Sight Words
Sight words are common words that early learners recognize without needing to sound them out. They are often tricky to spell and don’t follow regular reading rules. Learning sight words is important. They show up a lot in reading. Once you know them by sight, you can read faster and understand stories better. Mastering sight words helps make reading easier and more fun!
Background
The most common are the “Dolch Sight Words.” These are comprised of 220 words divided into five groups according to age and level. In addition to the 220 sight words, there is a separate list of 95 “Dolch Nouns,” making sight words even more comprehensive for early readers. Besides the Dolch list, there are also the Fry Sight Words. This list contains 1,000 of the most common words, arranged in groups of 100. These words are suitable for more advanced students.
Both the Dolch and Fry lists are high-frequency words. Both lists play a key role in improving reading speed and comprehension by helping learners quickly recognize the more common words. Frequently, both the Dolch list and Fry list are used together. They overlap. Many words appear in both lists. Additionally, there are many Core Vocabulary Words, which focus on essential words for various subjects. All these lists overlap with sight words, but also include more specialized language for a specific subject or academic settings.
Learning Objectives for this Module:
Upon completion of this module, the student should be able to do the following:
Recognition and Reading
recognize sight words without needing to sound them out; read them accurately and fluently using simple sentences or phrases
Vocabulary Development
understand the meaning and context of sight words; be able to identify sight words in texts, and their environment
Spelling and Writing
spell sight words correctly from memory; write sight words in isolation and use them in simple sentences or phrases
Sentence Construction
construct sentences using sight words; recognize the role of sight words in sentences (e.g., “the” as an article, “and” as a conjunction)
Phonics
differentiate sight words by identifying which ones they need to memorize; apply phonics skills to decode words that aren’t sight words
Fluency
improve reading speed and fluency by practicing high-frequency sight words; read aloud sentences containing sight words
Pre-primer (40 words)
a | and | away | big | blue | can | come | down | find | for | funny | go | help | here | I | in | is | it | jump | little | look | make | me | my | not | one | play | red | run | see | the | three | to | two | up | we | where | yellow | you | all
Primer (52 words)
he | she | we | me | be | you | they | all | are | one | two | three | four | five | yellow | blue | red | green | brown | black | orange | look | see | find | funny | come | help | here | jump | play | make | run | go | in | out | big | little | up | down | away | for | under | is | am | at | ate | must | pretty | ride | saw | say | soon | so | this
First Grade (41 words)
after | again | an | any | ask | as | by | could | every | fly | from | give | going | had | has | her | him | his | how | just | know | let | live | may | of | old | once | open | over | put | round | some | stop | take | thank | them | then | think | walk | were | when | always | around | because | been | before | best | both | does | first | five | found | its | made | many
Second Grade (46 words)
always | around | because | been | before | best | both | buy | call | cold | does | don’t | fast | first | five | found | gave | goes | green | its | made | many | off | or | pull | read | right | sing | sit | sleep | tell | their | these | those | upon | us | use | very | wash | which | why | wish | work | would | write | your
Third Grade (41 words)
about | better | bring | carry | clean | cut | done | draw | drink | eight | fall | far | full | got | grow | hold | hot | hurt | if | keep | kind | laugh | light | long | much | myself | never | only | own | seven | shall | show | six | small | start | ten | today | together | try | warm
Dolch Sight Words – Nouns (95 words)
apple | baby | back | ball | bear | bed | bell | bird | birthday | boat | box | boy | bread | brother | cake | car | cat | chair | chicken | children | Christmas | coat | corn | cow | day | dog | doll | door | duck | egg | eye | farm | farmer | father | feet | fire | fish | floor | flower | game | garden | girl | good-bye | grass | ground | hand | head | hill | home | horse | house | kitty | leg | letter | man | men | milk | money | morning | mother | name | nest | night | paper | party | picture | pig | rabbit | rain | ring | robin | Santa Claus | school | seed | sheep | shoe | sister | snow | song | squirrel | stick | street | sun | table | thing | time | top | toy | tree | watch | water | way | wind | window | wood