What exactly is a sight word anyway? Don't we teach those in primary grades and then don't visit them anymore?
Well..... not exactly.
Dr. Linnea Ehri defines sight words as:
"All words that are sufficiently practiced, not just high-frequency words or irregularly spelled words become sight words when read from memory."
That means the words" sit" and "situational" are both sight words when you can automatically recognize them.
Is there a process to learn words? Actually, there is a systematic approach to teaching new words.
It involves the science of Orthographic Mapping. - click here
Read Dr. Linnea Ehri's instructional guide for a better explanation.
Click here - Dr. Linnea Ehri's List of Instructional Guidelines for Enhancing Orthographic Mapping and word Learning
What do you think about the six-step process? How can it be implemented at your GL?
Rebecca Minerd and Elizabeth Treadwell
I think the six step process makes total sense when trying to help a student learn how to read, as well as correctly spell words. According to the research, sight words are any word that we can read and retain by sight. I always thought they were only limited to the sight word lists that kids learn by first/second grade. At my grade level (4th), I think that the research of Orthographic Mapping can be very beneficial for my students, because many of them are not reading on grade level or are still having difficulty spelling and reading words appropriately. I would help students pronounce words and could have quick mini lessons on grapheme-phoneme relations, phoneme segmentation, and decoding. During writing lessons, we could focus on writing phonemically, especially with words that are "foreign" to my students. My kiddos can start with initial sounds, to initial final sounds, and then fill in the middle with internal sounds in words. For the most part, I would focus on pronouncing words and allowing my kiddos to read aloud and give them text reading practice, which will help activate and connect meaning to spellings and pronunciations of sight words in memory. Overall, I think all levels could be used, but I would focus more on #5 and #6.
ReplyDeleteYes! The more we incorporate this into grade level vocabulary with multisyllabic words, I think our students will show more reading growth.
DeleteI agree that it is often over looked in the upper grade levels but the students can benefit so much from the continuing practice of the 6 step practice! I enjoyed learning more about the 6 step practice through out this post. I have many students that have goals that relate to site words or reading in general. I also find it is so important for even my students who do not have goals relating to reading to have opportunities for step 5 or 6. Most of my students are below grade level and these steps would be beneficial for them.
DeleteYou made an excellent point..... at the 4th grade level. Most educators think this only applies to lower grade but it applies to all students who do not have these skills:)
ReplyDeleteThis all makes perfect sense to me! One thing I find interesting is the spelling portion. I know many teachers over recent years have been discarding spelling.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this I thought what may be effective lesson planning is to start the week with students reading a leveled passage independently aloud and any of the words that are not sight words for the student would create a spelling list for that student's week. There are many "spelling contracts" out there with differentiated activities that enforce or support morpheme, phoneme, grapheme elements to improve student OMs.
Because they are leveled passages/words, I think this would also touch on what Dr. Askew and Mrs. Minerd touched on, as well, and could be used well through Middle School!
I actually had a few lightbulb moments with regards to the spelling portion as well. Going forward, I need to spend more time on the multisyllabic instruction of spelling words and also make part of the spelling "assessment" be verbal as well. I noticed that this week with our words involving the root word meter, they really struggled with reading odometer and speedometer. I am thinking about sight words and spelling in a completely different light after reading about orthographic mapping- something I need to investigate going forward with regards to spelling and vocabulary instruction.
DeleteI agree, I need to do some more research on this. I too look at spelling differently.
DeleteThis was Rebecca
DeleteI thought reading about the science of Orthographic Mapping was interesting and that the six-step process sounds beneficial for helping students in building sight word knowledge. I also liked that the article mentioned that sight words are not just the words that are taught or tested in the lower grades - they can be any word that can be read and retained/memorized. Dr. Ehri says that “all words that are sufficiently practiced…become sight words”. As someone who is able to go into multiple grade levels, I can use all six steps. When working with first graders, I use steps 1-3 and have especially been working on phoneme segmentation and decoding with them as we are working on reading texts and practicing their sight words. I also know that we have many students across multiple grade levels that struggle with spelling and are reading below grade level, so focusing on spelling, pronunciation, and text reading practice (steps 4-6) would help them. I believe that I could be more intentional about giving students time to spell words and helping them by starting with the sounds they hear in the beginning, middle and end of a word. Continuing to give students opportunities to read aloud and pronounce words will help them to make grapheme-phoneme connections, as well as connecting meanings to spelling and pronunciation of sight words.
ReplyDeleteThe six steps made total sense to me. Much of this we do in the primary grades, but I can see it also being impactful in the upper grades. It also reminded me of the information about repetition and how often we need to make sure we are doing the steps to help our students be most successful.
ReplyDeleteI have already begun to think of how I can utilize these 6 steps as I am planning for next year and what I will use an a focus during my time with teachers. As an EIP teachers, I only have about 45 -50 minutes with each class. I feel strongly that these word skills should be the focus. For the lower grades phoneme segmentation and decoding are essential. However, even in 4th and 5th grades these skills are necessary moving towards multi-syllabic words. I thinjk we have to remember that if students have not mastered these skills in upper elementary and middle , we have to make time for them. Sometime I feel we are quick to jump to comprehension without assessing or considering work knowledge.
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