Free Printable First Grade Sight Words Worksheets

How is your first grader’s reading? Do they sound more like a stop-and-go robot than a smooth, confident reader? How can we help beginning readers improve their reading fluency? Two words: Sight Words! Using activities like these free printable first grade sight words worksheets are an awesome way to build fluency!

What Are Sight Words?

Sight words are exactly what they sound like…words readers automatically know when they see them. The reader has actually memorized the words to immediately recognize and read them without trying to say the letter sounds or use any other decoding strategy.

Why Do We Teach Sight Words?

Sight words are frequently used throughout text and once children learn them, it makes reading easier for them. Then they can spend their energy on decoding more difficult words. Reading fluency and comprehension also begins to improve. Additionally, their confidence as a reader increases with every, “I KNOW THAT WORD!!”

Dolch, Fry, High Frequency Words…OH MY!

Google the phrase: ‘Sight Words List.’ Your search request will result in pages and pages of all different types of word lists. So which word list do children need to learn? You Guessed It–ALL of them!

Of course they’re all important for readers to learn, but the Dolch Sight Words List is the most commonly used to teach sight words. There’s a total of 220 words on the Dolch Words List. The words are grouped by grade-level, starting with Pre-K and going through 3rd Grade.

First Grade Dolch Words List

The First Grade Dolch Sight Words List contains 41 words. Those words are featured in this printable sight words packet. Words Included: after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, going, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when.

Printable Worksheets

Each worksheet has six different activities to give beginning readers lots
of practice working with the first grade sight words. Children will read the word,
trace the word, build the word, write the word, rainbow write the word, and find and color the word.

The black and white worksheets are low ink printables to help you save on a
hot commodity–your printer’s ink. Save even more ink by printing a set and
putting them in sleeve protectors–Instant Word Work Centers!

Intervention Resources

These printable worksheets are perfect to use as interventions for students, too. Differinating the worksheets to create six different small group or center
activities is easy with just some card stock, lamination, and a pair of scissors!

Print the sight word activity worksheets on cover stock, laminate some of them, and then cut the activities apart.

• The ‘read the word’ activity becomes a set of flash cards or word wall words
• Hide ‘read the word’ or ‘rainbow write words’ around the classroom for students to find and write
• Use the ‘read the word’ activity and different Reading Materials for children to recognize the words in text
• Dry erase markers or playdough can be used with the ‘trace the word’ activity
• Use Letter Magnets with the ‘build the word’ activity to spell words
• Dry erase markers make the ‘write the word’ activity perfect for small group time–you say the word or show the word and have them write it from memory or copy it for those students just learning the sight words
• ‘Rainbow write the word’ becomes a fine-motor skills center when children usebeans, beads, small pompoms, or any other small manipulative to fill in the letters
• Have children color the vowels one color and the consonants other with the ‘rainbow write words’
• Use the ‘find and color the word’ activity as a check-for-understanding center where students color the focused sight words of the center
• Make two copies of ‘read the word’ or ‘rainbow write the word’ for all sorts of additional fun Sight Word Games
• Have students make their own sight words resource book gluing any of the activities in a notebook

FREE…Don’t You Just Love That Word?!

You’ll receive instant worksheet access to ALL 41 of the words on the First Grade Dolch Words List completely FREE of charge! That’s right–I’m not
trying to tease you with just a few sample worksheets and then charge you if
you want to print the rest of the words on the list. Download all 41 kid-friendly, printable worksheets, one worksheet page for each sight word on the First Grade Sight Words List.

Other Grade-Level Packets Available

Once children have mastered the Pre-K and Kindergarten Sight Words from the previous packets and have learn the words from this 1st Grade Sight Words packet, they’re ready for the 2nd Grade Words. The FREE Printable Second Grade Sight Words Worksheet packet includes the 46 words on the Second Grade Dolch Words List.

Download all of the Printable Sight Words Worksheet Packets to teach, differentiate, and use as interventions to meet the needs of every student. That’s 220 FREE Sight Words Worksheets featuring all of the 220 Pre-K/Pre-Primer, Kindergarten/Primer, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, and 3rd Grade Dolch Sight Words!