FAQs

Q?

How do I know which words to teach?

A.

There is no one "right" set of words to teach. Some teachers choose to use as little as 25 words in kindergarten while others choose to use more than 80.

Choosing the words that you teach should be based on the literature or reading program that you are using with your students. For schools where an entire grade level is using Rainbow Words, collaborating with one another is an excellent way to decide which words will placed on each color arc of the rainbow.

Many teachers choose to use the words that will be in the texts that they read to their students, other choose the words based upon their frequency, using the Dolch or Fry lists.

Q?

Most words in English are decodable. Why teach high frequency sight words?

A.

Developing a large bank of sight words is important as the 100 most common words make up about 50% of what children read. Therefore, there are two main reasons to teach high frequency sight words.

First, many high frequency sight words do not sound like their spellings might suggest, so "sounding them out" is not an effective strategy.

Second, emerging readers that dwell on too many words will not have the speed or fluency needed for comprehension of the text being decoded.

Remember that important words that follow common spelling patterns may also be taught initially as sight words if they are beyond the learners' current level of decoding ability.

Q?

What are High Frequency Sight Words?

A.

The terms "High Frequency Words" and "Sight Words" are often used interchangeably. However, some High Frequency Words are Sight Words, but not all Sight Words are High Frequency Words.

"Sight Words" are words recognized very quickly without conscious decoding. Typically, they are very common words that sound differently than their spellings suggest, i.e. the, was, come, of.

"High Frequency Words" are the most common words in the English language and may or may not be decodable by their spellings. They include non-decodable words such as the, does, of as well as decodable words like at, it, and did.

RainbowWords.com uses the term "High Frequency Sight Words" to include both high frequency words and sight words.

Q?

Does Rainbow Words align to my state’s objectives or standards?

A.

More than likely, yes. You need to check your state standards or curriculum objectives to be sure. Rainbow Words is sold throughout the United States and Canada and feedback indicates that Rainbow Words likely meets all states' standards for the early grades.

Compare to the California Language Arts Content Standards in Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development:

Kindergarten Decoding and Word Recognition
1.15 Read simple one-syllable and high-frequency words (i.e., sight words).
1.16 Understand that as letters of words change, so do the sounds (i.e., the alphabetic principle).

Grade One
1.11 Read common, irregular sight words (e.g., the, have, said, come, give, of).

Q?

Which grade levels are appropriate for Rainbow Words?

A.

Several. Primarily used in Kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms, Rainbow Words is available for any teacher interested in motivating emerging readers to master high frequency sight words. Both special education and ESL teachers have experienced success using Rainbow Words with students reading at or below 2nd grade.

Q?

Is Rainbow Words compatible with my reading program?

A.

Yes. It is compatible with any reading program that teaches high frequency or sight words.

Q?

How do I start using Rainbow Words?

A.

Decide which words to teach, then introduce 2-5 at a time.

Once students can read all of the words in an arc, congratulate them with an award certificate*. Give students their own blank rainbow* to color in after they "pass" each level. *Blackline Included

Next, challenge your students to learn the words in each color until they have mastered the entire rainbow!
Designed by elementary school educators, Rainbow Words is teacher friendly and requires minimal preparation of materials. Each kit comes with a complete set of instructions that will make using Rainbow Words a success in your classroom.

Many teachers choose to start by posting only a few words at a time. Words can be selected based on the order they are introduced in your particular reading program or classroom. Some teachers teach words by introducing and then posting the words on the chart after they have been introduced in a decodable book.