What is a Sight Word?

A “sight word” refers to a word that is a high-frequency word that can be fully sounded out phonetically or a word that is irregular and can only be partially decoded, and thus, needs to be learned by sight and memorization.

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A list of numbers from 1 to 50 with corresponding common English words

How to Prepare for a Parent-Teacher Conference

In order to make the most of your all-too-quick time with your child’s teacher, read through these questions and decide which ones resonate most with you. In an ideal world, we could ask all of these questions and more, but if you can’t choose, check out the “cheat sheet” questions. These three questions, while specific, lead to a broader picture of what your child looks like in the classroom in terms of academic and social-emotional well-being. And expert tip, and I’m saying this as a former classroom teacher, do not be afraid to follow-up! If there are questions on the list that you didn’t get to ask or you want to delve deeper on a particular topic, email your child’s teacher. And speaking as a parent now, do it shortly after the meeting before you put it off and forget!

A colorful informational poster with a wavy border, titled 'Must-Ask Questions for Your Parent-Teacher Conference.' The poster includes sections on social-emotional questions, reading questions, and extras, all in a playful font and layout.
A digital cheat sheet featuring questions about asking three things: who the child's playmates are, their reading level, and one activity for them to work on. Includes the note to schedule follow-up via phone call or email, with a red handle '@BOOKTRITION' at the bottom.

What is the “DIBELS” Assessment?

ORF-ACCU, ORAL READING FLUENCY-ACCURACY: measures how accurately a child can read a short passage out loud and understand. The score is given as a percentage of accurate words/total words read.

ORF-WC, ORAL READING FLUENCY-WORD COUNT: measures how many words a child read accurately total in a short passage. The score is a raw score (and not a percentage), which can help to determine both how accurately and quickly a child can read the passage.

MAZE: measures a child’s comprehension of a short passage by reading silently. the child picks a word from three choices that would make the most sense when filling in a blank (i.e. “she went to get some (water/toys/markers) because she was thirsty.”

COMPOSITE SCORE: gives an overall indicator of reading proficiency by combining scores from all subtests. The score falls into one of four ranges as seen on the next page.

LNF - LETTER NAMING FLUENCY: measures how quickly a child can recognize and name letters

PSF - PHONEME SEGMENTATION FLUENCY: assesses a child’s ability to break words into individual sounds i.e. “cat” has three sounds: /c/ /a/ /t/

NWF - NONSENSE WORD FREQUENCY: measures child’s ability to sound out nonsense words (words that do not exist i.e. “faff”). This helps to indicate how a child can sound out words versus recognize words by memorization.

“DIBELS” stands for dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills. The assessment is a progress monitoring tool that is usually given three times per year to students in grades kindergarten through third. “DIBELS” consists of multiple, short subtests and is used to monitor a student’s early literacy skills. The subtests most frequently used are:

What Does My Child’s Composite Score Mean?

The composite score is the overall indicator of reading proficiency and is calculated by combining the scores from all subtests. Depending on your child’s score, they will fall into one of the four ranges as seen in the chart, either: well below benchmark, below benchmark, at benchmark or above benchmark.

Performance level key chart showing grade categories with colors red for well below benchmark, yellow for below benchmark, green for at benchmark, and blue for above benchmark; explaining student reading levels at different benchmarks and time periods.

How Can I Find Books Based Off of My Child’s “DIBELS” Score?

A page with a red warning box stating, 'Red = Well below benchmark at high risk for reading difficulty and will need support and intervention.' Below the box, there is explanatory text about well-below benchmark reading levels for children, indicating that a child is reading at least a half-year below grade level and should look for books listed for early first grade.
A highlighted note indicating that yellow color in a chart or diagram means below benchmark, with some explanation about reading slightly below grade level for children.
Text document explaining the meaning of 'at benchmark' in reading levels, with a green highlighted section stating 'GREEN = AT BENCHMARK' and 'MEETING GRADEL-LEVEL EXPECTATIONS, NO INTERVENTION NECESSARY'.
Text with blue background highlighting the phrase 'Blue = above benchmark' and white text emphasizing 'strong reading skills, well above grade-level expectations.' Below, black text explains what above benchmark means for children reading above or well above grade level.

Question: Shouldn’t my child choose every book they read?

A young girl with long brown hair smiling and sitting with one leg crossed, holding a children's book titled 'Moto and Me' featuring a kitten on the cover.

At Booktrition, we believe kids should read what they love—and what helps them grow. The right mix of enjoyment and challenge builds strong reading skills and a lifelong love of books.

But as many parents know, the books kids love aren’t always the ones that help them grow. That’s where you come in.

There are three key ways to support reading at home: you reading to them, them reading to you, and them reading independently. We call these the “Big 3” of raising readers.

The last two won’t apply much for kids in Pre-K and below—but as your child learns to read, they’ll become more important. On the flip side, parents often read aloud less as kids get older, shifting toward listening and independent reading in the later elementary years.