Guide · reading basics
Sight Words and Phonics: Which Comes First?
Children need both, together. Phonics teaches how letters and sounds work, so a child can read new words. Sight words are common words a child reads instantly. Phonics is the foundation. A small set of sight words alongside it lets children read real sentences early.
What each one does
Phonics gives a child a way to work out any word, which matters because no list could hold them all. Sight word practice gives quick recognition of the words that appear all the time, so reading isn't slow and tiring. Reading well depends on both: every word a skilled reader knows on sight was first worked out.
Why memorizing alone falls short
A child who only memorizes whole words hits a wall, because there are too many to remember and new words can't be read. This is why many teachers now avoid teaching lists purely by memorizing. The better way is to use letter sounds while learning sight words, which is how the word gets stored for good.
How to combine them
Follow your phonics program for the main teaching. Add a few high-frequency words as they're needed for reading simple books, and link the sounds to the letters each time. When a word can be sounded out, encourage that first. Practice until it comes quickly.
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Questions people ask
Are sight words bad?
No. Teaching them as shapes to memorize is the part that's been criticized. Teaching common words with their sounds and letters is widely recommended.
Is Wordburrow a phonics program?
No. It's practice for quick word recognition, and it works best next to good phonics teaching.
An app is on the way
We're building a Wordburrow app for iPhone. The plan is everything you can play here, plus offline play and a parent view of the words that have stuck. It isn't out yet. The whole game is free here in the meantime.
Coming soon on theApp Store