Dolch Words in Spanish

There is tons of research on the importance of teaching Dolch or sight words to students. Once a student is able to read the words on the Dolch list, students then have access to up to 75% of what is printed in almost any piece of children’s literature. The K12 Reader has a great article titled Effective Strategies for Reading Success. The strategies listed in that article are very familiar to strategies I already use in my Spanish class, even though I do not explicitly teach reading in English or in Spanish. This got me wondering about the potential success in teaching Dolch words, just translated into Spanish.

Though I don't teach reading to my students, teaching sight words could be a potentially powerful strategies for teachers who teach older students. At the same time, for teachers in early education could also use these strategies as well by being conscious of the most frequently used words in Spanish. At the bottom of the website ESL and Spanish English Dolch Words there is a partial list of already translated sight words.

Upon further research, I also found a great sight that creates pictures out of sight words in Spanish. Even though my students are generally very young, I always introduce a vocabulary word with a written word and a picture.

General vocabulary card with picture cue

The site Picture Me Reading takes sight words and uses pictures to give meaning to the words. But the interesting part is that the pictures are part of the word.

¡Mira! Un arco iris está allí.
Look! There is a rainbow.