One of the biggest steps of putting together the pieces of my Science of Reading puzzle was the way I taught sight words. A sight word is a goal for all words simply to be read by sight. They can be high frequency words that appear often in text. Those can include irregularly spelled words that students haven’t been taught the phonics patterns of yet. Or one of the few that don’t follow phonics patterns or spelling rules. By the end of this post, you will know the difference between a sight word and a heart word and the steps for teaching heart words. I think you will find it’s much more effective than sending home a list of words to be memorized.
What is the difference between sight words and heart words?
As stated, a sight word is simply any word a reader knows by sight or just by looking at it. This occurs when a brain has orthographically mapped the word and it has become part of the long term memory or brain’s “word bank”.
A heart word is a word that all or part of has to be memorized by heart.
This could be a truly irregular word like of that doesn’t follow any phonics patterns or spelling rules.
Or it could be the word said where just the middle sound is irregular.
Finally, it could be a word like see that students need early in Kindergarten but have not learned the ee spelling pattern yet.
6 Steps for Teaching Heart Words
- Introduce the Word – introduce the word and use it in context, and have students use it to increase oral language.
- Tap and Count the Sounds – Tap and count the sound in the word you are introducing. Have a set of sound boxes with that many sounds ready.
- Listen for and Identify Sound – listen for the first sound and say what it is. The teacher will then say if it is a heart sound or not. If it is not a heart sound have students spell it. If it is a heart sound tell students how to spell it and put a heart over it.
- Repeat Step 3 – Repeat step 3 with middle, end or other sounds until you have built the word.
- Point, Say, & Blend – Point and say each sound, blend sounds together and say word.
- Arm Tap – Optional. Tap the arm while saying each letter spelling the word then slide a hand down the arm while saying the word.
Other Tips for Teaching Heart Words
Once heart words have been mapped they still need to be practiced. Some students can learn a word in as little as 4 exposures but some students take 40 or more. It can also be helpful to teach and practice sight words with similar spelling patterns together such as should, could, and would. I hope you have found this post to be informative about what a heart word is and the steps for teaching heart words. This is a simple and easy change to make in your classroom that can have a big impact. For more about why teaching sight words this way works you can click HERE.
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