Pre Primer Sight Words: Everything You Need to Know

What if you could make reading faster, easier, and more fun for your child? Pre Primer Sight Words, or sight words for preschool, are an important step in the process of teaching your preschooler how to read. If you’re wondering how to get started with sight words in preschool, this post will get you started. Plus, you’ll find free resources to help you teach these sight words to your child.

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What are Pre Primer Sight Words?

Sight words are words that a child has memorized, and can read by sight. The sight words are divided into lists to make them easier for kids to memorize, and to help parents keep track of their progress.

The Dolch sight word lists were created by Edward William Dolch. On the Dolch sight word lists, the preschool words are called Pre-Primer, so the term “Pre Primer Sight Words” comes from Dolch. This list is popular because it is shorter, and sorted by grade level.

Why Do Preschoolers Need to Learn Sight Words?

Memorizing sight words is helpful for kids who are learning to read. Some of the benefits of learning sight words include:

• Helps kids be able to read faster
• Makes reading easier and less frustrating- which makes it more fun
• Gives kids confidence in their reading ability
• Helps kids learn how to read more independently

Kids need a solid foundation of common sight word knowledge, coupled with strong phonics instruction as well, to become good readers. Kids should learn to read using both sight words and phonics.

Preschool Sight Word Lists

Dolch Sight Words

The Dolch Sight Word list is one of the most popular resources for teaching sight words. It contains 220 common words. These words include 80% of the words found in picture books and 50% of the words in all literature. The words are divided into lists for each grade level, and there is an extra list of the 95 most common nouns.

Dolch Words for Preschool

The Dolch word list for preschool is called the Pre Primer Sight Words. It includes 40 sight words. They are, in alphabetical order:

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

Grab a Free Printable List of the Dolch Sight Words for Preschool Here!

Fry Sight Words

The Fry sight word list is a more modern alternative to the Dolch Words. The lists include 1000 commonly used words, divided into groups of 100. The groups are not organized by grade level, but preschoolers could work on some of the words from group 1.

Kids who memorize the Fry sight words will know 90% of the words in the books they read.

Fry Words for Preschool

The first Fry sight words list includes 100 words. They are:

a, about, all, am, an, and, are, as, at, be, been, but, by, called, can, come, could, day, did, do, down, each, find, first, for, from, get, go, had, has, have, he, her, him, his, how, I, if, in, into, is, it, its, like, long, look, made, make, many, may, more, my, no, not, now, number, of, on, one, or, other, out, part, people, said, see, she, so, some, than, that, the, their, them, then, there, these, they, this, time, to, two, up, use, was, water, way, we, were, what, when, which, who, will, with, words, would, write, you, your

Create Your Own Preschool Sight Word List

Many families choose to create their own sight words lists for their kids. You can do this by combining the Dolch and Fry lists. You can add or remove words based on what your child needs to know to read the books you are using.

How many sight words should a preschooler know?

The Dolch Sight Word list for preschool includes 40 commonly used words. Most preschoolers are just getting started learning about sight words, so it is ok if your child doesn’t know very many.

It is important to keep in mind that kids develop reading skills at different rates. If your child is ahead or behind at the end of preschool, this is not a reason to panic. Just make sure to include some extra practice.

It is also helpful to make sure your child knows the letter sounds and understands how to blend sounds to make a word using phonics, before introducing the idea of sight words.

Tips for Teaching Pre Primer Sight Words

Teaching reading is an important part of homeschooling. These tips will make it easier.

When Should I Start Sight Words with my Child?

Make sure that your child knows the names and sounds of the letters, and that they show an interest in learning to read, before starting with sight words.

It is also important to make sure that your child understands how to blend letter sounds with phonics to make words. When you introduce phonics first before sight words, you teach your child that reading is the process of sounding out words- not memorizing and guessing.

What Order Should I Teach the Sight Words?

When learning pre primer sight words, you should start with the simplest and most common words first. You can also teach the words in order of frequency, or in the order that they appear in a book or reading curriculum that you are using.

How Many Sight Words Should My Child Learn at Once?

With younger preschoolers, it is a good idea to practice sight words a couple at a time. Introduce two or three new words at the most, and then take some time to practice before adding new words to your child’s list. Make sure you add in plenty of review of old words, too.

Are Sight Words Enough to Help My Child Learn to Read?

Just memorizing sight words is not enough to help your child become a strong reader. Lots of research shows that kids learn to read best when they memorize sight words in combination with a strong phonics-based reading program. You can learn more about sight words vs phonics here.

Helpful Products for Learning Pre Primer Sight Words

Sight Word Strategies

One of the best ways to teach sight words to preschoolers is with fun games and activities. Here are a few ideas to include in your lesson plans that work especially well for young students.

Sight Word Parking Lot

Use tape to create a parking lot for toy cars. Write a sight word inside each parking space. Call out a sight word and ask kids to park a toy car in the matching space.

Sensory Bins

Make a sensory bin by filling a large tub with rice, sand, or even seasonal items like dried corn in the fall. Bury your child’s sight word cards in the box. As they dig to discover the cards, they can practice reading the words.

Sight Word Tower

Write letters on Legos or other building blocks. Kids can stack the letters to build their sight words. Or, write a different sight word on each block. As you call out words, kids can find them and add them to the tower. (You can also write the letters on tape and tape them to the blocks if you want to be able to re-use the blocks).

Sight Word Swat

Spread out sight word cards on a table. Call out sight words. Your child can use a fly swatter to swat the sight word that they hear. This is a fun way for kids to practice, and for parents to see which high frequency words their kids know!

Sight Word Race

Put a stack of sight word flashcards on a table or chair at one end of a room or hallway. Sit on the floor at the opposite end. Ask your child to run across the room, grab one flashcard, bring it back, and read it. Repeat for the rest of the flashcards.

Be sure to check out my huge list of fun ways to practice sight words at home. By implementing these common sight words learning activities, your child will be on his way to becoming a great reader at an early age!

Tips for Success with Pre Primer Sight Words

Make Practicing Sight Words Fun

Try using active games and engaging hands-on activities to help your child enjoy learning new sight words. Kids remember more when they are having fun!

Keep Working On It

Remember that like any other skill, learning to read takes time. Keep practice sessions short and be patient with your child. They will remember more the more they practice.

Be Consistent

Make sure you practice sight words regularly with your child. Consistent shorter lessons are much better than one marathon practice session. Your patience will pay off as your child becomes a more fluent and confident reader.

Sight words are an important part of teaching kids how to read. When you practice sight words with your kids regularly, they will become better readers as they gain confidence and fluency with sight words.

Free Printable List of Pre Primer Sight Words

This PDF file includes a printable list of the Pre Primer words, a checklist you can use to keep track of which words your child knows, and a set of Dolch Pre-Primer Sight Words flash cards to help you practice with your child!

Sight Word Lists for Other Grades

Grab a printable pack of free teaching resources for each grade here:

Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade