It takes a few years for most children to learn all of the rules of phonics. In the meantime, there are many words children should recognize when they see them, even though the words don’t follow the phonics rules that they have learned so far.

For example, when your child sees the word you, he or she should know that it represents the spoken word "you", without trying to figure that out from the sounds of the letters y-o-u. Words that your child can recognize in this way are called sight words.

Educators have selected certain words that appear often in even very simple books, which your child should recognize as sight words.

Through books, puzzles, printables, and other activities, ABCmouse.com offers many ways for your child to practice recognizing sight words.