What are flash words?

You might have come across the terms, Heart Word and Flash Words, whilst browsing Instagram or blogs. If you’re anything like me, you might have asked yourself, “What on earth is a flash word?” 

Well, this post is for you!

A flash word is different to a heart word. (If you missed my post outlining Heart Words, you can find that here.)

But first: High frequency words. 

High-frequency words are words that we need to teach our students, because they will come across them in their reading and writing alllll the time. We want students to eventually be able to read these words by sight, so that they don’t have to sound them out. 

High-frequency words can be split into two categories: flash words and heart words.

OK… so what are flash words exactly?

Flash words are words that can be sounded out (or decoded). The letters in the words match the sounds you would expect. Therefore, you can sound them out ‘in a flash’.

Let’s look at the flash word: got. 

All the letters make the sounds we would expect. They are regular. There’s no tricky part for students to remember by heart. 

Another example of a flash word is and. Each of the letters make their regular sound, so there is no tricky part. It can be read ‘in a flash’.

If you haven't tried using this language in your classroom, I encourage you to give it a go. Students are so receptive to it and use the same language once they have been taught. 

YouTube

Are you more of a visual learner? I have a YouTube video which breaks down the terms: heart words, flash words and high-frequency words for you. You can check that out HERE.

You might be interested in this resource!

Did you know I have a resource that does all the work for you? It features 80 of the most commonly-used words that we use in Prep. There is a combination of heart words and flash words. 

You work through the slides with your students to read, tap, map and write the high-frequency word. Best news, it's all done for you. So if you're feeling unsure about this process, you don't need to worry!

Check out this resource on my TPT store here.

Let me know, do you use the term ‘flash words' in your class?