Sight Words & Phonics Spelling Patterns

Dear Parents,

Below you will find a list of the 122 CCC sight words your child will be expected to know by the end of first grade (with review words from kindergarten as well). You can use this list to help your child practice at home. With regards to spelling these words, we do not expect first graders to spell every single one of these words correctly, but you can still use this list as a way to help improve their spelling when they write as many are words they will write frequently. The list is in alphabetical order so it should be easier to find words to spell.

Additionally, every week on your child’s homework, you will see weekly sight words that correspond with this list. We have broken them up so that a small set of words can be focused on each week. The week numbers correlate the to week we are on for Being a Reader, so the week number may not align with the actual week of school, as we will occasionally take a break from introducing new words some weeks. These words will help your child progress as a reader. The sight words can be found on our First Grade Website in both list and flashcard format if you are interested in printing at home for practice. Print two sets of the flashcards and play a family game of memory!

The reason these are called “sight words” or “high frequency words” is because they are words that we frequently come across as readers and at times they do not follow spelling patterns, so therefore cannot be sounded out. When your child comes across one of these words when reading, try to point it out and remind them that it may not be able to be sounded out. As students start to recognize these words, their reading fluency (do they sound like fluent readers) and accuracy increase.

We will then move into teaching common phonics spelling patterns to help students continue to grow in their reading and writing. Throughout the year we will take the occasional break and have fun seasonal word lists.

Happy Reading,

The First Grade Teachers

Sight Words

List 1: and, the, me, see, you, we, are, can, is, he

List 2: she, can't, isn't, to, get, no, yes, down, go, where

List 3: my, by, here, saw, they, was, little, put, what, do

List 4: like, have, home, said, of, her, his, some, come, out

List 5: say, says, so, make, there, be, look, good, want, water

List 6: from, for, again, many, people, your, very, could, would, should

List 7: were, both, does, every, other, mother, brother, woman, women, boy

List 8: toward, over, their, old, cold, told, one, two, don't, won't

List 9: too, who, school, thought, father, after, work, head, read, never

List 10: ever, only, give, live, walk, talk, because, children, even, picture

List 11: move, great, though, once, enough, watch, been, few, kind, find

List 12: mind, word, four, answer, learn, young, large, earth, most, change

Phonics Spelling Patterns

We will start the school year with reviewing the first 5 phonics lists focusing on short vowel sounds. After we have finished introducing the sight words for the year, continue to review the above sight words at home. For the remainder of the school year we will focus on spelling patterns to help students continue to grow in both their reading and writing.

List 1 short ă: map, sad, bat, ham, cat, mad, fan, van, glad, crab

List 2 short ĕ: bed, hen, men, leg, web, ten, egg, vet, nest, tent

List 3 short ĭ: sit, pig, tin, dig, wig, six, kid, win, spin, gift

List 4 short ŏ: log, dot, fox, hot, hop, box, mop, dog, stop, frog

List 5 short ŭ: bug, fun, cup, gum, hug, rug, sun, mud, club, plug

List 6 digraph /ch/: chin, chips, rich, chick, chat, chop, such, child, chain, cheese

List 7 digraph /sh/: ship, shop, shut, shell, shine, fish, flash, shark, sheep, wash

List 8 digraph /th/: thin, that, think, three, bath, this, math, path, these, thick

List 9 long ā spelled a_e: cake, make, game, same, late, gate, face, lace, name, shake, snake

List 10 long ī spelled i_e: hide, time, line, bike, five, mine, kite, like, slide, prize

List 11 long ō spelled o_e: note, vote, joke, home, hope, cone, bone, rose, broke, phone

List 12 long ū spelled u_e: cube, cute, huge, use, tune, rude, mule, tube, June, flute

List 13 blends with l, r, s: play, blue, fly, from, friend, drink, try, smile, star, skate

List 14 R-Controlled Vowels /er/, /ir/, & /ur/: germ, her, fern, dirt, stir, first, turn, hurt, surf, purple

List 15 R-Controlled Vowels /ar/ & /or/: park, art, yard, card, party, storm, fort, north, short, sports

List 16 long ā spelled ai, ay: rain, main, braid, paint, train, day, clay, stay, gray, crayon

List 17 long ē spelled e_e, ea, ee, -e: eve, these, dream, team, beach, meal, sleep, queen, we, me

List 18 long ī spelled ie, igh, -y: pie, tie, lie, high, might, bright, fly, try, why, cry

List 19 long ō spelled oa, ow: boat, soap, coat, throat, toast, show, grow, own, slow, snow

List 20 /oo/ spelled oo, ew, ue: food, spoon, too, moon, boot, grew, flew, new, blue, glue