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Dolch Sight Words
How important are they? When should you know them?
Confidence and reading ability improve when children know Dolch
sight words. Many of these words are in almost anything they
read. Readers will have more experiences of success if they know
these words. Dolch words are words necessary for understanding
sentences.
Edward W. Dolch developed lists of the 220 most frequently used
words in children's books. Almost 75% of the text consisted of
the words he put on his lists which became known as the Dolch
words' lists. A reader who knows the Dolch words will recognize
the majority of the words in a typical selection. Dolch also
developed a list of 95 commonly used nouns. Dolch sight words
should be recognized on sight (instantly) for reading to
progress smoothly. Many of these words cannot be sounded out by
decoding rules. Many of them can't be represented by pictures,
for example: if, do, am, for, as, so, be. They are service words
which give meaning and direction, e.g. here, there, now, then,
on, at, in, over, today.
Before children finish first grade, they should be able to
read all of the Dolch sight words and the commonly used nouns. |