it in a text, spell it and say it again. Johns and Wilke end their flashcard routine with phrases and sentences for exactly this reason, to promote transfer to context. One minute of sentence reading is worth several more card repetitions.

Five minutes a day at home

Finish every card session with sentences. Read one aloud yourself first so your child hears the rhythm, then have them read it back while tracking with a finger. If they stall, do not supply the word straight away; point at it, wait, and let them work. Then reread the whole sentence from the start, because rereading is what builds fluency rather than accuracy. Two or three sentences is enough. Once a set of words is secure, ask your child to make their own sentence with two of them and write it down, then read it back tomorrow as the warm-up.

How this fits with phonics

Sentence practice is where phonics and high-frequency words meet. In a sentence like a big bag of carrots, most of the words are ordinary sounding out practice and only of has to be known by sight, so the child uses both skills in the order a real reader uses them. That is also the safeguard against guessing from pictures, which is the failure mode of whole-word teaching. Keep the sentences plain and unillustrated at first. If your child is decoding the regular words and recognizing the irregular ones quickly, the sentence works; if they are guessing from the first letter, go back to the letter sounds.

Practice tips

  • End every card session with two or three sentences. That minute is where the words transfer to real reading.
  • When your child stalls, point at the word and wait rather than saying it. Then reread the sentence from the beginning.
  • Reread the same sentence a second and third time. Rereading is what builds speed; a single correct read builds only accuracy.
  • Once a set is secure, have your child write their own sentence using two of the words, then read it back the next day.
  • Keep early sentences unillustrated so there is nothing to guess from except the letters.

Related lists

  • Kindergarten sight words: This page prints the first two Dolch levels: 40 pre-primer words and 52 primer words, 92 in all.
  • Sight word flashcards: Flashcards work for sight words when they are used on a small stack of words a child does not yet know, with a fixed routine and daily review.
  • Heart words: A heart word is a common word with one or two letters that do not follow the usual letter sound patterns, so those letters are learned by heart while the rest of the word is sounded out.

Sources