POWER WORDS
AKA
"sight words" & "high frequency words"
WHAT ARE THEY?
In the IRLA (Independent Reading Level Assessment) framework developed by the American Reading Company and used by the GLP to assess reading levels, sight words are referred to as "Power Words" to emphasize their importance and utility in learning to read fluently and confidently.
EMPOWERMENT
The term "power" suggests empowerment. These words give young readers power over text. By mastering these high-frequency words, students gain the confidence to read more complex texts and feel capable as readers.
HIGH UTILITY
Power Words are high-frequency words that appear often in written language (for example: like, the, and, is). Recognizing them instantly allows students to focus on decoding less familiar words as well as comprehension, which boosts reading fluency.
WHAT DOES THE SCIENCE OF READING SAY?
The Science of Reading is a body of research that tells us how the brain learns to read. It shows that:
*Children become skilled readers by connecting sounds (phonemes) to letters (graphemes)- a process called phonics.
*The brain doesn't store whole words as pictures; instead, it stores words by mapping their sounds to spellings.
So even "sight words" are not memorized visually as a whole, but learned through sounding out and repeated exposure until they become automatic.
WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP MY CHILD LEARN SIGHT WORDS?
Some sight words follow regular spelling patterns (for example: "and"), and others are irregular (for example: "said"), where the spelling doesn't match the typical sounds. But even irregular words have some regular parts that can be taught.
What can I do to help my child learn power words?
Decode what's decodable- Show your child which parts of the word follow phonics rules.
Highlight the tricky part- In "said," for example, the "ai" sounds like short /e/. Point this out. We call these irregular spellings "heart sounds" as you have to "know them by heart".
Practice reading and writing- Repeatedly reading and spelling the word helps store it in long- term memory.
*This process is called orthographic mapping- it's how the brain remembers written words quickly and efficiently.
The goal for kindergarten students is to read sight words with automaticity. Automaticity is achieved when a child can recall a sight word within three seconds and does not need to sound it out. This level of immediate recall is essential in developing a usable sight word vocabulary.
