Sight Words
What is Sight Word Skill?
A sight word is a word that frequently occurs in literature and cannot necessarily be decoded using phonics skills alone. At Gurukul, we choose to teach children a set of words to read from memory. This increases their reading efficiency, and therefore their confidence.
Our Gurukul Vidya Mandira Sight Words list was compiled after a careful study of two existing lists: The Dolch List (which catalogs the most commonly occurring words in children's literature) and the Fry List (which referenced all branches of English literature). This research was then combined with our years of teaching experience to assemble the Gurukul List. In our list, certain words have been coupled together, e.g. 'these' and 'those', 'when' and 'if' to help children to compare and contrast the spelling and meaning of these words.
In addition to the phonics and sight words elements, we also have a
Handwriting program for practicing letter formation, which begins as early
as Toddler, with manipulation of play dough, followed by tracing of
lines and shapes, and continued through the older grades with focused writing practice.
Children learn to apply these phonics, sight word, handwriting and sentence building skills by
writing sentences in their journals. We are very proud of the level that the
children can achieve, and of their enjoyment of the writing process.
