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.