Beginning Sight Words

I                              to                            he

can                         me                          look

for                           some                      many

have                       and                         with

his                          this                         where

from                        says                        done

the                          go                           is

of                            what                       good

goes                       any                         should

we                          you                         little

they                        help                        who

Mr.                          could                      again

see                         do                          she

said                        put                          come

your                        would                      was

a                             my                          does

want                       has                         Mrs.

as                           been                       there

like                          are                          how

hear                        play                        walk

Note to Parents:



Remember when teaching sight words to your child, it’s best to put them on 3”x 5” cards and start with 5 at a time. When your child is comfortable with the first 5, add in 2 or 3 more at a time.

I would probably look at the list with a reading book in hand. Start with the sight words that they will need to be able to read fluently in their reader. Since different readers have different sight words, this is the best way to get started.

You can start by having them just read the word. When they are proficient with remembering the word, you can also have them learn to spell it. That is the goal: reading and spelling each sight word correctly.

Important Kindergarten Skills to Practice During the Summer and Beyond

A lot of kindergarten work is oral. There are only a few things on this list that requires writing. Here are some ideas to help you get started:



1.    High Frequency and Sight Words: (Put them on flash cards if you can)

a.    List 1:  I, am, see, a, can, we, the, in, and, go, to, like, said, you, is, it, here, come, up, look, at, me, on, this, my

b.    List 2:  she, was, he, went, by, out, big, little, yes, with, no, not, going, down, where, are, they, from, have, for, run, his, will, one, of

2.    Practice identifying upper and lowercase letters and their sound, including the digraphs ch, ck, sh, th, wh.

3.    Practice writing their name legibly.

4.    If your child knows his/her sounds, they may practice sounding out CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. To do this say each sound and then put them together to say the word. Here is a list of sample words to start with: mat, bam, map, Sam, fat, tap, cab, pig, rim, ban, tag, gap, nag, bin, am, pin, rat, lip, at, hit, cat, rat, sat, fig, dog, jam, lid, dim, bog, dip, dig, kid, cob, cub, gum, us, wax, quit, wag, ox, cut, yum, path, neck, chin, rock, back, rush, chop

5.    Work on Rhyming Words. Examples Set One: mat, bat, sat, cat, etc.         Set Two: jump, bump, lump, etc. Set Three: sing, ring, bring, etc. Set Four: run, bun, fun, etc. (Rhyming words are strictly by ending sound and not the spelling such as fun and done.

6.    Math Skills: 

a.    Practice counting from 1 to 100 by 1’s and practice counting by 10’s to 100.

b.    Practice writing numbers from 1 to 20.

c.     Practice adding numbers reaching 5, such as 1+2=3, 2+3=5, etc.

d.    Practice recognizing flat shapes: triangle, square, rectangle, circle, hexagon.

e.    Practice 3-D shapes: sphere, cone, cylinder, prism, cube.

7.    Besides these academics, working on small motor skills is also critical for kindergarten children. Suggestions include:

a.    Practice cutting with scissors – straight lines and curves

b.    Coloring – Staying in the lines

c.     Playdough – pinching and shaping

d.    Any other activity that requires using fingers with small things

Spending 10 to 15 minutes each day practicing some of these things will really help your child excel.