Reading words for kids


The Basic Spelling Vocabulary List

By: Steve Graham, Karen R. Harris, Connie Loynachan

This list was created to help teachers know which spelling words should be taught to kids in grades 1–5. The list contains 850 words that account for 80 percent of the words children use in their writing — the ones they need to be able to spell correctly.

This list was devised to help educators know which spelling words should be taught to children. The list contains 850 words that account for 80 percent of the words children use in their writing — the ones they need to be able to spell correctly.

Mastering this relatively small corpus of words yields a high rate of return. For example, the most common 1,000 words are used 13 times more frequently than the next most common 1,000 words. It also provides teachers flexibility in planning spelling instruction, providing an opportunity to give children the "basics" while supplementing with other spelling words germane to classroom activities.

Grade level for each word was determined based upon difficulty, pattern of occurrence in children's writing across grades, and grade placement on current vocabulary lists and spelling materials.

Words that children have difficulty spelling correctly are marked with an asterisk.

Grade 1

a
all
am*
and*
at
ball
be
bed
big
book
box
boy*
but
came*
can*
car
cat
come*
cow
dad
day*
did
do
dog*

fat
for
fun*
get*
go
good*
got*
had*
hat
he*
hen
here
him*
his*
home*
hot
I*
if
in*
into*
is
it*
its*
let

like*
look
man
may
me*
mom
my*
no*
not
of
oh
old
on*
one*
out*
pan
pet
pig
play*
ran
rat
red
ride
run

sat
see
she
sit
six
so
stop
sun
ten
the*
this
to*
top
toy
two*
up
us
was*
we*
will*
yes
you*

 

Back to Top

 

Grade 2

about*
add
after
ago
an*
any
apple
are*
as
ask
ate
away
baby*
back
bad
bag
base
bat
bee
been*
before*
being
best
bike
bill
bird
black
blue
boat
both
bring
brother*
brown
bus
buy*
by
cake
call
candy
change
child
city
clean
club
coat
cold
coming*
corn
could
cry
cup
cut
daddy*
dear
deep
deer
doing
doll
door
down*
dress
drive
drop
dry
duck
each
eat
eating
egg
end
fall
far
farm
fast

father*
feed
feel
feet
fell*
find
fine*
fire
first*
fish
five
fix
flag
floor
fly
food
foot
four
fox
from*
full
funny
game
gas
gave
girl
give
glad
goat
goes*
going*
gold
gone
grade*
grass
green
grow
hand
happy
hard
has*
have*
hear*
help
here*
hill
hit
hold
hole
hop
hope*
horse
house*
how*
ice
inch
inside*
job
jump
just*
keep
king
know*
lake
land
last
late
lay
left
leg
light
line
little*
live

lives
long
looking
lost
lot
love
mad
made*
make*
many*
meat
men
met
mile
milk
mine
miss
moon
more
most
mother*
move
much*
must
myself*
nail
name*
need
new*
next
nice*
night
nine
north
now*
nut
off*
only
open
or*
other
our
outside*
over
page
park
part
pay
pick
plant
playing
pony
post
pull
put
rabbit
rain
read
rest
riding
road
rock
room
said*
same
sang
saw*
say
school*
sea
seat
seem
seen
send*

set
seven
sheep
ship
shoe
show*
sick
side
sing
sky
sleep
small
snow
some*
soon*
spell
start
stay
still
store*
story
take
talk
tall
teach
tell
than*
thank
that
them*
then*
there*
they*
thing
think*
three
time*
today*
told
too*
took
train*
tree
truck
try
use
very*
walk
want*
warm
wash
way
week
well*
went*
were*
wet
what
when*
while*
white
who
why
wind
wish
with*
woke
wood
work
yellow
yet
your
zoo
 

 

Back to Top

 

