Dolch Pre-Primer Sight Word Flash Cards

All 40 cards in this set

• 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

How to print these flashcards

1. Download the PDF in US Letter or A4.
2. Print single-sided. There is nothing on the backs.
3. Use cardstock (65 to 110 lb) if you have it. It lasts longer. Plain paper works too.
4. Cut once down the middle, then across along the dashed lines. The cards run to the edges of the page, so there is nothing to trim at the sides, and the top and bottom cuts take off the small header and footer.
5. For cards that last all year, laminate them and keep each set on a binder ring.

How to practice Dolch pre-primer sight words

Hold up a card and give your child a few seconds to read it. Words read straight away go on a "know it" pile. If a word takes sounding out, say it, have your child say it back, and put it back in the stack.

Start with five to ten cards, not the whole list. Add new words only once the pile is mostly known. A few minutes a day works better than one long session a week.

Make it a game: lay a few cards face up and call out a word for your child to find, or hide cards around the room to find and read. Once a word is known, look for it together in a picture book.

Tips for the Dolch pre-primer words

• Start with the words that are in your child's name or favorite book. "I", "a", "the" and "is" turn up on almost every page, so they pay off first.
• Several pre-primer words are colors and numbers (red, blue, yellow, one, two, three). Point them out on real things: a red car, three spoons.
• "Here" and "where" look alike, and so do "for" and "four" later on. Put the look-alikes in the pile together once each one is known on its own.

Who this set is for

Preschool and kindergarten. The pre-primer list is the first 40 Dolch words, the ones a child meets in the very first books they read. Most children work on them in preschool or early kindergarten.