Some of the most common words in English don’t quite follow the rules your child is learning. Said, was and the turn up on almost every page, yet they can’t be fully sounded out in Prep (Foundation). Many teachers call these heart words. Here is what heart words are, how many your Prep child really needs, and a calm way to teach them.
What are heart words?
A heart word is a common word with a part that doesn’t match the sounds your child knows yet. That part has to be learnt “by heart”, so teachers draw a little heart above or below it. The rest of the word still sounds out normally.
Take said. The s and the d make their usual sounds. Only the ai in the middle is unexpected, because here it sounds like the e in bed. So your child sounds out the s, remembers the heart part, and sounds out the d. They aren’t memorising a whole word as a shape. They are reading it as far as they can, and remembering just one tricky bit.
More examples:
- the: th is regular, the e is the heart part.
- was: w is regular; the a sounds like “o” and the s sounds like “z”.
- to: t is regular, the o sounds like “oo”.
- my: m is regular, the y sounds like the “i” in bike.
“Heart words” is a teaching term rather than an official one. It comes mostly from the United States, and many Australian teachers use it too. Victorian materials talk about high-frequency words, including words whose spelling isn’t completely predictable from their sounds. Your child’s school might say heart words, tricky words, red words or high-frequency words. They mean much the same thing. For learning to spell them, see spelling at home.
Heart words, sight words and tricky words
You may remember bringing home a list of sight words to learn as whole shapes, often on flashcards. Victoria’s move to systematic synthetic phonics puts the focus on sounding words out wherever possible, and learning by heart only the part that can’t be sounded out.
This matters because some words are only tricky for a while. He, we and go are tricky in early Prep, because the vowel says its name rather than its short sound. Later, when your child learns more vowel sounds, many heart words become fully decodable, and the heart can come off.
How many sight words should a Prep child know?
There is no official number in Victoria, and no required list. The Victorian Curriculum asks Prep children to “read and write some high-frequency words and other familiar words”, giving examples such as and, my, is, the and go. In Year 1 (or Grade 1, as many Victorian schools say) it asks for “an increasing number”.
Victorian Department guidance has suggested word lists as a guide. One is the Oxford Wordlist, an Australian study by Oxford University Press with Flinders University. It looked at writing from 1,000 children in Victoria and South Australia in 2017, and lists the 500 words they used most in their first three years of school.
So rather than counting words, look for this: can your child read the common heart words in the books they are reading now? That is the number that matters.
A starter list of heart words for Prep
Here are the heart words in the order KidStudy’s books and Sounds page introduce them, a few with each phonics set. This is KidStudy’s own order, not an official Victorian list, and your child’s school may teach these words in a different order. Use it to choose a handful to practise.
| Set | Heart words |
|---|---|
| 1 | I, a, the, is |
| 2 | to, go, no, as |
| 3 | into, do, of |
| 4 | he, we, me, his, has |
| 5 | be, she, was, my |
| 6 | you, they, her |
| 7 | all, are, said |
| 8 | so, what, have |
| 9 | like, some, come |
| 10 | were, there, one |
| 11 | little, out, by |
| 12 | put, push, pull, full |
| 13 | your, our, want |
| 14 to 20 (Year 1) | could, would, should, oh, their, people, called, asked, water, here, where, very, two, once, any, many, again, friend, school, because |
The sets match KidStudy’s free decodable books in Phonics Plus order, so each book uses only the heart words of its own set and the sets before it. Each set on the Sounds page has its heart words to practise too.
How to teach a heart word
Take one new word at a time and spend two or three minutes on it.
- Say it and use it. “This word is said. Mum said, ‘Time for bed.’”
- Count the sounds. Say the word slowly and hold up a finger for each sound: s-e-d, three sounds.
- Match sounds to letters. Write the word. Which letters make the s? The d? Those are the regular parts.
- Find the heart part. Which letters make the middle sound? ai, which is unusual here. Draw a small heart under it.
- Read and write it. Your child reads it, then writes it from memory, saying the sounds as they go. A look, cover, write sheet is perfect for this.
Heart word games for home
- Heart hunt. Choose one heart word and look for it on a page of a book, a cereal box or a sign. Count how many you find.
- Flip and read. Write five heart words on cards, face down. Your child flips one, reads it and puts it in a sentence.
- Write it big. Write a heart word in the air with a finger, then in sand, on a whiteboard, or on paper with a texta.
- Mix them in. Read sentences that mix heart words with sounds your child knows: “She said the cat was in the hut.”
For writing practice, here is a ready-made Words sheet of six Prep heart words in Victorian Modern Cursive, with look, cover, write. You can change the words on the sheet to the ones your child is learning. For everyday sound practice, see phonics at home in 10 minutes a day.
Questions parents ask
What are heart words in phonics?
Heart words are common words with a part that can’t be sounded out with the phonics a child knows yet. Children sound out the regular parts and learn the tricky part “by heart”, often marked with a heart.
Are heart words the same as sight words?
They overlap, but they are taught differently. Sight words were often memorised as whole shapes. With heart words, children sound out as much as they can and only remember the tricky part.
How many sight words should a Prep child know?
There is no official number in Victoria. The curriculum asks Prep children to read and write some high-frequency words. Focus on the common words in the books your child is reading now.
What is the Oxford Wordlist?
It is a list of the 500 words Australian children used most in their writing in the first three years of school, from a 2017 study by Oxford University Press with Flinders University. Victorian Department guidance has suggested it as one guide among several.
Which heart words should my child learn first?
Start with the very common ones your child meets in early books, such as the, is, to, was and said. Ask the teacher which words the class is learning so you can practise the same ones.
Should I use flashcards for heart words?
Short, playful flashcard games are fine. Always talk about the sounds as well: which parts are regular, and which part is the heart part.
Sources
- English Version 2.0 curriculum, VCAA
- Early writers and high-frequency words, Teacher magazine (ACER)
- Phonics: a guide for parents and carers, Victorian Government
