Dramatic Apology

As I taught my daughter to read, I noticed something that surprised me. The shorter the word, the more likely it was to break the phonics rules I was trying to teach. It quickly became obvious that learning to read isn't just about sounding words out. Many of the most common words in English have to be recognized by sight, which eventually led me to the Dolch Sight Word lists. Along the way, I also became a big believer in using sign language as a teaching tool. While practicing Dolch words with flashcards, I discovered that adding a sign helped my daughter remember each word much more easily. Sometimes she'd remember the English word first. Other times she'd remember the sign and the spoken word would follow. Either way, learning became easier and much more enjoyable. Looking back, I think adding sign language gave her another meaningful way to connect with each word instead of simply memorizing letters. By four and a half years old, she had learned all 220 Dolch Sight Wor...

When my daughter was learning to read, one of our goals was mastering the Dolch sight words. As she approached her fifth birthday in July 2012, she had almost finished all 220 Dolch words. Partway through the process, I noticed something interesting. Whenever I paired a word with its sign in American Sign Language (ASL), she remembered it much more easily. Learning both the spoken word and the sign made practicing flashcards more engaging and seemed to improve her retention. Along with practicing sight words, we read two or three books together every day and spent time working on spelling. At her age, spelling also seemed to be one of the best ways to introduce basic phonics and letter patterns. To help with the next stage, I've put together the complete list of Dolch nouns with links to the corresponding signs on Signing Savvy. Our plan is to keep practicing the original 220 words for speed and pronunciation through the end of the year, then begin learning the 90 Dolch nouns in Ja...