Word of the Day: Lexeme

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines this word as a meaningful linguistic unit that is an item in the vocabulary of a language.

Wikipedia defines a lexeme as an abstract unit of morphological analysis in linguistics, that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken by a single word.

Perhaps an example will illustrate this simple concept that when defined makes my head spin. A great example is the the word, be, which has the following lexemes – am, is, are, was, were, been and being. Be is called the lemma.

Interestingly enough, ten different lemmas account for approximately 25% of all the one billion words used in the Oxford English Corpus; that’s one out of four words. These ten words are included in Fry’s top twenty-five instant word list as well as included in the Dolch word list. These words are commonly referred to as sight words or high frequency words. As a result, all of these words are incorporated in the sight word game, Erudition.

The ten lemmas are as follows: the, be, to, of, and, a, in, that, have and I.

Sources:
http://www.askoxford.com
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.merriam-webster.com

High Frequency Words (Sight Words)

Throughout the year, our kindergarten curriculum requires periodic assessments to determine a kindergartener’s knowledge of high frequency words (sight words). Children enter school at various levels so identifying a child’s ability to quickly recognize high frequency words assists in instructional planning.

The Montgomery County School System identified 25 sight words (List 1) that students should master by the end of kindergarten. In addition, they provided 50 additional sight words (List 2 and List 3) for those students who are beginning to read at higher levels. Some students will master all 75 high frequency words; they are encouraged to learn an additional 100 sight words which are assessed in first grade.

Mastering the high frequency words on list 1 is the first goal. These 25 words are slowly introduced throughout the school year and reinforced at home via homework. Parents should assist their child in knowing the words as they are introduced. The ability to quickly recognize these 25 words will greatly assist a child when reading.

Playing games is an entertaining way to expose a child to sight words. Another great activity is playing an educational, award winning board game called Er-u-di-tion .

List 1: High Frequency Words (Sight Words)

I	at	is	to	like
me	it	am	come	and
a	this	in	here	up
go	see	my	you	look
the	said	we	on	can

List 2: High Frequency Words (Sight Words)

one	going	got	his	with
she	for	have	went	he
will	they	yes	run	was
big	not	where	day	out
down	of	are	from	little

List 3: High Frequency Words (Sight Words)

who	her	then	get	away
came	home	could	why	again
first	do	eat	mother	saw
what	after	there	make	did
because	father	want	has	night

Soaring with Sight Words

Clearly, I am a huge proponent of sight words. Our school district identified the first key to college readiness is advanced reading in kindergarten through second grade. Teaching a child to read is critical to their success in school as well as in life. A child needs to develop skills to enable them to be a strong and confident reader.

While there are many different approaches to teaching a child to read, sight word instruction combined with phonics has worked well with our children. In fact, over the past two years our family has been diligently working on designing, manufacturing, and marketing a game called Er-u-di-tion, which teaches basic phonics and helps children learn to read, spell and comprehend the most common English words. Sight words instruction provides the following benefits:

Sight words promote confidence.

Confidence can be defined as trust or reliance in oneself. To possess self- assurance; to remove all doubts. The ability to identify sight words when reading a book provides a child with confidence in their ability to read. The 100 most frequently used words represents over 50% of all English text. When a child can easily recognize over half of a sentence, they typically possess the confidence to attempt to read it. Opening a book filled with many words can be overwhelming to a child. If a child can instantly recognize more than half, he is not overwhelmed but rather challenged. The French philosopher, Rene’ Descartes wrote “Cogito, ergo sum”, which translates into English as “I think, therefore I am.” While this pertains to the proof of one’s existence, I think it can be extended to a more inspirational mantra.

I think _____, therefore I am _____.

I think I can read, therefore I am a reader.

If a child possesses the cogito, ergo sum mantra about reading, they will likely become a strong, confident reader.

Sight words assist in the decoding process.

When a child can open a book and recognize over half of the text, they can shift their focus to decoding the more challenging words. When a child needs to decode each word in a sentence, they become easily frustrated. In addition, they quickly lose the meaning of the text. The challenge shifts to the individual words and not on the sentence as a whole. As a result, the ability to recognize sight words improves reading comprehension.

Sights words can pose pronunciation problems.

Phonics’ strategies are not applicable to all words. Some words are phonetically irregular; they do not follow regular phonics or spelling rules. The English language has many of these words. In addition, our language is filled with many confusing homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings). A great example are the words two, to and too. These words are both phonetically irregular and homophones . A child needs to memorize how to read, spell and use these words. The following eleven words are examples of the more frequently used phonetically irregular sight words:

the of a to you was on are they have from

These phonetically irregular words are part of the list of 25 words that represent approximately one third of printed material. That’s right, a mere twenty-five words represent about one third of English text, almost half of which are phonetically irregular.

