If you are new to using Dolch Sight Words in the classroom, begin by starting here.
Add this free collection of resources from freewordwork.com to your classroom collection.
This collection of Dolch Word Resources offers you a complete set of materials for developing a sight word plan in your classroom.
Why do I need a sight word plan?
Weather you are using Dolch Words or Fry Words, planning out how you will introduce and teach sight words in your classroom will lead to instruction that has a clear goal.
Setting this goal will keep you as the teacher stay focused.
It will help parents and students understand the expectations.
This will allow parents to assist their children in meeting their goals. Also, students are often motivated by seeing their progress towards their end goal.
If you are looking to learn more about sight words, start here: About Sight Words.
I’ve chosen to focus on Dolch Words as my sight word list for my classroom. Now what?
Who in your classroom needs sight word instruction?
Is it necessary or helpful for all or most of your students? If so, your plan might look different from the teacher who feels that two or three students would benefit from a sight word intervention.
One benefit of the Dolch Sight Words is that they are broken down farther than the Fry Sight Words. Because of this, teachers in pre-kindergarten, kindergraten and first grade will have very specific lists. This can be beneficial when trying to focus on a smaller group of words.
Some pre-kindergarten classrooms work for their students to master a small group of words while others primarily work on letter ID. Teaching words at this level might be dependent on the expectations of your school.
Overall, many kindergarten and first grade classrooms will find that most students will benefit from a complete classroom plan.
In second grade classrooms, it might be dependent on your students. If the majority of your students are reading on or above grade level and making good reading progress, you might find that only a few of your students need pinpointed sight word instruction. The same is true in third grade and above.
Getting Started
If you are unsure what is best for your students, start with these Dolch Word Lists or Dolch Word Checkboxes. (click the text to download the free PDFs)
Here is a guideline for how the Dolch Words are broken down:
| pre-kindergarten |
| kindergarten |
| 1st grade |
| 2nd grade |
| 3rd grade |
| Dolch nouns |
Look for a future post on how to assess your students and choose the just right starting point for individual students.
This Dolch Word Collection will soon grow to include the following:
- Dolch Word Cards
- Dolch Word Games
- Dolch Word Worksheets
Thank you for visiting freewordwork.com! All of the resources provided are free for classroom and home use. Resources may not be sold or modified and sold. Please send me a message if you have any questions.
Thank you for all of your hard work. Your work has made teacher life feasible. I work at a school with limited resources for teachers and students.
Do the students practice daily with sight word cards and the teacher checks weekly for 3 weeks to see if the student has mastered the sight word within 2-3 seconds??? Then move on to sentences or do the sentences at the same time?? What do you recommend for the teaching routine???
Hi, Cindy! I would typically check every few days. The children would practice with a partner during morning entry time or during word work. For those students that found it to be a huge motivator to check words with me daily, I would try to squeeze in a few minutes when I had any open time. For the sentences, I would add them in when students seemed ready. For children still working on the first few sight words, I would wait until they had enough sight words to be able to read some sentences. I wanted to make sure they didn’t immediately reach frustration level when given a sentence.
Do you have dolch sight words sentences available?
I don’t yet have sentences for the Dolch words – just the Fry words. They might be something I add in the future.