Sight Words
Although a lot of fuss is made over learning phonics reading, Phonics is actually not the hardest part of a student literacy program. In my opinion, sight words are much harder. Basically, a sight word is a word that is frequently used, but that bucks patterns of phonics. They are short words that can not be sounded out and must simply be memorized. Sight word lists are the bane of existence for any child with learning difficulties. Without them you cannot read even the simplest texts, yet many students never adequately master them up to grade level. Sight words lists can help a lot. Some schools take a whole language approach, refusing to really spend enough time drilling things like sight words and phonics lists.
