When children are learning to read, they learn all about phonics. However, what happens when they reach certain words that the rules of phonics don’t actually apply to? What about the words that appear in our sentences on a regular basis? Should they have to sound out “the” every time they come across it in a sentence? No! For the first few years of school, kids should be learning sight words. This article contains worksheets and flashcards for the first 100 Dolch Sight Words! Enjoy!
So, who is Dolch and why did he decide what the 220 sight words should be?
The Dolch Word List is a list of frequently used English words compiled by Edward William Dolch, PhD, a major proponent of the “whole-word” method of beginning reading instruction. The list was prepared in 1936. The list was originally published in his book Problems in Reading in 1948.
Dolch compiled the list based on children’s books of his era, which is why nouns such as “kitty” and “Santa Claus” appear on the list instead of more high-frequency words. The list contains 220 “service words” that have to be easily recognized in order to achieve reading fluency in the English language. The compilation excludes nouns, which comprise a separate 95-word list. Between 50-75% of all words used in schoolbooks, library books, newspapers, and magazines are a part of the Dolch basic sight word vocabulary.
First 100 Dolch Sight Words:
For the past 10 weeks, I have been making printable worksheets and flash cards to help you teach and reinforce the Dolch Sight Words to your little ones. Some of you have asked, so here is the full list of the first 100!
- Words 1-10 – a, and, away, big, can, come, down, find, for, funny
- Words 11-20 – go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look
- Words 21-30 – make, me, my, not, one, play, run, said, see, the
- Words 31-40 – blue, red, three, to, two, up we, where, yellow, you
- Words 41-50 – all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came
- Words 51-60 – did, do, eat, for, get, good, have, he, into, like
- Words 61-70 – must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran
- Words 71-80 – ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this
- Words 81-90 – too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will
- Words 91-100 – with, yes, after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could
Dolch Sight Word Games & Books:
Here are a few of my top picks to help you reinforce the sight words to your kids!
Paulina oswald
Tuesday 13th of August 2019
I Thank you for your hard work with the flash cards. Do you have the next 100 words? I have been teaching special needs adults how to read and it's working amazing.
Kelli Miller
Monday 21st of October 2019
THey are all here, but I don't have them all linked - search in the search bar for "dolch". They are sorted by week :-)
Crystal@WhatTreasuresAwait
Tuesday 28th of June 2016
What a fun way for the kids to learn! Thanks for sharing at Welcome Home Wednesdays!
Glenda Cates
Wednesday 22nd of June 2016
I am so glad I found this post as my son who is 8 still struggles with some of the spelling words he should know. So I will be printing these out to your in our Home school. So I can make sure Charlie will know them before 3rd grade begins.
Christina
Sunday 14th of September 2014
Awesome! Thanks
Kelli Miller
Sunday 21st of September 2014
So glad you found it useful! AFter doing all these words, my youngest son is only struggling with 10 of them. So, we are going to focus one week on just those ten words. :-)
Terry Hill
Monday 17th of March 2014
Thank you!