FREE for a limited time – Smiley Sight Words. This educational app teaches kids 1,600 common sight words compiled from high frequency lists such as Dolch, Fry, Pinnell-Fountas, UK, and others. Why learn sight words? Over half of the words we read each day are sight words! For early readers, this percentage is much greater. Many of these words do not follow the rules of phonics and/or cannot be represented by pictures. In order to read fluently, students must learn these words “by sight”.

The app is very simple to use. First enter the students’ names and pictures. In the settings you can enter up to 40 students –  perfect for a classroom teacher or an intervention specialist! Next you choose a list of words for each child to work on. There are 40 sets of Smiley Words (the 1000 most frequently used words), 18 sets of Dolch words, 10 sets of Fry words, 10 sets of UK words, 12 sets of AU color-coded words, plus 11 additional sets (upper case letters, lower case letters, number words, color words, etc.). There is also the option of making customized lists by mixing and matching words from other lists within the app. The app is ready to use! It displays one flashcard at a time. Tap the word to hear an American-English pronunciation. Then rate the ability to read the word with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. One concern here: I wish the thumbs down icon could be replaced for those kids that are super sensitive – maybe use a DK for don’t know. To be proficient, 3 thumbs up need to be collected for each word! The app generates a progress report at the end of the session which can be saved to photos. The progress report is stated positively – Thumbs up % Pretty slick! This app makes it easy for teachers to individualize and keep track of their students’ progress. 🙂  One minor concern – I wish the thumbs down icon could be “softened” for those kids that are super sensitive – maybe a DK for don’t know?