In this post, I explain how to teach high-frequency sight words using the Heart Word method and share my Heart Words resource and activities to help kindergarten, first and second grade students learn sight words.
For many years we taught students their sight words through rote memorization. We thought if a student saw a word enough times, it would eventually stick and they’d know it. While it worked for some, we know it didn’t work for all. There has always been far too many students who struggle to remember new words, and now science is helping us understand why.
In recent years, reading experts and cognitive scientists have begun to look more closely into how we learn to read. They discovered that reading is NOT like visual memory. Something else is going on and it is called Orthographic Mapping.
In my last post I explained Orthographic Mapping, the mental process used to store and remember words, and answered the question “What are Heart Words?“.
Today I’m excited to continue the conversation about Heart Words and move on to explain to you how to use the Heart Word method with your students.
I’ll also share with you my Heart Words resource that will make it easy for you to integrate high frequency sight words into your phonics instruction.
Would you rather watch a video to learn? Grab a drink and press play!
When to Teach High-Frequency Sight Words
High-frequency “sight words” can first be categorized into two groups – regularly spelled and irregularly spelled.
Regularly spelled high-frequency words are called “Flash Words”. We want students to see the word and know it “in a flash”. These words can be decoded using common phonics knowledge and letter-sound relationships.
High-Frequency Words that are irregularly spelled are called “Heart Words” because some part of the word must be explicitly taught and “learned by heart”.
Both Heart Words and Flash words should be introduced when they fit into the phonics pattern being taught. Unsure of what order to teach phonics patterns? Check out this phonics scope and sequence for kindergarten, first and second grade students. It can serve as a helpful guide!
How to Teach Heart Words
Remember, Heart Words are unique because they have heart letters, or tricky parts, that students must be taught. Here are the steps for teaching students Heart Words:
- First, introduce the word and read it in a sentence.
2. Next, tap out the sounds you hear in the word. Repeat the word.
3. Identify the number of sounds you hear in the word.
4. Name the first and the last sound you hear, as well as any other easily identifiable letter sounds.
5. Finally, explicitly teach students the sound that the heart letters make. This is the tricky part of the word and the part they must know by heart. Provide clear and direct phonics instruction for the tricky sound to ensure all students know it by heart!
I recognize that as helpful as it may be, all of this new information can feel overwhelming. An instructional shift such as this does take time (and energy!) to plan and create. Maybe it’s time and energy you just don’t have right now….but this is where I’ll help you!
A Resource to Help You Teach Heart Words
I believe in the Heart Word Method for learning sight words, so much that I went ahead and created my own science-based Heart Words resource. It’s a NO PREP resource that makes it easy for you to integrate high frequency sight words into your phonics instruction!
The resource includes digital teaching slides for 220 high frequency sight words. Simply follow the slides and you are following the steps for teaching heart words! The slides are also FULLY EDITABLE so you can change them to fit the needs of your students, as well as your own teaching style.
You’ll get two versions of independent students practice printable for every word, as well as a foldable craftivity to extend learning for each word.
The teaching slides are great for whole class and small group lessons, while the printables are the perfect no-prep, independent practice activity.
To help ensure you feel totally confident and secure using the Heart Word Method, I included more helpful information about Heart Words, teaching tips and additional recommended resources.
Feeling eager and motivated to start integrating sight words into your phonics lessons?? Take a deeper look at the resource by downloading this FREE sample that includes 5 different words!
Learning about the Science of Reading makes me wish I had taught my students their sight words differently. But since I can’t change the past, I’m happy knowing I can help YOU do better with your students.
I hope you’ve found the information I’ve shared about Heart Words to be useful, and that my Heart Word resource will help ensure that ALL of your students become fluent and successful readers!
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Free Heart Words – Teaching High Frequency ( sight words )$0.00 -
Heart Words – Teaching High Frequency (sight words)Product on sale$29.50
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This is exactly what I was I looking for. Thank you for putting this together!
Thank you Victoria!
This is a great resource, thank you. How many words would you recommend teaching in a week? And how many a day?
