The Fry 1000 Instant Words are a list of the most common words used for teaching reading, writing, and spelling. These high frequency words should be recognized instantly by readers.
Dr. Edward B. Fry's Instant Word List (which is often referred to as the Fry Words) are the most common words in English ranked in order of frequency.
In 1996, Dr. Fry expanded on Dolch's sight word lists and research and published a book titled "Fry 1000 Instant Words." His research found that a mere 25 words make up approximately 1/3 of all items published. He discovered that 100 words comprise approximately 1/2 of all the publications written, and 300 words make up 65% of all written material.
Over half of every newspaper article, textbook, children's story, and novel is composed of these 300 words. It is difficult to write a sentence without using several of the first 300 words in Fry's Instant Word Lists. Consequently, students need to be able to read the first 300 Instant Words without a moment's hesitation.
Fry developed his list based on these facts and he worked to inspire young children to memorize these sight words to jump-start the reading process. Fry’s instant word lists are widely used today and highly respected by both teachers and parents.
The Fry 1000 Instant Words have been arranged in the order of the frequency in which they occur in printed material. I have divided this list into ten groups of one-hundred words each.
It is recommended that the First 100 words should be mastered by Grade 1. The Second 100 Words should be mastered by Grade 2. The Third 100 Words should be mastered by Grade 3. The remaining lists should be mastered in Grades 4-5.
A list of 100 Fry Picture Nouns were developed to supplement the Fry 1000 Instant Words.
Many of the Fry 1000 Instant 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 free downloads of Fry 1000 Instant Words. I have made flash cards and Fry word lists for his 1000 words, divided into ten sets. There are also flash cards and a word list for Fry's 100 Picture Nouns.
Each of my Fry word lists and flash card sets contain the following:
a numbered list of 100 words
an assessment page (with a place for the student's name, date, and score)
the list of 100 words divided into five lists of twenty words
the list of 100 words divided into ten lists of ten words
set of 100 numbered colored flash cards
a two page title banner for you to assemble and use for a bulletin board or pocket chart display
I have designed my flash cards so that the print is large and easily read, and so that they fit into traditional pocket charts.
For each of the Fry word lists, I have used different colors in each set, so that each level is easy to distinguish from the other levels. I have placed a small number in the top right hand corner of each flash card, indicating the order in which the word appears in Fry's list. For the 100 Fry Nouns, I have included a colored picture cue on each flash card.
Free Resources for the Fry 1000 Instant Words:
If you are using these free Fry 1000 Instant Words resources with your students, please feel free to give your students' parents the address of this webpage so that they can print off flash cards for their child to practice with at home:
I hope that you have found these Fry 1000 Instant Word flashcards useful in helping your students to learn to read these high frequency 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 Fry 1000 Instant Word Flashcards 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.
I received the following letter from a teacher who found that these flashcards helped a middle school student who was struggling with reading.
Name: Monica Subject/Grade: Instructional Coach - Middle School Level From: Colorado, United States Date: February 2010 Comment: Thank you so much for your website, and for providing free resources (when so many sites are asking for $).
You saved the day for a young bilingual 7th grader who is struggling to read. He looked at me and said, "If people would have just let me practice at my speed, I could get better at this", which broke my heart. His teachers have been looking for answers, but their prescriptive programs weren't working. When we handed our young man the Fry 1000 instant words on flashcards (THANKS! to your website), and he realized he would be able to read 65%+ of his textbooks once he had them mastered, his motivation was electric.
Again, I can't thank you enough for having the flashcards ready to use and download. If I (we) had needed to create them, it could have been several days or weeks before he had them in his hands. I am an instructional coach at several schools and have access to hundreds of teacher email accounts. As soon as I finish this note, they'll all be getting an email from me with your link.
Thank you again for your marvelous website and caring about teachers and kids. Monica
Using Sticker Charts
To Record and Reward Mastering Sight Words
Do you use incentive and sticker charts as a way to positively reinforce your students as they are learning the Fry 1000 instant words?
If you answered "no" to this question, then you have found the right place to find unique sticker charts to positively reinforce your students for learning the Fry 1000 instant words!
Below is a list of the large variety of different sticker charts that are available on Unique Teaching Resources. Many of these sticker charts would be ideal to use with mastering the Fry 1000 Instant Words.
The sets that you find listed below are available for purchase. Please click on the underlined links below to go to each of my incentive and sticker charts pages:
ANY OCCASION STICKER CHARTS:
Flowers Sticker Charts: These flower shaped sticker chart templates will motivate your students to bloom with enthusiasm and achieve a goal that you set for them. There are 20 boxes for you to place stickers inside of on these flower shaped templates. There are 12 different shaped flower templates (as well as stems and leaves), and I have designed 30 different colored sticker charts for you to use so that each child's sticker chart is different. If you are looking for a dynamic, bright, and colorful spring bulletin board display idea, these flower sticker charts are a blooming great resource!
