The words

Tap any word to hear it. 26 of these 40 words are in the app, where each has its own sentence.

Dolch pre-primer, 40 words

Listed alphabetically, which is how Dolch published the level. There is no required teaching order inside it.

Where the pre-primer level comes from

Dolch sorted his 220 service words into five levels and named the first one pre-primer, meaning the words a child meets before the first reader. Forty words is small enough to finish and broad enough to matter, because several of them appear on almost every page of a beginning book. A, and, the, to, is and you carry no picture and cannot be guessed from the illustration, which is exactly why they are worth teaching first. Every source reproducing the list gives the same 40 words, and the level is stable across reproductions in a way the later levels are not.

Five minutes a day at home

Test the 40 once to find out what is already there, then work on three to five of the missing words at a time. Show a card, say the word, have your child repeat it, spell it aloud, and say it whole again. Shuffle, go again, and stop when each comes back in about a second. Start the next day by rereading yesterday's words, then add three to five more. Keep the learned cards together for a fast reread at the start of each session. When four or five words are secure, build them into a tiny sentence such as I see the big red dog and have your child read it.

How this fits with phonics

More than half of the pre-primer level is decodable as soon as a child knows a handful of letter sounds. Big, can, help, jump, not, red, run and up are ordinary sounding out practice that happens to be high value. The ones that truly need learning by heart are a short set: a, the, to, said, one, two, three and you. The federal practice guide asks that regular high-frequency words be taught by applying letter sounds and only the irregular ones taught holistically, so splitting this level in two before you start saves a lot of wasted repetition and teaches the child that words are made of sounds.

Practice tips

  • Split the 40 into words that can be sounded out and words that cannot before you teach any of them.
  • Work three to five words at a time and judge a word learned at about one second, not at eventually correct.
  • Build a tiny sentence from four or five secure words and have your child read it back. That is the point of the list.
  • Reread the learned stack at the start of every session. Two minutes of review beats five minutes of new words.

Related lists

  • Pre-K sight words: Pre-K and preschool word lists often borrow from the Dolch pre-primer level: 40 words including a, and, I, is, the, to and you.
  • Dolch sight words: The Dolch list is 220 service words in five levels, plus a separate list of 95 nouns, so 315 words in total.
  • Dolch primer sight words: Primer is the second Dolch level and the largest: 52 words, from all and am through will, with and yes.

Sources