Did you know that just 10 words account for almost a quarter of all the words we regularly read and write in English?
Of course, then, a beginning reader should have these high-frequency words at his or her fingertips.
3 ideas for teaching the top 10 words in English
1. Make a poster with the top 10 words on it. Organize the words by letter category (a, i, t, and so on) for easier reference. Help the child consult the poster for spelling help when writing little books, or labels, or signs, etc.
2. Make predictable books together, that incorporate the words. The child can draw pictures and write the particular word you are trying to teach, and you can write the other words. For example, a predictable “the” playground book might read: The swing. The seesaw. The slide. The merry-go-round. The monkey bars. The playground!
3. Make word cards and use them as prompts. For example, if you pulled the in card, you could make a quick verbal game of naming all the things that are in other things in the house.
After the verbal game, the child could draw pictures of some of the “in” things on a large sheet of paper and then label the whole picture as “My In Map.”
Display the child’s maps for easy reference and to stir memory of the words and the activities.
The Top 10 Words
“A” Words
a
and
“I” Words
in
is
it
“O” Words
of
“T” Words
that
the
to
“Y” Words
you