List of Sight Words That Your 5-year-old Should Know Now

Has your child memorized the list of sight words for Kindergarten, yet?

As soon as your child starts Kindergarten, you will hear their teacher talk about sight words.

That’s because sight words help your child in different ways.

In this post, I will answer three common questions from moms:

• What are sight words
• Why are sight words important
• How do I teach my child sight words

I will share the same strategies that I use at home to help your child succeed.

Plus, the good news is that you don’t have to wait for the teacher.

If you are a mom who likes to be proactive, keep reading because I will give the exact list of sight words that my daughter got from her Kindergarten teacher so you can get a head start!

What are sight words?

Sight words are words that are frequently used in children’s books. Words like “out”, “where”, and “red” are some of many sight words included in the list for Kindergarten.

To give you an idea of how often they are used, it is said that sight words count for up to 75% of the text in children’s books. With that huge percentage, it’s easy to understand why it’s so important for you to practice with your child.

Ok, but how does it work?

It’s easy.

To work, your child needs to memorize the list of sight words. In that way whenever they are reading, they can immediately identify those words that they are already familiarized with.

These words are normally taught throughout the Kindergarten school year. But if your child is ready, you can practice before school starts. Since my daughter attended pre-K, I started teaching her when she was 4-year-old.

Why are sight words important?

It may not seem like a big deal but memorizing sight words is very important for young kids. It helps them to quickly recognize words while reading.

Here are a few benefits that I noticed after my toddler started learning her words, she:

• is more confident when reading
• reads better and faster
• feels even more motivated to read
• is more motivated to read on her own

My daughter has always loved books, but I have seen a bigger difference after she has been able to quickly recognize common words.

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How do I teach my child sight words?

There are different strategies to teach sight words to your child. Don’t get stuck on using only one. Feel free to use as many as you need to help your child succeed.

I use the first three strategies for every single word, but I always add the fourth strategy whenever my daughter is having a hard time memorizing one.

Here are four different strategies:

• Read the sight word

The teacher gives us cards with the words already printed on them. I have re-created the entire list of sight words to make it easier for you.

You can easily download the list, print them on cardstock, cut the words through the lines, and use them as flashcards. In the beginning, I wrote the words on index cards, and it worked perfectly fine for me too.

Also, make sure that your child reads frequently so he/she can start recognizing these words in the books.

Related article for kids: 20 Summer Books for Preschoolers

• Write the sight word

Writing the word is another good way to practice. When I practice with my daughter, it tells me if she really remembers how the word is spelled.  Your child can use one or more of the following tools:

– primary journal: I have one for my daughter and that helps her know how to write within the lines too. This journal is very similar to the one I have.

– dry erase board: this is something that you can keep reusing and kids love using them. There are different sizes available such as a portable board, tabletop easel, and a standing whiteboard.

– manuscript tablet: it works like the notebook, but the pages can be removed easily too. This is the manuscript tablet that I bought before but I found another option that gives you a lot more pages, 500 to be exact!

Quick tip for difficult sight words:

If my daughter doesn’t remember how to write the word correctly, I ask her to write it several times by using one of the following methods:

– the rainbow method: In this case, your child can write each sight word with a different color or write each letter of the word with a different color. You can use crayons, markers, pens, or colored pencils.

– the sizing method: I ask my daughter to write the same sight word five times but every time she writes it to make it bigger. Or you can do it vice versa, from bigger to smaller. In the end, it should look something like this:

• Spell the sight word

I use this strategy regularly because it’s easy to do and you can use it anywhere. I can practice with daughter in the car, while brushing her hair, before serving food, and so on.

It also makes her comfortable and gets her more used to spelling words, which is something that she will need in higher grades. For this strategy, grab your list of sight words or cards and ask your child to spell the word for you.

• Act silly

Acting silly always work with kids! Look for silly ways to make your child remember the sight words.

Since you know your child the best, try to apply the word to something related to their life. You can sing the word like Frozen, Baby Shark, or any other song that your child likes.

To give you an example, my little one had difficulty remembering how to spell the word eight. I taught her to sing it like the song Bingo and that was it. She was able to memorize it correctly!

The good thing about the Bingo song is that you can use it for pretty much any word with five letters such as funny, every, and there.

A quick tip to help your child memorize the words:

Throughout the years, different researches have shown the positive effects that moving while learning has on young kids. Keep this mind and encourage your child to move while memorizing the words. Some of my daughter’s favorites are playing with the hula hoop, jumping on one leg, singing, and dancing.

Additional tools to learn sight words in a fun way

As always, there are additional tools such that you can use to help your child learn sight words in a fun way.

Sight word games

1. Cute flies

2. Sight words pizza

3. Bingo

4. Zingo

Note: For this game in particular, you can see the pictures on the website. It has more than 1,000 reviews.

5. Pop for sight words

6. Activity book

Some sight word flash cards

• Pocket flashcards

• 5 Packs of flash cards (from Pre-K to third grade)

What are the basic sight words? (FREE list – instant download)

My daughter has been working on many sight words in Kindergarten but here are the first ten basic sight words that she got from school:

• me
• can
• a
• yellow
• red
• I
• go
• see
• the
• be

Click here to get the complete list (instant download)

100+ sight words kindergarten printable

Make sure to download the printable list for Kindergarten. Remember that it’s exactly the same list of sight words that my Kindergartener got from her school. Even though there could be a slight difference between schools, districts, or even states, most of the words included in this list are pretty much standard.

Submit the information below if you prefer for me to send the link to your email instead of getting the instant download.

Final Thoughts about the List of Sight Words

In summary, to help your child rock Kindergarten:

• Practice the list of sight words by following the strategies mentioned above
• Read often – experts recommend reading at least 20 minutes every day
• Have fun and add silliness to the learning process
• Have patience with your child. It may take some time, but they will get better over time

Now, it’s your turn

Have you used any other strategy not included in here? Share it with us by leaving a comment below!