Kindergarten high frequency words: What are they and how do we teach them? Prior to learning about the science of reading, my answer back in 2015 would have been significantly different. I had a kindergarten sight word list, but the way I taught them was a little haphazard.
Let’s ditch the flash cards and look at few sight word practice routines that can yield great results with both kindergarteners and first graders.
High-frequency words are those words that appear in print most often. But guess what: Just 13 words in English account for 25% of the words we see in print. This essential word list includes the following: a, and, for, he, is, in, it, of, that, the, to, was, and you. A goal for kindergarten students would be for them to be able to identify these high-frequency words with automaticity when reading.
Before we talk about the specifics of how to turn kindergarten high frequency words into sight words, let’s chat more specifically about how these terms differ.
High-frequency words are the words that are commonly seen in print. High-frequency words can be decodable words (and, in) or irregular words (of, the).
Decodable words are words that rely on the alphabet principle. Examples include VC and CVC words such as: it, if, at, am, can, had,
Irregular words are words that have one or more letters in them that do not follow the typical letter-sound correspondence (like “said”). These are often referred to as heart words.
Sight words are words that students can read effortlessly on sight. Fluent readers know these words. They don’t need to pause to analyze them or sound them out.
Through effective orthographic mapping and practice, high-frequency words can become sight words.
Our goal is to provide reading instruction and practice so our young learners recognize those high-frequency words instantly on sight!
Working from a word list can keep your instruction on track. You can more easily monitor student progress and plan future instruction when you use a standard word list.
The two most common word lists that we hear about are the Dolch and Fry word lists. Which is better: Dolch words or the Fry list?
I personally found each of these word lists to have pros and cons. So when I found Wiley Blevin’s High-Frequency Word List Top 248, I knew this was a great starting place when I worked on each specific grade level sight word list.
Dr. Blevins merged the Dolch sight words list and Fry sight word list to create his own sight word list that is perfection!
You can find this list of sight words on page 137 in his book, A Fresh Look at Phonics. This book is a MUST have book when it comes to phonics instruction and best practices. Especially for kindergarten teachers and first grade teachers.
Dr. Blevins suggests that students should be fluent with all 248 words by the end of 2nd grade. Failure for students to have mastery of these words will interfere with their reading fluency and comprehension skills.
You can’t expect your kindergarten or first grade students to practice 248 words all at once! You’ll want to make a plan for how you will work on the most essential high frequency words.
How many high frequency words should kindergarten students know? Certainly, kindergarten students should know the essential 13 words that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post: a, and, for, he, is, in, it, of, that, the, to, was, and you.
These are the common words that often hold a sentence together. In our sight word instruction unit, these words are included in our first quarter scope and sequence. As these are such important words, we want to be certain young readers master these words.
Additionally, early readers need to know about 10–15 essential high-frequency words as they start phonics instruction. Example: Week 2 of our scope and sequence asks students to practice with these words: is, for, I, see, the.
By week 5 kindergarten students are practicing with these words: is, for, I, see, the, this, and, here, a, an. As you can see, these basic sight words are included in our cumulative practice.
So not only are we learning new words, we are constantly reviewing the words we had learned in the past.
As I said, I started with the top 248 words and highlighted the essential 13 words. Next, I looked at the phonics skills according to the school year scope and sequence we created. I also looked at the blending and segmenting practice we would do on a daily basis. If you are blending and segmenting 3 phoneme words on a daily basis*, why not include these decodable high frequency words? Why not teach your kindergarten sight words while you are teaching your phonemic awareness and phonics skills?
* Current research on the science of reading suggests that effective kindergarten reading programs should include these types of lesson plans.
Here is a list of high-frequency words that are decodable based on CVC or even VC words. Once students have been taught each consonant and short vowel sound, use these words in your daily blending and segmenting practice:
When students learn digraphs and blends, the following words can be used in your blending and segmenting routines:
So to answer the question, “How many sight words should a kindergarten student know?” The answer is: It depends on your phonics instruction. Look at the sight word list and determine how you can rearrange the order in which you introduce new sight words so they mirror your phonics lessons.
