Why teach sight words?

Teaching sight words is helpful for many reasons. First off, sight words make up a large percentage (approximately 50-75%) of words that are frequently used in children’s reading material. So if a reader can learn those words, they will become a more skilled reader and as they do, their confidence and fluency skills will increase. Also, most sight words can not be sounded out phonetically, so it is important to teach these words so children can recognize them instantly. In this way, they will be better equipped to read and understand the text.