Dolch pre-primer sight words
The first 40 — the words that make up a startling share of everything a beginner reads.
Call them heart words, not sight words
The name matters because it carries the method. "Sight word" implies memorising a shape. "Heart word" implies that most of the word behaves normally and only one part has to be learned by heart — and that is both true and far more useful. In said, the s and the d are perfectly regular; only the middle is odd. Mark the odd part, sound out the rest.
How to practise
- Read the word, then map the regular letters to their sounds out loud.
- Mark the heart part — the letters that do not do what they should.
- Cover it and have them spell it from memory, then check. Retrieval, not copying.
- Five at a time, revisited across days rather than crammed.
The full list
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
Free to copy, print and use in a classroom. No attribution needed.
The other lists
Questions people actually ask
How many words are on the dolch pre-primer sight words list?
40. The full list is on this page and free to print.
Should sight words be memorised as shapes?
No. That is the old advice and it is wrong. Map the parts that behave normally to their sounds and learn only the irregular part by heart — which is why we call them heart words. Whole-shape memorisation does not scale past a few hundred words and it does not build the orthographic mapping that makes reading automatic.
How many should we do at once?
About five, revisited across several days, with retrieval rather than copying. Forty in one sitting is forty forgotten.