Then look at your irregular words and arrange them so that have something in common so you can teach them at the same time. For example… if you are going to teach come, teach some at the same time.
Pay attention to words that are easily confused. Words like was and saw will require students to have more practice time so cumulative practice and instruction over weeks and months will be needed. In fact, research suggests that student will need 8-12 exposures to a word to turn that word into a sight word. However, students who struggle may need reading practice with that word 50 or more times.
Daily dictation allows you to reinforce previously taught letter sounds and writing words. We write them once from our memory, then students see a model of the word and they write it again. This is a great opportunity to address handwriting and the path of motions for letters. We include decodable sentences as well that allows student to practice writing the high frequency word in context.
So how do you teach sight words?
2015 Deedee Wills was guilty of not really teaching sight words, merely assigning them. So when a question about sight word instruction was asked of me a few years ago, I started digging deep into what science has to say about how the brain learns new words.
What I discovered is memorizing words is unsustainable. Students who are not affected by a language-based learning issue can oftentimes orthographically map word patterns and turn high frequency words into sight words. But roughly 38% of fourth-graders are not reading at grade level, so clearly many students can not.
It’s essential to teach high-frequency words explicitly instead of incidentally.
When you want to introduce a new word to your class, you will want to orthographically map that word. You will verify the sounds that are following the phonics rules your students have learned so far. Then let the students know the part they need to learn by heart.
For example, when teaching an irregular word you will want to :
Once you have taught the word (not assigned like 2015 Deedee Wills ) then you will add it to your sound wall.
(2015 Deedee Wills used a word wall. A sound wall has words arranged by their sound instead.)
As I said earlier, students who struggle may need to experience a word 50 or more times. In addition to your whole group lessons, meeting with those students in small groups is essential. You can reteach lessons, review lessons, or extend lessons at this time.
While you are meeting in your small group, the rest of the students can be working in literacy centers. Adding sight word activities to your center time is a great way to have students practice their reading skills and still have fun.
Regardless of the list of high frequency words your school district uses, these activities will work for you because they are editable! Yes, you can add your own words.
You can find these high-frequency word games by clicking:
As I mentioned earlier, 2015 Deedee would have displayed the high-frequency words on an alphabetized word wall as they were introduced over the course of the year.
However, we now know that sound walls are much more effective resource for beginning readers and writers.
Would you like to watch a webinar where we discuss how to use sound walls? Hilary Statum and I walk you through how to use a sound wall and answer questions!
I totally understand: In the summer, you want to get your sound wall up on the walls because you know the next time you can come up for air is maybe December… maybe.
But research tells us that anticipation and the little surprise hook is powerful. So it is encouraged to keep things “under wraps” on the sound wall until each phonics skill is taught. So we made a little free file for you. You can print them on sticky notes and cover the sound wall card until the phonics skill is taught.
If 70% of the words in the sight word reader text are decodable based on the phonics instruction you have provided so far… yes.
If the decodability of your reading materials is under 70%, these are not the best resource to use in your instruction. Research points to the need for students to read books where they can read most of the words.
You can read a blog post I wrote about leveled texts and decodable books by clicking:
I have the perfect blog post for you! I go into the details of a structured literacy lesson.
Below you’ll find some additional resources that are aligned with the science of reading:
Decodable Books Science Of Reading Aligned Decodable Readers Bundle | K & 1
My teaching career allowed me to experience teaching in different classroom environments and grades. My heart belongs to early childhood education. My job is to make teaching FUN, ENGAGING, and EASIER. Welcome!
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Where can I find the digital file with the high frequency words with the blue background shown in this post?
The high-frequency word powerpoints are part of our daily lessons – you can find all of these resources for teaching whole-group phonics and sight word instruction here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Science-of-Reading-Based-Sight-Word-Instruction-Kindergarten-First-Grade-5747462
Hi there, I’m not sure what happened to my links but I just relinked the pictures. So sorry about that. Here is the link were you can find the PowerPoint slides:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Science-of-Reading-Based-Sight-Word-Instruction-Kindergarten-First-Grade-5747462