
How Do I Know Which Sight Words to Teach My Child?
Introduction
Sight Words are a critical building block of your child’s ability to read. However, knowing which words they should know, and when they need to know them, can be an intimidating task.
While there is no single right answer, this guide will help you to understand which words your child is likely to encounter and when they will encounter them. If you can provide your child with the relevant high frequency words before they try reading them, their chances of succeeding increase greatly.

The Challenge
Before we start the guide, it is important to note that not all children learn at the same pace, and what words your child will encounter can vary widely. Therefore, we do recommend that whenever possible, you avoid strict grade levels when it comes to reading. Many children vary greatly so assigning a single grade level can be tricky, it is best to allow them to learn in an organic manner that encourages curiosity and wonder as much as possible. A system such as SnapWords® is a great way to allow this organic learning to happen.
All that being said, we understand that in school it is important for your child to know certain words for both testing purposes and the need to understand the words they are likely to encounter. Continue to follow this guide to get an idea of what most children will encounter in each grade so you can ensure your child has the tools they need to succeed.

The Main Lists
Within the world of high-frequency words, sight words, snap words, or whatever term you are familiar with, there are three main lists: Dolch, Fry, and Fountas & Pinnell. The Dolch list contains 220 words while Fry's complete list contains 1,000 words, though most schools use a smaller subset of 300 Fry words. Both of these lists are widely used in schools for grades K-2. Similar in nature to Dolce and Fry, Fountas & Pinnell word lists are grouped by level in relation to their proprietary reading system.
Additionally, there are other lists such as the the story book list, or our SnapWords® list.
Check out this guide to see how SnapWords® lines up with the main three lists.
Which List Should I Teach?
It is impossible to tell you exactly which one you should teach because each school system may use a different list. Instead, we recommend finding out what your school system uses for testing as well as words they are likely to encounter in material, and then choose the list that lines up the best with those requirements.
If you homeschool your child, we recommend choosing a list based on the other resources you are teaching. Try to choose the list that has the most overlap with your curriculum so your child can flourish in their other subjects more easily.
If you are not tied to any particular systems and simply want to help your child gain reading fluency, we recommend starting with our SnapWords® List A and working your way through the system.
While we try to avoid strict grade levels, SnapWords® generally can be categorized as follows:
- Preschool - 1st Grade: List A and Numbers, Colors, Days, Months, & Seasons
- 1st Grade - 2nd Grade: Lists B, C, F, & Nouns 1
- 2nd Grade - 3rd Grade (and beyond): Lists D, E, G, Nouns 2, & Verbs
Preschool
List of words found in most preschool material:
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 | said | see | the | three | to | two |
up | we | where | yellow | you |
Kindergarten
List of words found in most kindergarten material:
all | am | are | at | ate | be | black |
brown | but | came | did | do | eat | four |
get | good | have | he | like | must | new |
now | no | on | our | out | please | pretty |
ran | ride | saw | say | she | so | soon |
that | there | they | this | too | under | want |
was | well | went | what | white | who | will |
with | yes |
1st Grade
List of words found in most 1st grade material:
after | again | an | any | as | ask | 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 |
2nd Grade
List of words found in most 2nd grade material:
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 |
3rd Grade
List of words found in most 3rd grade material:
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 | pick | seven | shall | show | six | small |
start | ten | today | together | try | warm |
4th Grade
List of words found in most 4th grade material:
above | across | address | area | become | birds | body |
breakfast | color | complete | course | didn't | different | dog |
during | early | easy | ever | fish | floor | friends |
front | gone | grew | heard | horse | knew | knife |
mark | mean | music | nothing | order | people | piece |
plain | problem | questions | quiet | red | room | ship |
short | since | stand | sun | sure | today | told |
top | true | usually | wear | wonder | world | yard |
5th Grade and Beyond
List of words found in most 5th grade material:
afternoon | already | although | beautiful | carefully | chance | compare |
consider | corner | details | determine | difficult | division | electric |
entire | equation | everything | experience | factories | finish | guess |
happiness | impossible | machine | material | movement | neither | ought |
particular | pattern | prepared | process | produce | rather | silent |
speak | substance | suggest | supply | though | thousand | tomorrow |
underline | understand | weather | whose | wrong | yet |
Conclusion
Helping your child obtain sight word fluency for the high-frequency words they will encounter can help them flourish in all aspects of school and life beyond. If you or someone you know is looking for a fun and engaging way to teach sight words, check out our original SnapWords® today.
Check out or other blogs below to learn more about helping your child truly flourish in school. Take the next step today, get a free sample or talk to our awesome team to get help.
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