Standard 2: Reading Foundations 

Students will develop foundational skills for future reading success by working with sounds, letters, and text.

FLUENCY: Students will recognize high- frequency words and read grade-level text smoothly and accurately, with expression that connotes comprehension.

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

• Students will quickly recognize and read regular and common irregularly spelled grade-level sight words.

• Teachers provide practice reading, spelling, writing, and using decodable and irregular sight words that are common, grade-level words.
• Teachers provide opportunities for students to identify and read sight words in context.
• Teachers monitor acquisition of sight words and provide feedback and interventions as needed.

Supporting Resources 

Teacher Insights 

Dolch Words (PDF)

Fry Words(PDF)

Fluent, Automatic Reading of Text (webpage)

Why Are Sight Words Important(webpage)

• Many sight words do not follow basic phonics principles, thus cannot be sounded out.

• If students can read high-frequency words with automaticity, their fluency will increase and they can focus on the more challenging task of comprehension.

• Automaticity is the ability to do things without having to think about them at a conscious level.

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.