Sight words assist ESL students.

English as second language students can greatly benefit from learning sight words. ESL students are at an advantage if they can recognize sight words. Fry’s list represents the most common English words.
The first 25 words represent approximate one third of printed material.
The first 100 words represent approximately 50% of printed material.
The first 300 words represent about 65% of printed material.

Sight words are “service” words.

Sight words include “service” words like articles, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and common verbs. Knowledge of these words greatly assists in understanding the meaning of a sentence. For example, the ability to quickly read and understand the meaning of the pronouns “I” and “you” is essential to comprehending many sentences.

Source: The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists 5th Edition
Edward B Fry, PH.D
Jacqueline E Kress, ED.D

Er-u-di-tion’s Sight Words List

Sight words are the cornerstone of Er-u-di-tion. A sight word is a word commonly found in printed material that emergent readers are encouraged to recognize without phonetic decoding. Through extensive research, Dr. Edward Dolch and Dr. Edward Fry developed sight word lists. These lists were the primary source of the game’s sight word cards. The game exposes players to these words in a fun and engaging way that promotes instant recognition and comprehension.

During the 1940s Dr. Dolch compiled a list of the most common words used in children’s books. He believed that beginning readers should learn to recognize these words upon sight. Many words on the Dolch list cannot be sounded out phonetically, making instant recognition of these words even more critical. Dolch created a list of 220 service words (frequently used pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and verbs) and a list of 95 common nouns. Our game cards include all of Dolch’s 220 service words.

In the mid 1990s Dr. Fry further developed Dolch’s theories and created his own word list. Fry later, with assistance from Jacqueline Kress and Dona Fountoukidis, refined his list and presented it in order of frequency. Fry’s first 100 words represent approximately 50% of all printed material. Our game cards include 97% of these words.

In addition to Dolch’s and Fry’s lists, we referenced sight words from kindergarten curriculums in New Jersey, Maryland and Michigan as well as two sight word books. Based on the words’ prominence among these sources and professional judgment, with a focus on irregular words, we selected 317 words.

Over 70 of these 317 words do not follow typical phonics or spelling rules. Approximately another 70 of Er-u-di-tion’s sight words are irregular verbs (their past tense does not follow the “ed” rule). Game cards with irregular verbs include both the present and past tense. Through instant recognition of high frequency and common irregular words, emergent readers gain confidence and avoid confusion resulting from numerous exceptions to common rules. Each sight word game card also includes the word’s syllabication and definition. Syllabication assists emergent readers decode unfamiliar words, and the definition fosters reading comprehension.

Er-u-di-tion is a fun sight words game that exposes players to both phonics and sight words. The game cards are color coded to promote children of various skill levels to play together. Each of the blue cards, which are ideal for pre-school children, includes an upper and lower case letter with words emphasizing that letter’s phonetic sound. The green, yellow, and red cards contain beginner, intermediate and advanced level sight words.

Learning Sight Words

Sight words are those high frequency words that comprise a large percentage of all written content. Depending on the particular sight word list, which usually includes 200 – 300 words, 50% to 75% of all English text represents sight words. The words “are,” “I” and “the” are the most concentrated – these three words represent 10% to 15% of English content.

To read quickly and effectively children must learn to identify and understand these words instantly. For parents and educators, teaching sight words can be a trial and error process. Grasping the meaning and understanding of this group of words is often one of the more difficult tasks for children and others when they learn to read. There are no picture cues or easy to understand definitions for many sight words. Further, many sight words are phonically irregular.

Parents and teachers can employ a combination of sight word activities and incentives to help children learn these high frequency words. For example, educators and parents can:
• Use sight word flash cards to achieve repetitive exposure
• Point out sight words in stories when reading to children
• Verbally repeat the spelling and pronunciation of words with children
• Create a sight word notebook in which children maintains a list of known words
• Offer rewards for learning a subset word list

While these can be effective methods, playing games that incorporate sight words is one of the best approaches as it is most likely to keep a young reader’s attention. Traditionally, common games like bingo, word search puzzles, and matching or memory activities have been used.

Today, there is a new sight words game. Er-u-di-tion was created to expose children to high frequency words in a fun and entertaining atmosphere. The words are categorized as beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels so children from pre-school through third grade can enjoy playing and learning together. Since a game card also includes the word’s definition and syllabication, players enhance more advanced reading skills like vocabulary and text comprehension.

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