Did you know that there are 16 words which make up around a quarter of every piece of writing, for both adults and children? These are examples of high frequency words, which shows exactly why it’s essential for children to become familiar with them. Words such as ‘he’ ‘and’ ‘I’ and more tricky words such as ‘you’ ‘said’ and ‘she’ are everywhere when we write and read. As a literate adult, you might not notice them, but they can be significant hurdles for children when it comes to literacy if they aren’t taught how to read and write them properly.
Recognising and being able to read high frequency words gives children more confidence. If a child can already recognise a quarter of the words in a text, they are more likely to want to keep reading. Being able to read and recognise these words can begin to make reading and writing less daunting to children during the early stages of their educational journey.
So what are the words?
a, and, he, I, in, is, it, my, of, that, the, then, to, was, went, with