Grade 3

able
above
afraid
afternoon*
again*
age
air
airplane
almost
alone
along*
already*
also
always*
animal
another*
anything*
around*
art
aunt*
balloon*
bark
barn
basket
beach
bear
because*
become
began
begin
behind
believe*
below
belt
better
birthday*
body
bones
born
bought*
bread
bright
broke
brought*
busy
cabin
cage
camp
can't*
care
carry
catch
cattle
cave
children*
class
close*
cloth
coal
color
corner
cotton
cover
dark
desert
didn't*
dinner
dishes
does
done
don't*
dragon
draw
dream
drink
early
earth
east
eight

even
ever
every*
everyone*
everything*
eyes
face
family*
feeling
felt
few
fight
fishing
flower
flying
follow
forest
forgot
form
found*
fourth
free
Friday
friend*
front
getting*
given
grandmother
great
grew
ground
guess*
hair
half
having*
head
heard*
he's*
heat
hello*
high
himself
hour
hundred
hurry
hurt*
I'd*
I'll*
I'm*
inches
isn't
it's*
I've*
kept
kids
kind
kitten
knew*
knife
lady
large
largest
later
learn
leave
let's*
letter*
life
list
living
lovely
loving*
lunch
mail
making
maybe*
mean
merry
might*

mind
money*
month
morning*
mouse
mouth
Mr. *
Mrs.*
Ms.
music
near
nearly
never
news
noise
nothing
number
o'clock*
often
oil
once*
orange
order
own
pair
paint
paper
party*
pass
past
penny
people*
person
picture
place
plan
plane
please*
pocket
point
poor
race
reach
reading
ready
real
rich
right*
river
rocket
rode
round
rule
running*
salt
says
sending
sent*
seventh
sew
shall
short
shot
should
sight
sister
sitting
sixth
sled
smoke
soap
someone*
something*
sometime*
song
sorry
sound
south
space

spelling
spent
sport
spring
stairs
stand
state
step
stick
stood
stopped*
stove
street
strong
study
such
sugar
summer*
Sunday*
supper
table
taken
taking
talking
teacher*
team
teeth
tenth
that's*
their
these*
thinking
third
those
thought*
throw
tonight*
trade
trick
trip
trying
turn
twelve
twenty
uncle
under
upon*
wagon
wait
walking
wasn't
watch
water
weather*
we're*
west
wheat
where*
which
wife
wild
win
window
winter
without
woman*
won
won't*
wool
word
working
world*
would*
write*
wrong
yard
year
yesterday
you're*

 

Back to Top

 

Grade 4

across
against
answer*
awhile*
between
board
bottom
breakfast
broken
build
building
built
captain*
carried
caught*
charge*
chicken
circus
cities
clothes*
company
couldn't*
country
discover
doctor*
doesn't
dollar

during
eighth*
else
enjoy
enough
everybody*
example
except
excuse
field*
fifth
finish
following
good-by*
group
happened*
harden
haven't*
heavy
held
hospital*
idea
instead*
known
laugh
middle
minute

mountain
ninth
ocean
office
parent
peanut
pencil
picnic
police
pretty*
prize
quite*
radio
raise
really*
reason
remember*
return
Saturday*
scare
second
since
slowly
stories
student
sudden
suit

sure*
swimming*
though
threw*
tired
together*
tomorrow*
toward
tried*
trouble
truly*
turtle
until*
village
visit
wear
we'll
whole*
whose
women
wouldn't*
writing*
written
wrote
yell
young
 

 

Back to Top

 

Grade 5

although
America
among
arrive
attention
beautiful*
countries
course*
cousin*
decide

different*
evening
favorite
finally*
future
happiest
happiness
important
interest
piece

planet
present
president
principal*
probably*
problem
receive*
sentence
several
special

suddenly
suppose*
surely*
surprise*
they're*
through
usually

 

 

Back to Top

Graham, S. , Harris, K.R. and Loynachan, C. (1993). The Basic Spelling Vocabulary List. Journal of Educational Research 86(6) 363-368.

Reprints

You are welcome to print copies for non-commercial use, or a limited number for educational purposes, as long as credit is given to Reading Rockets and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact the author or publisher listed.

