Sight word flash cards, Dolch pre-primer
Page 1 of 7. Fold down the dashed line, printed side out, then cut along the solid lines.
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Sight word flash cards
All five Dolch levels, one word to a card, in lowercase.
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5 sets, each one PDF. Under each: how many cards, how the backs print, and how much paper it takes.
Sight word flash cards, Dolch pre-primer40 cards · fold-over, 6 a page · 7 pagesDownload PDF ↓
Sight word flash cards, Dolch primer52 cards · fold-over, 6 a page · 9 pagesDownload PDF ↓
Sight word flash cards, Dolch first grade41 cards · fold-over, 6 a page · 7 pagesDownload PDF ↓
Sight word flash cards, Dolch second grade46 cards · fold-over, 6 a page · 8 pagesDownload PDF ↓
Sight word flash cards, Dolch third grade41 cards · fold-over, 6 a page · 7 pagesDownload PDF ↓Every sheet here is free to print as often as you like. If one saved you time, the tip jar is on Ko-fi.
These are flash cards for the 220 Dolch sight words, the five lists from pre-primer to third grade, one word to a card. They print in lowercase, the way Dolch published them and the way a child meets the words in a book, so "I" is the only capital on the pre-primer cards and "don't" keeps its apostrophe on the second grade ones.
The front is the word alone. The back repeats it, smaller and in gray, with its list named underneath, such as Dolch pre-primer. That side is for the adult. A card held up to a child faces away from the person holding it, so the back is the only side they can see, and it shows the word they are listening for, the way the back of a times table card shows the answer.
Each level is a ready-made set on fold-over pages, six cards a page, each card about 3.6 by 1.5 inches: 40 pre-primer words on 7 pages, 52 primer words on 9, 41 first grade words on 7, 46 second grade words on 8 and 41 third grade words on 7. Every word in a set prints at the same size, as large as the longest word allows, so "a" and "yellow" match on the pre-primer pages.
The maker above also has the 95 Dolch nouns, from "apple" to "wood", and prints any level double-sided or as fronts only. For a list of your own, from a reading program or a spelling unit, choose Write my own and type one word to a line.
Why the back repeats the word instead of a sentence
A sentence on the back was the other choice, and it was left off for two reasons. A sentence that uses "the" needs other words around it, and a child on the pre-primer list may not read those yet, so the sentence would be practice in something other than the card. And a sight word is drilled to be read at a glance on its own; reading it inside a sentence is the next step, and that belongs in a book.
Repeating the word also lets a card work from either side, so two children can drill each other, each reading the side that faces them. For cards with nothing on the back, choose Fronts only in the maker: the words print alone, and at nine a page each card is about 2.4 by 2.9 inches.
Sorting a mixed stack of sight words back into levels
Cards from several levels end up in one pile sooner or later, and the small line on each back names the list it came from, so the pile can be sorted without a master list. Colored card stock does the same job in a classroom, but these sets are printed in black and white to save ink, so the label does it instead.
Within a set the cards follow the alphabetical order the lists are published in, from "a", "and" and "away" at the start of pre-primer to "warm" at the end of third grade. That makes a missing card easy to spot when a set is checked against the list, and because the order never changes, a lost card can be replaced by printing again only the page it was on.
Common questions
Are these the same words as the sight word bingo cards?
Yes, the same five Dolch lists, checked word by word against two published copies of the list, in the same order and spelling. A class can drill a level with these cards and then play it as bingo.
Can I print the sight words in capital letters?
Not from the ready-made sets, which keep the lowercase Dolch published, because that is how the words appear in a book. To print capitals, choose Write my own and type the words in capitals; the maker prints exactly what is typed.
Can I make flash cards for just the words my class is learning?
Yes. Choose Write my own and type the words one to a line. Each becomes a card with a blank back, so choose Fronts only, which prints the words without the empty backs, or type each word twice with an equals sign between, such as the = the, to repeat it on the back.
Want to know when new printables go up?
New printables when they go up, mostly seasonal, a few times a year.