Dolch Sight Words:
FREE Flash Cards and Word Lists For Teachers

Above: Dolch Sight Words Classroom Display 

Click on the link below to download this FREE classroom display set:

Free Dolch Word Wall Banner and ABC Cards: 
We're Building Our Sight Word Vocabulary

The Dolch Sight Words are a list of the 220 most frequently used words in the English language. These sight words make up 50 to 70 percent of any general text.

The Dolch list was developed by Edward William Dolch, PhD, in 1948 and published in his book "Problems in Reading." Dolch compiled his sight word list based on the words most frequently used in children's reading books in the 1930's and 1940's.

Dolch found that children who can identify a certain core group of words by sight could learn to read and comprehend better.

Dolch's sight word lists are still widely used today and highly respected by both teachers and parents.

These sight words were designed to be learned and mastered by the third grade.

The list of Dolch words contains 220 words that have been arranged by levels of advancing difficulty:

• Preprimer
• Primer
• First Grade
• Second Grade
• Third Grade

These 220 sight words include pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and verbs. In addition, there is a separate list of 95 Dolch nouns.

Many of the Dolch sight words are difficult to portray with pictures or hard to sound out through phonics methods. Therefore, these words must be learned as sight words and they must be quickly recognized in order to achieve reading fluency.

Once children have learned and memorized these basic sight words, they read more fluently and with greater comprehension.

Below you will find 5 lists containing

all of the 220 Dolch sight words.

Do not bother taking the time to copy these 5 lists. You will be able to download free copies of these lists using the free download links that are found below.

In addition to these 5 free lists of Dolch words, I have created 220 color coded flashcards for all of these sight words.

Elementary school teachers and parents can use the free download links that are found below to download free copies of color coded flashcards for all of the 220 Dolch Sight Words!

220 Dolch Sight Words:
Examples  of Word Lists

Above: Dolch Sight Words - Preprimer Word List

Above: Dolch Sight Words - Primer Word List

Above: Dolch Sight Words - First Grade Word List

Above: Dolch Sight Words - Second Grade Word List

Above: Dolch Sight Words - Third Grade Word List

A list of 95 Dolch nouns were developed to supplement the Dolch sight words.

Above:  95 Dolch Nouns Word List

For the 95 Dolch nouns, I have included a colorful picture cue on each flashcard (see examples below).

Heidi's Free Dolch Words:
Flashcards and Word Lists For Teachers and Parents:

• I have divided the Dolch words into 5 sets of teaching resources.
• There is an 6th set of flashcards for Dolch's 95 Picture Nouns.
• I have designed my flashcards so that the print is large and easily read, and so that the flashcards fit into traditional pocket charts.
• Each set of Dolch flashcards has a different color border around it.

My 5 free sets of Dolch flashcards and word lists
contain the following teaching resources:

1. Numbered alphabetical list of the words

Above:  Free Preprimer Word List 

Preprimer List of 40 Words In Alphabetical Order

2. Assessment page with a place for the student's name, date, and score

Above:  Free Teacher Assessment Worksheet Preprimer Word List 

Preprimer List of 40 Words in Random Order for Assessment Purposes

3. Word list divided into four groups of words for students to learn

Above:  Preprimer list divided into 4 groups (A - D) of words

4. Flashcards - Each free set of flashcards has a different color border.

Above:  Free Dolch Flashcards For Preprimer List

Above:  Free Dolch Flashcards For Third Grade List

5. Dolch Noun Flashcards (32 of the 95 free flashcards are shown below)

Above:  Free Dolch Flashcards For Nouns

Share this page with your students' parents:

If you are using these free Do Dolch Sight Words teaching resources with your students, please feel free to give your students' parents the address of this webpage (shown below) so that they can print flashcards for their child to practice with at home.

http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/dolch-sight-words.html

Are you looking for some fun reading activities?
Engage your students in reading with these fun, unique,
and extra large book report project templates.

25+ Book Report Projects:

Using Book Report Projects To Engage Your Students In Reading:

Click here to view the project that is shown above:  Main Character Body Book Report Project

Learning to read the Dolch Instant Words will certainly help pave the way for your students to become proficient readers. But, the #1 way for children to become successful readers is for them to love reading books!

Do you use fun book report projects as a way to engage your students in reading and responding to literature?

If you answered "no" to this question, then you have found the right place to find unique book report templates and projects!

My students love completing the fun book report projects that I have designed. They are always eager to begin reading their next books so that they can start working on their next reading response projects.

Click here to view the project that is shown above:  Cheeseburger Book Report Projects

One of the best compliments that I hear each year from parents is that their son or daughter now enjoys reading books. Many parents have shared with me that their child now has a love for literature due to the fun book report projects that he or she completed in my class during that school year.

Your students will find these uniquely shaped book report projects fun and challenging to complete.

The writing responses are different for each book report set and are related to the project's shape and theme.

The book report projects that I have created come in a variety of different shapes, sizes, and themes. Below you will find examples of some of my uniquely shaped project templates.

Click here to view the project that is shown above:  Rocket Book Report Projects

If you are interested in viewing all of the book report projects that are available on Unique Teaching Resources, click on the link below:

Go to Book Report Templates and Projects Page

On the left, you will find a photograph of me outside of my classroom.

I hope that you have found these free Dolch Sight Words teaching resources useful in helping your students to learn to read these high frequency sight words.

I designed these flashcards for some of my own students who were not native English speakers that were experiencing difficulty in reading high frequency words with fluency.

I wanted to share these Dolch teaching resources with other teachers for free in hopes that the time that I spent developing these flashcards would be more beneficial by reaching even more children who were having difficulty in reading.

After children have mastered reading the Dolch Sight Words at each level, it would be beneficial for them to learn how to spell these words, as they are also the most common words that students use in their own writing.

The Fry 1000 Instant Words are a longer list of the most common words used for teaching reading, writing, and spelling. Dr. Edward B. Fry's Instant Words (which are often referred to as the "Fry Words") are the most common words used in English ranked in order of frequency.

I have also created free teaching resources, word lists, and flashcards for Fry's Sight Words for elementary school teachers to download for free to use with their students.

If you are interested in viewing the spelling teaching resources or the Fry 1000 Instant Words that are available on Unique Teaching Resources, click on the links below:

Go to Spelling Teaching Resources Page

Go to Fry 1000 Instant Words Page

Thank you for visiting this Dolch Sight Words page.