Related Topics

Early Literacy Development

Spelling and Word Study

Vocabulary

Writing

New and Popular

100 Children’s Authors and Illustrators Everyone Should Know

A New Model for Teaching High-Frequency Words

7 Great Ways to Encourage Your Child's Writing

All Kinds of Readers: A Guide to Creating Inclusive Literacy Celebrations for Kids with Learning and Attention Issues

Screening, Diagnosing, and Progress Monitoring for Fluency: The Details

Phonemic Activities for the Preschool or Elementary Classroom

Our Literacy Blogs

Comprehension Instruction That Really Helps — Teaching Cohesion

Kids and educational media

Meet Ali Kamanda and Jorge Redmond, authors of Black Boy, Black Boy: Celebrating the Power of You

Get Widget |

 Subscribe

Teach Your Child to Read

Print your own sight words flash cards. Create a set of Dolch or Fry sight words flash cards, or use your own custom set of words.

More

Follow the sight words teaching techniques. Learn research-validated and classroom-proven ways to introduce words, reinforce learning, and correct mistakes.

More

Play sight words games. Make games that create fun opportunities for repetition and reinforcement of the lessons.

More

Learn what phonological and phonemic awareness are and why they are the foundations of child literacy. Learn how to teach phonemic awareness to your kids.

More

A sequenced curriculum of over 80 simple activities that take children from beginners to high-level phonemic awareness. Each activity includes everything you need to print and an instructional video.

More

Teach phoneme and letter sounds in a way that makes blending easier and more intuitive. Includes a demonstration video and a handy reference chart.

More

Sightwords. com is a comprehensive sequence of teaching activities, techniques, and materials for one of the building blocks of early child literacy. This collection of resources is designed to help teachers, parents, and caregivers teach a child how to read. We combine the latest literacy research with decades of teaching experience to bring you the best methods of instruction to make teaching easier, more effective, and more fun.

Sight words build speed and fluency when reading. Accuracy, speed, and fluency in reading increase reading comprehension. The sight words are a collection of words that a child should learn to recognize without sounding out the letters. The sight words are both common, frequently used words and foundational words that a child can use to build a vocabulary. Combining sight words with phonics instruction increases a child’s speed and fluency in reading.

This website includes a detailed curriculum outline to give you an overview of how the individual lessons fit together.  It provides detailed instructions and techniques to show you how to teach the material and how to help a child overcome common roadblocks. It also includes free teaching aids, games, and other materials that you can download and use with your lessons.

Many of the teaching techniques and games include variations for making the lesson more challenging for advanced students, easier for new or struggling students, and just different for a bit of variety. There are also plenty of opportunities, built into the lessons and games, to observe and assess the child’s retention of the sight words. We encourage you to use these opportunities to check up on the progress of your student and identify weaknesses before they become real problems.

Help us help you. We want this to be a resource that is constantly improving. So please provide us with your feedback, both the good and the bad. We want to know which lessons worked for your child, and which fell short. We encourage you to contribute your own ideas that have worked well in the home or classroom.  You can communicate with us through email or simply post a response in the comments section of the relevant page.

20 reading texts for children aged 5-6-7-8

A child who has learned to put sounds into syllables, syllables into words, and words into sentences needs to improve his reading skills through systematic training. But reading is a rather laborious and monotonous activity, and many children lose interest in it. Therefore, we offer texts of small size , the words in them are divided into syllables.

First read the work to the child yourself, and if it is long, you can read its beginning. This will interest the child. Then invite him to read the text. After each work, questions are given that help the child to understand what they have read and comprehend the basic information that they have learned from the text. After discussing the text, suggest reading it again.

Mo-lo-dets Vo-va

Ma-ma and Vo-va gu-la-li.
In-va ran-sting and fell.
It hurts no-ha, but Vo-va does not cry.
Wow!
B. Korsunskaya

Answer questions .
1. What happened to Vova?
2. What made him sick?
3. Why is Vova doing well?


Clever Bo-beak

Co-nya and co-ba-ka Bo-beak gu-la-li.
So-nya played-ra-la with a doll.
That's why So-nya in-be-zha-la to-my, and the doll for-would-la.
Bo-beek found a doll-lu and brought it to So-ne.
B. Korsunskaya

Answer the questions.
1. Who did Sonya walk with?
2. Where did Sonya leave the doll?
3. Who brought the doll home?


