Santa Barbara County Education Office Language Arts Standards Resource Guide Sight Words

Kindergarten - Grade One - Grade Two  

Guide - List 1 (1-100) - List 2  

These are the most often used words in reading and writing. The first 100 words are listed in order of frequency in Columns 1 through 4. Make sure your students know most of these before teaching the second 100. Teach only a few at a time to keep the success rate high. Some are phonetically regular or decodable (e.g. can, for, on) in which case it is helpful to prompt students to sound the words out, others are irregular or have phonic patterns not typically taught in first grade (e.g., was, you, now), in which case use “spell & read” to teach them. In either case, the goal is to have all 100 be instant or automatic words students don’t have to stop and labor over. Use these words for flash cards, games, spelling lessons, or just read down the column for quick 1 min. timed drills, etc. These high frequency words are also called “sight words” because they must be recognized instantly, on sight, to support reading fluency.

Words 1-25	Words 26-50	Words 51-75	Words 76-100
the of and a to in is you that it he was for on are as with his they I at be this have from	or one had by words but not what all were we when your can said there use an each which she do how their if	will up other about out many then them these so some her would make like him into time has look two more write go see	number no way could people my than first water been called who oil sit now find long down day did get come made may part
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