Last time we were together we took a moment to truly understand the meaning of heart words. Not sure what a heart word is? Click here to read the previous post in this series High Frequency Words Part 2: Heart Words.
Furthermore, if you want to know the difference between sight words and high frequency words, click here. This will take you to the first post in the High Frequency Words series: High Frequency Words What Are They?
For now we are going to spend some time on making those tricky high frequency words sticky for kids!
Follow the steps below to help kids master heart words. AND...if you haven't already checked out Linda Farrell's model for teaching heart words, I highly recommend it. You can find it by going to Readster's website, or by clicking here.
Step 1: Teach the phonetically regular part of the word (To make these tricky words not so overwhelming, fold heart words in with regular phonics instruction based on the pattern you are teaching. For example they and their can be introduced when teaching the digraph /th/.
Step 2: Point out the part of the word that makes the word a heart word--the part that is not phonetically spelled correctly. In following example, the teacher would make sure to put a heart above the e in the word "the" since the e doesn't do what it is supposed to. It is really important that the teacher spends some time dialoging with students about why she/he is placing a heart there. There is no need to place a heart above the digraph th because the th is doing what it is supposed to do.
Step 3: Use multisensory techniques to reinforce these tricky words. Some multi-sensory options are sky writing, arm tapping, rainbow writing or finger writing in sand, shaving cream, sugar or on a bumpy surface, etc. The chart below names and describes some easy and effective multisensory techniques teachers can use with heart words. Most involve little prep! Click the link at the bottom of this post and grab the PDF of these techniques for free! :) 
It isn't necessary to use multi-sensory techniques with regularly spelled high frequency words....just the heart words. Adding multi-modal to these irregularly spelled words helps our brains remember and map the words. The words that aren't irregularly spelled don't need multi-sensory techniques as all of the letters do what they are supposed to. If a student is struggling with reading a regular high frequency word prompt him or her to remember the sounds the letter(s) make.
Step 4: Give students lots of exposure to these tricky words! Read aloud and independent reading is a great time to point out some of these words, or pre-teach them.
If you are looking for a great resource to get these tricky words mastered, check out the resource below! This heart word bundle has everything from flashcards to games! Low prep and super engaging! Whoop!
Next up......regular high frequency words!
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