The bird made a nest on a bush. De-ti our nest-up and took off on the ground.
- Look, Vasya, three birds!
In the morning, deti came, and the nest was empty. It would be a pity.
L. Tolstoy

Answer questions.
1. What did the children do with the nest?
2. Why was the nest empty in the morning?
3. Did the children do well? How would you do?
4. Do you think this work is a fairy tale, a story or a poem?


Pete and Mi-sha had a horse. They began to argue: whose horse. Did they tear each other apart.
- Give me - my horse.
- No, you give me - the horse is not yours, but mine.
Mother came, took a horse, and became nobody's horse.
L. Tolstoy

Answer the questions.
1. Why did Petya and Misha quarrel?
2. What did mother do?
3. Did the children play horse well? Why do you think so
?











9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000

015










9 9000 9000

FILVORDA for the development of reading, View here.

It will be interesting for children to read selected texts, they affect the emotional world of the child, develop his moral feelings and imagination . Children will get acquainted with the works of L. Tolstoy, K. Ushinsky, A. Barto, S. Mikhalkov, E. Blaginina, V. Bianchi, E. Charushin, A. Usachyov, E. Uspensky, G. Snegiryov, G. Oster, R. Rozhdestvensky, as well as fairy tales of different nations.

It is advisable to show children the genre features of poems, stories and fairy tales using the example of these works.

Fairy tale is a genre of oral fiction containing events unusual in the everyday sense (fantastic, wonderful or worldly) and distinguished by a special compositional and stylistic construction. In fairy tales there are fairy-tale characters, talking animals, unprecedented miracles happen.

Poem is a short poetic work in verse. The verses are read smoothly and musically, they have rhythm, meter and rhyme.

Story — small literary form; a narrative work of small volume with a small number of characters and the short duration of the events depicted. The story describes a case from life, some bright event that really happened or could happen.

In order not to discourage reading, do not force him to read texts that are uninteresting and inaccessible to his understanding. It happens that a child takes a book he knows and reads it “by heart”. Mandatory every day read to your child poems, fairy tales, stories.

Daily reading enhances emotionality, develops culture, horizons and intellect, helps to cognize human experience.

Literature:
Koldina D.N. I read on my own. - M .: TC Sphere, 2011. - 32 p. (Candy).

Learning to read by syllables, learning the Russian alphabet for children

0002 See all

letter A

letter B

letter B

letter G

letter D

letter E

letter y

View all

letters and sounds

View all

Learning vowels

Guess the letter by the sound (1)

Recognize the sound in the word

Distinguish letters

Upside down letters

Guess the sound by the letter

0005

The first and last sound in a word (2)

Do you know the alphabet?

View all

We read the syllables and words

View all

Read verbs (1)

Read verbs (2)

Compose the words (1)

Compose the words (2)

SLOGUGRAL (1)

Slogo game (2)

Slogo game (3)

Which syllable is extra? (1)

Which syllable is missing? (2)

View all

Reading phrases and sentences

View all

Decoder

Simple sentences (1)

Simple offers (2)

View all

Develop speech

View all

Decoder

Studyers

Simple 9000

Studying prepositions (2)

Simple sentences (2)

Unfamiliar words Grade 1

Unfamiliar words Grade 2

Unfamiliar words Grade 3

Unfamiliar words Grade 4

View all

write competently

View all

shock and unstressed vowels

Combinations (1)

Combinations of LIS (1)

Grammar blitz (2)

Dictionary words (1)

Vowels after hard and soft consonants (2)

Vowels after hard and soft consonants (3)

Vowels after hard and soft consonants (4)

Write the words from the text

See all

Parsing

View all

Letter and sound (1)

Letter and sound (2)

Letter and sound (3)

Letter and sound (4)

Main and minor members of the sentence (1)

Main and secondary members of the sentence Grade 3

Syllable division (1)

Syllable division (2)

Syllable division (3)

View all

Study parts of speech 9002 all 900 2)

Prepositions (1)

Parts of speech

Everything about the verb

Pronoun (1)

Words-objects that answer the questions who? what?

