As we progress through the school year, the children will learn a variety of strategies for sounding out words.  However, there are certain words that appear very often our written language, and it is helpful for readers to be able to identify these words by sight instead of spending time sounding them out.  The word list below corresponds to our first grade reading series, and these are the words that your child should know when they begin first grade.  We call them "Heart Words" in class (since we want to know them by heart!), but in fact it will take a lot of practice before most students are able to identify the words on sight.  We will read the words, write the words, and play countless games with the words all throughout the year. As we formally introduce the words in class, I will underline the words on our list.

Learning to recognize high-frequency words will help your child to build fluency and increase his or her enjoyment while reading!  Click here if you would like to print out this list.

a

am

and

at

big

but

can

come

Dad

do

for

go

had

he

here

I

in

is

it

like

little

look

me

Mom

my

no

of

on

play

said

see

she

the

to

up

was

will

with

yes

you