What are High Frequency Words?

Helping your child learn to read may feel overwhelming. After all, with the global pandemic requiring us all to batten down the hatches, anything extra can seem like a lot. The Stepping Stones Together program, however, focuses on family time. You and your child take a learning journey together that strengthens and reinforces reading skills while you bond over your shared love of reading and learning. It’s a classic win-win, and an important part of this winning equation is high frequency words, so let’s take a closer look. 

Becoming Early Readers

Experts agree that an important component of reading readiness and successful reading programs is helping kids learn those high-frequency words that they will encounter most often in their forays into early reading. Stepping Stones Together incorporates 220 of the words children read most often, which includes 95 important nouns – all of which are intertwined throughout personalized books that tell stories with popular children’s themes. The data says that these core high frequency words account for anywhere from 58 to 75 percent of all the words found in popular children’s books. 

Conquering High Frequency Words

High frequency words can be the most challenging of all – especially when they’re articles like a, an, and the or prepositions like to, on, for, and with. While these words seem manageable enough, they have no corresponding concrete thing for young learners to pair with the words, which can make retaining them more challenging. Consider the following:

• You show your child a drawing of a dog and the word dog, and she quickly pairs the spoken word she knows so well with the written word. 
• You attempt to teach your child the high frequency word the, and it is far more elusive because although she’s heard the word the many, many times, there is nothing concrete to pair it with. All told, this makes learning the word the part of a more sophisticated process. 

By focusing on and reinforcing high frequency words, Stepping Stones Together helps parents like you effectively and efficiently clear hurdles like these. 

High frequency words are often called sight words because children often learn them by sight, and we dovetail our illustrations and text to help reinforce this learning style. Additionally, we’ve carefully incorporated all of the following to help enrich each child’s learning experience:

• Large font sizes and enhanced spacing between words that help young readers experience each word separately
• Black and white illustrations that invite creative, interactive coloring
• A daily incentive program that reinforces the bravery of young readers

Help Your Child Become a Stronger Reader by Mastering High Frequency Words

When you help your child become a stronger reader, you open a door to more enriching experiences. At Stepping Stones Together, we help you help your child become a more proficient reader via a 6-step interactive program that allows you to explore the world of reading together – in the space of 15 to 20 minutes a day. Sign up with a 7-day free trial now!