You may find that there are some words which cannot be sounded out using phonics rules (eg ‘one’) or which, by itself, cannot be easily explained to a child (eg ‘is’, ‘to”). Such words form part of the ‘Sight Words’ list or commonly known as the ‘Dolch Word List’ and mastering them may enable a child to read more efficiently as the words in the list is said to make up 50-75% of all words used in books.

An example of the Dolch Word List can be found in this website.

Here is what I did with my then-5yr-old boy:

• While the website split the word list into 3 sets, when I first introduced my elder boy to sight words, I split up the 220 words into sets of 10 words.
• Paste/magnet the slip of paper on the fridge and go through it twice a day.
• Replace the set with a fresh one when the boy has cleared all the words in the set.
• Revise the previous sets once the boy has cleared the current set (eg when the boy had cleared Set 5, do a quick revision from Set 1-4 and so on).

It is prudent to note that while the child may be able to read sentences after he/she has mastered the sight word list, it will take reading practices for the child to be able to understand what he/she has read.