The Dolch Sight Words are a list of the 220 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.” Dolch compiled his sight word list based on the words most frequently used in children’s reading books in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Dolch found that children who can identify a certain core group of words by sight could easily learn to read and comprehend better. Dolch’s sight word lists are still widely used today and highly respected by both teachers and parents.
The Dolch list contains 220 words that have been arranged by levels of advancing difficulty: Preprimer, Primer, First Grade, Second Grade, and Third Grade. The Dolch list of sight words was designed to be learned and mastered by the 3rd grade.
These 220 sight words include pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and verbs. In addition, there is a separate list of 95 Dolch nouns.
Many of the Dolch sight 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 Dolch flash cards and Dolch word lists for each level: Preprimer, Primer, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, and 95 Dolch Nouns.
Each of my Dolch word lists and flash card sets contain the following:
a numbered alphabetical list of the words
an assessment page (with a place for the student's name, date, and score)
the words divided into four separate lists
set of colored flashcards
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 Dolch levels, I have used different colors in each set, so that each level is easy to distinguish from the other levels. For the 95 Dolch nouns, I have included a colored picture cue on each flash card.
Free Resources for Dolch Sight Words:
If you are using these free Dolch 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 Dolch sight words 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 Dolch Sight Words 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.
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 Dolch sight 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 Dolch sight 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 Dolch Sight 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 Dolch sight words.
After children have mastered reading the Dolch sight 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 word list is one of the most recognized sight word lists used in schools today and it has stood the test of time. In 1996, Dr. Fry expanded on Dolch's research and published a book titled "Fry's 1000 Instant Words." Fry’s book is a list of the most common sight words, and his list is arranged so that the most frequently used words are given precedence. I have also created free word lists and flash cards for Fry’s Instant Words for you to download.
Thank you for visiting this Dolch Sight Word 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 Dolch Sight Words are a list of the 220 most frequently used words in the English language. These sight words make up 50 to 70 percent of any general text.
