Take Flight

Fry Instant Sight Words

All learning support classrooms in the Central Bucks School District participate in an instant words whole group instruction procedure which takes between 5-7 minutes per day. The purpose of this procedure is based on the following:

· The Fry Instant Words are the most common words in English ranked in order of frequency.

· The first 25 words make up about 33% of all written material.

· The first 100 words make up about 50% of all written material.

· The first 300 words make up about 65%-75% of all written material.

· Knowing these words automatically is essential in order to achieve fluency in reading and writing.

Students in essence “over-learn” the sight words so that they know them automatically. The instruction cycle includes ten words per week. Each Monday, words are introduced/practiced in class. Homework pages come home for Tuesday through Thursday night practice (Tues.- word columns, Wed.-word rows, Thurs.-word phrases, Fri.-sentences). Each night’s homework has been practiced by the class that day. Children are responsible for reading aloud their homework to a parent/adult. The goal is to read instant words automatically, not to sound them out.

Every third week is a review week of the twenty learned words. At the end of week three students are assessed, reading words in isolation and in the context of sentences. Students should score 90% or higher at this point.