Green: Sight Words

Sight Words: What You Should Know

Sight words are words that are expected to be read "on-sight". Sight words are often high-frequency words and sometimes do not follow typical spelling rules.

In ARC Core, sight words are called "Power Words" and are the primary focus starting in the "green levels".

There are two sub-levels of Green:

1 Green (1G): 60 Power Words
2 Green (2G): 60 Power Words

These words are the focus due to a Common Core standard. And, per ARC, "the combined 120 Power Words in 1G and 2G make up 50% of all adult and student writing."

Continued Reliance on Picture Clues

However, there are many words in "green level" books that are not appropriate for kindergarten (the word cannot reasonably be sounded out with kindergarten-level decoding knowledge).

In this single spread of green book "Caterpillars Love to Eat," you can see a significant amount of words that an early reader won't be able to read (without picture clues), including:

butterfly
caterpillar
baby

To back up this claim that Green books were also designed to support three-cueing, ARC's own description of 2G (under 'What Makes 2 Green Books Unique?') states:

2 Green books are written using a word bank of only 120 high-frequency sight words (e.g., like play, down, there) and words that are clued by the picture, the first letter sounds, and/or the syntax.

Prior to 2023, ARC materials for green (Skills cards and IRLA) also gave explicit instructions to "use the picture for clues."

Why a Focus on Sight Words is Problematic

Memorization is Inefficient: Rote memorization of many words is difficult and doesn't build transferable reading skills.
Many "Sight Words" Are Decodable: Many high-frequency words follow phonetic patterns and should be taught through phonics.
Hinders Decoding Skills: Over-emphasizing memorization can prevent children from learning to sound out unfamiliar words.
Can Create Confusion: Telling children some words can't be sounded out when many can is misleading.
Not Aligned with Reading Science: The science of reading shows that strong reading develops as children learn to decode words by connecting sounds to letters. This process of decoding is crucial for orthographic mapping, where the brain permanently stores words for instant recognition. Teaching sight words primarily through visual memorization bypasses this essential decoding step and hinders the development of robust word recognition.

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