Words-objects, words-actions, words-signs

Noun

Modifiable and invariable nouns (1)

View all

Secrets of the Russian language

View all

Alphabet. Alphabetical order

Antonyms

Interrogative sentences (1)

Dialogue and monologue

Lying and deaf consonants at the end of the word

Noun

Boach-Devavnik

Multi-digit, borrowed and outdated words

View all

We get acquainted with literature

View all

Reader's diary. A. Aleksin "In the country of eternal holidays"

Reader's diary. A. Volkov. Wizard of the Emerald City

Reader's diary. A. Gaidar "Chuk and Gek"

Reader's diary. A.P. Chekhov. "Kashtanka"

Reader's diary. A.S. Pushkin. "Ruslan and Lyudmila"

Reader's diary. A.S. Pushkin. The Tale of the Dead Princess...

Reader's diary. V. Gauf "Dwarf Nose" and "Little Muk"

Reader's diary. V. Kataev. Son of the regiment

View all

Alphabet online

View all

Tasks letter A

Tasks letter B

Tasks letter C

Tasks letter D

Tasks letter d

Literate

Tasks letter Yo

Tasks letter w

Tasks letter Z

View all

Learn alphabet

See all

LECAL PAZLIA

letters and sounds

Decoder

Do you know the alphabet?

Distinguishing letters

Distinguishing vowels and consonants

Distinguishing sounds in pictures (1)

Guess the sound by letter

View all

How to teach a child to read by syllables?

First you need to understand that the child is ready for learning. This can be verified by the following indicators: - the child's speech is clear, without serious violations in pronunciation, the child does not "swallow" sounds during pronunciation; - there is the ability to see the text; there is an understanding that these are letters - not pictures, but symbols depicting sounds. It is believed that the ideal age for learning to read is 6 years old, but one must always understand that this age is determined individually. It is better to start learning to read by syllables in a playful way, getting acquainted with individual letters. It is better to do little by little, but regularly: 15 minutes daily will be enough. After getting acquainted with the letters, proceed to reading by syllables. Reading by syllables is a technique available to every adult, it does not require special training. But you can always choose lesser-known author's methods of teaching reading, carefully studying their features and reviews of other parents. Having folded the alphabet into syllables, you can proceed to compose simple words. The main thing is not to force the process: when it is measured and regular, it is doomed to success!

What is a syllable?

To successfully master the skill of reading, it is necessary to understand how to divide words into syllables. A syllable is one or more sounds uttered by one expiratory push of air. For a simple orientation, it can be taken as a rule that there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. Use our exercises, compiled by professional teachers, for a more effective acquaintance with this topic, so as not to confuse the concepts of "syllable division" and "word transfer".

How many words per minute should a first grader read?

The number of words read per minute, which can be used as a reference when assessing the quality of reading, is just one of the indicators. On average, the rate (or speed) of reading a first grade student is 15-25 words per minute. It is equally important to take into account qualitative indicators: how much the child understands the meaning of what is read, whether there is expressiveness when reading. To train the reading skill, it is important to be able to read not only aloud, but also silently, this is how awareness is born and further - the expressiveness of reading.

"The basics of literacy for preschool children are presented on our website with online exercises for learning letters, sounds, reading by syllables. Opportunities are presented for studying the alphabet, vowels and consonants and sounds, adding syllables, reading the first words and distinguishing sounds in words, taking into account the hobbies of a preschooler. Find matching words, play syllabic bingo, disenchant spelled words, and more! The lessons are equipped with bright and colorful pictures, illustrations understandable for the child, which will allow you to explore the magical world of letters and syllables in a playful way. "

Playful activities

Your child will have a fun and productive time.

Children are engaged with pleasure, are completely immersed in the learning process and achieve results. For children under 6 who have not yet learned to read, we voiced each task.

Cups and medals for children

Awards that motivate children to achieve success.

Each child has his own “hall of awards and achievements”. If the tasks are completed correctly, children receive cups, medals and nominal diplomas. The awards can be shared on social networks, and the diploma can be printed.

Personal training

Fully controlled development of the child.

We save all the successes of the child and show you what you should pay special attention to. Make up your own training programs so that the child develops harmoniously in all the right directions.


Learn more