Football Sticker Charts: Your students will be eager to score a touchdown by completing their football sticker charts. There are 15 boxes for you to place stickers inside of on these football templates. These football sticker charts measure 8.5 inches in width and 5 inches in height. I have designed this sticker set so that it could be displayed as a football field bulletin board display. This set includes flags, cones, and football bulletin board accent pieces to help you in designing a bulletin board that resembles a football field.
Soccer Sticker Charts: Your students will get a real kick out of these soccer sticker charts. There are 15 boxes for you to place stickers inside of on these soccer ball templates, and you can use these incentive charts for any goal that you choose. Your students will be eager to score a goal and cross the goal line by reaching their target of getting 15 stickers on these soccer ball shaped sticker charts. For all of the other countries that call this sport "football," I have created a separate banner for this set that includes the word football. So, although I call this a "soccer sticker chart set," I know that the majority of the countries around the world would call this a "football sticker chart," so I have provided both word choices in this set.
Turtle Sticker Charts: These animal shaped sticker chart templates will motivate your students to come out of their shells and make steady progress towards a goal that you set for them. There are 20 boxes for you to place stickers inside of on these turtle templates. These turtle sticker charts measure 10 inches in width and 6 inches in height. This set includes additional turtle themed accent pieces to help you with decorating your bulletin board display.
100 Percent Club Sticker Charts: Your students will be enthusiastic about joining the 100% Club! There are 20 boxes for you to place stickers inside of on these 100% shaped templates. You can use these incentive charts for any goal that you choose. Your students will be eager to earn their next sticker on their chart and reach their target of getting 20 stickers on these 100% shaped sticker charts.
READING STICKER CHARTS:
Reading Rainbow Sticker Charts: Do you want to give your students an extra incentive to read 25 books? These colorful reading rainbow sticker charts will encourage your students to read books with colorful characters and plots in order to achieve this reading goal. This set includes a colored rainbow template and a black and white template to choose from. There are 6 colorful reading rainbow accent pieces in this set with reading slogans on them that promote a colorful reading theme.
I Love Reading Sticker Charts: These book shaped reading sticker charts will help make your students fall in love with reading! This set includes 7 different colored book templates and one black and white template to choose from. This set includes two bulletin board display banners, one that you can use any time of the year, and another that has Valentine's Day graphics on it so that you can use this as a February reading incentive program.
Genre Pizza Reading Sticker Charts: Add pizzazz to your reading program with these pizza reading record charts. These pizza shaped incentive charts will help you to encourage your students to read 8 different genres of literature. These reading charts will help your students read with pizzazz and to become enthusiastic about reading different genres of literature!
Genre Dive Into Reading Sticker Charts: By using these fish shaped sticker charts, your students will want to dive into reading 9 different genres of literature. These fish sticker charts will create a Dive Into Reading bulletin board display that contains an abundance of different types of sea life on it that will capture everyone's attention.
Reading Umbrella Sticker Charts - It's Raining Books! These umbrella shaped sticker charts are perfect for a spring reading theme. These colorful reading umbrella sticker charts will encourage your students to get drenched in reading books! This set includes 9 colored umbrella templates and a black and white template to choose from. There are 8 colorful reading umbrella accent pieces in this set with reading slogans on them that promote a "It's Raining Books!" reading theme.
Puppy Reading Sticker Charts: Do you want to give your students an extra incentive to read 15 books? These cute puppy reading sticker charts will make your students dog-gone enthusiastic about achieving this reading goal! This set includes 6 colored templates and two black and white templates to choose from. All of my sticker chart sets include a matching student award and bulletin board display banner.
I hope that you have found a sticker chart set above that you could use to help to motivate and positively reinforce your students as they are learning the Fry 1000 instant word lists.
After children have mastered reading the Fry 1000 Instant 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 Dolch Sight Words are a list of the 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.” I have also created free word lists and flash cards for Dolch’s Sight Words for you to download.
Thank you for visiting this Fry 1000 Instant Words page.
Please be sure to check out the other pages on my website for a large variety of teaching resources that will engage your students in learning and save you valuable time.
Sincerely, Heidi McDonald
Creator and Site Manager Unique Teaching Resources
The Fry 1000 Instant Words are a list of the most common words used for teaching reading, writing, and spelling. These high frequency words should be recognized instantly by readers.
