Teaching Your Child To Read: Sight words your child should know by the end of Kindergarten and 1st Grade

Well, Kindergarten is over and I'm now home-schooling my daughter through the 1st grade.  It has been a blast so far.  She is constantly making me a proud mommy by catching on so quickly to all of the new things she's being taught.  I am particularly loving how she is becoming a great reader!

Because, I am home-schooling my daughter through the K12 public school curriculum, I am learning much about where students should be academically.  By the time your child leaves Kindergarten, they should be able to read the following list of words without having to sound them out.  These are what are considered sight words (words that are so frequently used in writing that students should know what they are just by looking at them through memorization).

Kindergarten Sight Words

the
and
is
on
to
in
it
he
was
went
his
says
have
of
where
from
there
two
are
they
for
one
that
said
you
did
we
want
does
what
your
who
with
why
Dr.
Mr.
Mrs.
my
she
or
her
were
their
so
see
put
both

Believe it or not, it is really easy to teach your child these words.  Here's how...

Step 1
Write the sight word onto a flash card.

Step 2
Show the flash card to your child and tell them what the word is.  Have them repeat the word.  Then have them spell the word on the card and repeat the word again.
*For example: If the word is "she", have the child say "she, s-h-e spells she."

Step 3
Tell your child to look at the word and take a picture of it in their brain.  Then tell them that when they believe they can spell the word without looking at it, to turn the flash card over and spell the word.
*Again, using the same method, "she, s-h-e spells she." You can also take it a step further by having your child write the word onto the other side of the flash card, onto a piece of paper, on a white-board or chalk-board.

You can repeat these steps with about 4 or 5 sight words a day.  Going over the sight words your child learned the previous day before moving on to the new words.

For those of you that want to get a head start on the words that your child should know by the end of the 1st grade, here is a list of 1st grade sight words....

1st Grade Sight Words


too
walk
talk
again
out
pull
next
my
friend
goes
anything
begin
down
know
after
mother
father
only
even
look
gone
love
very
some
none
more
held
would
could
should
brother
sister
baby
many
animals
while
other
together
people
above
here
move
every
neighbor
behind
once
come
about
please
follow
saw
everything
under
whether
nothing
almost
over
children
number
write
because
its
first

If your child is behind or having a hard time reading, teaching your children these words will help them to catch up!  Teaching your child to read is fun and rewarding.  It will blow your mind to see your child read with ease once you teach them these sight words and also use phonics for them to sound out other words.  And your child will be so happy to be able to read books for themselves.  Good luck in teaching your little one to read!

Wishing you success in love and life,


Monique Bradford - The WifeyMommyPreneur~