Dolch Sight Word Flash Cards Free Printable

Reading is one of the most important skills a child can learn. Various methods have been used by teachers and parents over the years, but sight words, and sight word activities, have remained a constant.

Because of that, you have probably heard your child’s teacher mention the Dolch sight word lists. The word lists, which has been around for over 60 years, are still used by many elementary schools today. These Dolch sight word flash cards can help you help your child learn to recognize them at home.

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Dolch Sight Word Flash Cards

The Dolch word list was created by Edward William Dolch in 1936 and first published in 1948. It includes 220 words that have been determined to be a necessary part of reading fluency.

The words are divided into grade levels, based on the grade when they should be memorized. Remember, this was determined over 60 years ago and your child’s school may be using them differently!

The Dolch words are traditionally considered “sight words” (words that need to be memorized on sight), but many of them can actually be easily read phonetically (or “sounded out”).  Either way, chances are your child will need to be familiar with these words.

What Is Included

This printable includes flash cards for all 220 traditional Dolch words. There are ten to a page. There is a flash card printable set for each level. They are different colors, to help you keep them organized.

Pre-Primer Sight Word Flash Cards

The pre-primer flash cards include the following sight words:

a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you.

Primer Sight Word Flash Cards

The primer flash cards include the following sight words:

all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes.

First Grade Sight Word Flash Cards

The first grade flash cards include the following sight words:

after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, going, had, has, her, him, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when.

Second Grade Sight Word Flash Cards

The second grade flash cards include the following sight words:

always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don’t, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your.

Third Grade Sight Word Flash Cards

The third grade flash cards include the following sight words:

about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall, far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much, myself, never, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, together, try, warm.

What You Will Need

• Printer paper
• Another option is card stock paper if you would like them to be a little sturdier
• Scissors
• You could also use a small paper cutter if you would like to cut the cards out faster
• If you would like to make the flash cards even sturdier, you could glue them to construction paper after you cut them out.
• If you would like to make them REALLY sturdy so they will last longer, you could laminate them using laminating pouches and a laminator

How to Prepare the Flash Cards

Print out the pages of flash cards on printer paper or card stock paper.

Use scissors or a paper cutter to cut them out. You can print out every page or only the ones you need at the moment. 

Glue them to construction paper and/or laminate. Again, this is completely up to you.

How to Use the Sight Word Flash Cards

Most of us have used flash cards at some point in our education. What you may not realize is that there are different ways to use them.

Traditional Flash Card Use

When most people think of flash cards they think of the traditional use. And this is a great way to use them with your child. Choose the words that your child is working on. Show your child a flash card and ask them to read the word. 

Memory Game

Choose the words that your child is working on. Print out and prepare TWO SETS of the words. Play a memory game with your child, where they try to find the matching words.

Alphabetical Order

If your child has been working on this skill, have them put words of your choosing in alphabetical order.

How to Store the Dolch Sight Word Flash Cards

Once you have printed out and prepared all of the flash cards, you will find yourself with lots of small cards that you don’t want to lose. You could store them in a Ziploc type bag or you could store them in an index card or photo storage case like this one.

How to Download Your Flash Cards

To download your free printable, just click on the link below.

Dolch Sight Word Flash Cards

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