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