2. When to Teach Irregularly Spelled High-Frequency Words

You can begin teaching irregular high-frequency words once students have a basic understanding of letter-sound relationships and are starting to blend and segment simple words.

Be sure to introduce these words gradually and based on your students' needs. You don't want to overwhelm students with too many words that have parts that need to be memorized. Focus on the words that will support early reading and writing success. For example, if students are writing personal narratives, teaching the irregular high-frequency word said can help them spell it correctly and build word recognition.

We begin teaching irregular high-frequency words in kindergarten. As students build their phonics knowledge, you can continue to add more words over time. 

In kindergarten, you can introduce one to three words per week, increasing to three to five words per week for students in first through third grade.

If you're using the Reading Universe phonics continuum and are looking for words to introduce in each grade K-3, here is our sample list:

This word list can also be printed as sight word flash cards for grades Kindergarten through 3rd Grade.

Before students learn their first irregular words, they should have:

• Foundational phonemic awareness skills
• Basic understanding of sound-letter correspondences
• Basic ability to blend and segment sounds to read and spell words