Hi Cristina,
I’m not sure which grade you teach, I think 2-3 a week in kinder and 3-5 in 1st is very appropriate (once K has learned all letter sounds). I have a download in this blog post where you can get a scope and sequence so you can integrate the high frequency words into your phonics lessons. Hope this helps! -Christina
Hi there! I love this resource! I’ve been trying to figure out new ways to teach sight words to my students, especially this year. I see that you reference Dolce word in the resource. Can I use this with Frys, since this is what we follow at our school. .
Hi Carmen,
You absolutely can use the heart word method with Fry words. My resource includes 220 Dolch words prepped for you. I believe the Dolch words include all but 4 of the first 100 Fry words. Also included in my Heart Words are editable templates so you can create other word teaching slides and student printable activities easily. I’m excited for you and your students! -Christina
I love all your resources and am delving into heart words and the sound wall. How do you display the heart words? On a separate space from the sound wall or with the right sounds on the sound wall? If different, then alphabetical or with the sound headings? Trying to find a visual but no luck. Thanks in advance.
Hi Michelle,
Personally, I don’t think you should post them on the sound wall. When you implement a sound wall you are not creating a word wall, but rather a tool that helps students with the skills needed for decoding and encoding.
Approximately 80% of high-frequency words are fully decodable and there’s another large percentage of words that are decodable except for 1 phoneme. Of the Dolch sight word list, only 82 total words are not fully decodable.
The word wall list, if needed, should be minimal. Maybe you could have an irregular word list for them at their desks as a tool to take out during writing? I know some teachers are creating a heart word hub bulletin board and posting the words after they explicitly teach and practice for a while. I would recommend grouping them (teach and post his, as, was together) I have more tips in this blog post that I think would be helpful for you.
Whatever you decide to do, you can always change it depending on the needs of you and your students!
Hope this helps, -Christina
do you have the slides for sale for different words? Where you have the heart to drag and the boxes to click?
Hi Ashley,
There are 220 words included in the bundle. If you have other words, I’ve included editable templates so you can easily make the teaching slides and student printables for them. The slides are interactive and preloaded to Google Slides. Hope that helps! -Christina
I am having a hard time getting the movable pieces to work on the Heart word slides that I purchased. Any help would be great.
Hi Carrie,
You will share this slide with your students in “edit” mode NOT “presentation” mode. That allows the slide to be interactive and you can type and slide objects on the slides.
Let me know if you need anything else!
Thank you so much for your purchase! 🤗
-Christina
This is an AMAZING resource!!! It has saved me so much time. Thank you!! One of our sight words is the word each? How would you mark it? 2 sounds? Would a and h get a the heart?
Thanks Cindy, I’m so happy to hear you’re loving the heart words resource also. Each would be a temporary heart word until students learn the ch digraph and the ea pair for long e, then it would be a decodable word (flash). Have a great evening! -Christina
Thanks for the quick reply! Have a great night too!
Hi! I’ve been using heart words for a couple of years now and have made a huge dive into the science of reading, but am struggling with how to display the heart words in my classroom once we learn each one. I’ve just put them up on the bulletin board in the order we learned them. But should I have them in alphabetical order or should I add them to my sound wall? Curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks
Hi Nicole,
Personally, I don’t recommend that you post them on the sound wall. When you implement a sound wall you are not creating a word wall, but rather a tool that helps students with the skills needed for decoding and encoding.
Approximately 80% of high-frequency words are fully decodable and there’s another large percentage of words that are decodable except for 1 phoneme. Of the Dolch sight word list, few are not fully decodable. We’ve learned rather than teaching by rote memorization methods, it’s more effective to connect the words to the phonics patterns we teach and map them using the “heart word method”.
The word wall list, if needed, should be minimal if you are mapping them. Maybe you could have an irregular word list for them at their desks as a tool to take out during writing? I know some teachers are creating a heart word hub bulletin board and posting the words after they explicitly teach and practice to review for a short while. (helpful to group them by pattern: could, would, should)
Whatever you decide to do, you can always change it depending on the needs of you and your students!
Hope this helps, -Christina