A beginning reader must learn  3,000+ words:

 	100+ Essential Words such as am, are, is, was, were which are necessary for reading at any level.

	180+ Elementary Words that are necessary for communicating in reading and writing.
		Half of these words are phonetic and half of them are non-phonetic.

	900+ words having a short vowel sound.

	400+ words having a long vowel sound.

	400+ words having a modified vowel sound.

	600+ words having no vowel pattern.

	150+ High Frequency Multi-syllable words. 

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The Whole Word method of teaching reading is the best method for teaching the Essential Words.

Switch to Phonics for the phonetic and partially phonetic words, and then back to the Whole Word method for the
non-phonetic words and multi-syllable words.
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Phonics can not teach all of the basic words, but it can teach a lot of words fast and knowing phonics will help the 
student use a dictionary to pronounce new words.
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So,