Some high-frequency words are decodable using spelling and phonics rules, and some are not. High-frequency words are commonly used words that students need to know. Sight words are words that cannot be decoded, so knowing spelling rules or phonics will not help a child sound out the word. Site Words FAQs Q: What is the difference between sight words and high-frequency words?Ī: While both sight words and high-frequency words are important, they are not the same. Here is a list of sight words and high-frequency words for Pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade that have been taken from both the Dolch Word and Fry Sight Word Lists.Ī, 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, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, youĪbout, all, am, an, are, as, at, ate, be, been, black, brown, but, by, call, came, could, day, did, do, each, eat, first, four, from, get, good, had, has, have, he, her, him, his, how, if, into, like, long, made, many, may, more, must, new, no, now, number, of, oil, on, or, other, our, out, part, people, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, sit, so, some, soon, than, that, their, them, then, there, these, they, this, time, to, under, use, want, was, water, way, well, went, were, what, when, which, white, who, will, with, word, would, write, yes, yourĪdd, after, again, air, also, America, animal, another, answer, any, around, ask, back, because, before, boy, change, different, does, end, even, every, fly, follow, food, form, found, give, going, great, hand, high, home, house, just, kind, know, land, large, learn, let, letter, line, live, man, mean, men, most, mother, move, much, must, name, need, near, off, old, only, once, open, over, page, picture, place, point, put, read, right, round, same, say, sentence, set, should, show, small, sound, spell, still, stop, study, such, take, tell, thank, things, think, through, too, try, turn, us, very, walk, want, well, why, work, world, year It is important for parents to keep in mind that children are expected to be able to instantly recognize sight words they have learned previously. Teachers will generally pull from one or both of these lists to create the sight words that children should learn. Like the Dolch Word list, the Fry Sight Word List is made up of both sight words and high-frequency words and is divided by grade level. Fry updated the Fry Sight Word List in 1980, which is comprised of the most commonly used words in books, newspapers, and other publications. Edward Fry expanded the Dolch Word List to include 1,000 commonly used words in the English language.

In addition to the 220 sight words, the Dolch Word List also includes 95 high-frequency nouns. The list is divided by grade level from Pre-K through third grade, but many educators believe that these words should be mastered by first grade. The list contains 220 of the most commonly used words that should be recognized by first sight. One list is called the Dolch Word List, created by E.W. There are several sight word lists for emerging readers. Children who are able to instantly recognize sight words are more likely to be confident readers because over 50-70 percent of the general English text is made up of sight words.

When children recognize sight words within three seconds, they are also more likely to comprehend what they are reading. Children who are able to quickly and instantly recognize sight words are more likely to become more fluent readers who read at a good speed because they are not stopping to try to decode every word. As a result, children must learn to recognize these words automatically, or at first sight. Most sight words cannot be decoded or sounded out, and they are also difficult to represent with a picture. These sounds usually follow basic spelling rules or phonetic principles, but there are some words that did not follow rules. When we teach children to read, we are basically helping them to crack a code. Children learn to hear and say the sounds of the alphabet and then how to blend those sounds to make words. One critical skill that children need in order to build solid foundational reading skills is sight word recognition. No matter whether kindergarten children will be learning in person, online, or a hybrid of the two, parents and teachers are still focused on ensuring their emerging readers develop a love for reading while learning to read effectively and efficiently.

Sight words for kindergarten list