To those of you that have done sight words with your child, what books do you recommend introducing to your child? I am not interested in making books myself (although I’d be OK printing something out). What books do you recommend based on the sight words that are usually taught? It seems such recommendations are hard to find (especially given the number of books with small print that are out there!). I need short books with a limited number of words on a page, but interesting enough for a toddler.
The Labybird books contain large font with pictures on a separate page. The Ladybird key word reading scheme, commonly known as Peter and Jane books, might be useful in the early stages. The earlier books only contain a few words per page and the words are repeated throughout the story. There are better schemes, but their lower level books are a good place to start. I used several of their books and i think that it was one of their Peter and Jane books that my children first read independently prior to their third birthdays. They have a “Well loved tales series”, titles like The Three Billy goats Gruff that are also appropriate-text on a separate page. You could always enlarge the font if necessary. Once your child has started to read independently you could progress to other schemes that introduce new words gradually whilst reviewing words already introduced. Some of these schemes lack interest and should be avoided. Oxford Reading Tree:Biff and Chip Storybooks are an excellent set of books that my children thoroughly enjoyed reading.
I appreciate that the Ladybird series appears outdated but some of their early books are ideal as they contain few words in large font with pictures on a separate page. These books are very cheap and are still available. A page in large font might contain something like this-Jane likes Peter, next Page, Peter likes Jane etc. Not exactly exciting stuff but a good place to start.