Erudition™’s Sight Words

Sight words are those words commonly found in print that emergent readers are encouraged to recognize by sight. They are the cornerstone of the board game, Erudition™. Through extensive research, Dr. Edward Dolch and Dr. Edward Fry developed sight word lists. These lists were the primary source of Erudition™’s sight word game cards.

During the 1940s, Edward William Dolch, Ph.D. created a list of 220 service words containing frequently used pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and verbs. He also compiled a list of 95 common nouns. Our game cards include all of Dolch’s 220 service words.

In the mid 1990s, Edward Fry, Ph.D. created an 1000 instant word list. Fry later, with assistance from Jacqueline Kress, Ed.D. presented another instant word list. Fry’s first 100 words represent approximately 50% of all printed material. Our game cards includes almost all 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 Erudition™’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 spelling rules. Each sight word game card also includes the word’s syllabication and definition. Syllabication assists emergent readers in decoding unfamiliar words, and the definition fosters reading comprehension.

Erudition™, the sight words game, 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.