     
        
 |
| Some Other Resources on This Site Lesson Plans for A Funny Dolch Sight Word Book: Books #1, #2, and #3. Catalog with Excerpts | Order Form | Site Index Dolch Sight Word Lesson Plan with Fables and Worksheets Dolch Sight Words List Dolch Sight Words: 95 Commonly Used Nouns List Dolch Sight Word Recognition and Mental Images Dolch Sight Word Search Puzzles and Other Activities with All of the Dolch Sight Words Similarities Differences Training Program Reading Readiness and Basic Reading Skills |
Free Dolch Word Flash CardsPrint on 8.5 x 11 card stock or index stock from an office supply store to cut and use as flash cards. The words for these cards are in Comic Sans MS font which is similar to hand printed words.
Pre-primer Different type styles can be a problem. |
Confusing, Frustrating FontsPerhaps learning to read was easier when we didn't have so many type styles. The hand printed or manuscript "a " and "g " are different from the "a " and "g " in Times New Roman which is generally used in books. The Arial font shows little difference in the capital "I" and the lower case "l." The word "Ill" at the beginning of a sentence can make a good reader take a second look. Is that the Roman Numeral 3 or the word which means "sick?" The Lucida Console font has a lower case l which looks like a number 7. This is often the default font for notepad on computers.
Different styles of type can cause problems for beginning readers or older struggling readers. We need to determine if a reader has problems in this area. Until readers easily recognize words in one type style (or handwritten), we need to be cautious about inconsistency of fonts in books and on the computer.
1. Use the complete list of Free Dolch flash cards on this site. They are in Comic Sans MS which most closely resembles manuscript. Print on 8.5 x 11 card stock. Pre-primer, Primer, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, Dolch Nouns 2. Visual memory and recognition of similarities and differences can be strengthened with flash cards. Visit the page titled Creating Short Sentences for one effective use of flash cards. 3. Changing the default setting to Comic Sans MS on the computer can help. 4. Let children experiment on the computer with the same words in different fonts. 5. If the reader is
using books or a computer which uses Arial, Times New Roman, and Ludica Console, compare Dolch flash cards in Comic Sans MS (manuscript) to Dolch words with a capital "I" and lower case "l" in Arial, Times New Roman, and Ludica Console. Also, compare Dolch words with a lower case "a" and "g" in Times New Roman to Dolch words in Comic Sans MS. 6. Use this diagram to show how two letters might have progressed from the old Times New Roman font to the newer Comic Sans MS.
7. Many students improve visual memory for reading and for spelling with the help of visual memory books.
|
People made changes as they copied the type style from books. When I was a child, my dad showed me this progression of the "a." This helped me remember it immediately. But I still had a problem with the "g" in books looking different from the way teachers printed it. Sometimes, people might have reversed the "g" leading to the current manuscript style. The diagram is best used just to show the possible progression and comparison. They don't need to learn it. I have no idea how the changes in other letters took place especially the "l" which Lucida Console makes like a seven! I do recall that old typewriters used the lower case "l" as a number one. There was no number one on them.