Build Real Word Recognition – Not Rote Memory

When using this set of the first 100 Dolch Sight Word Flashcards think beyond simple memorisation, instead of asking students to remember words by sight, encourage children to recognise sound–letter relationships, patterns, and meanings that help them truly understand each word. Each flashcard can be used to model how words can be decoded and connected to familiar phonemes and spelling patterns. By drawing attention to sounds and structure, students strengthen their orthographic mapping skills—building automatic recognition the right way.

Flexible, Hands-On Classroom Use

Perfect for literacy rotations, small-group instruction, or independent review, these flashcards can be used in blending and segmenting games, matching activities, and sentence-building challenges. They’re a powerful tool for helping students read, spell, and use high-frequency words with confidence and understanding.

Here are some phonics-focused activity ideas:

• Say It, Tap It, Map It: Students say the word, tap the sounds, and map each phoneme with letters or counters.
• Sound Swap: Replace one letter to create a new word (e.g. can → man → map), helping students hear and see sound changes.
• Phoneme Highlight: Use a marker or mini whiteboard to highlight the tricky or irregular part of each word and discuss why it’s different.

Here are some word recognition and decoding activity ideas:

• Blend and Read: Students blend the sounds on the flashcard before reading the full word aloud.
• Sort by Sound or Pattern: Group words with the same vowel sound, spelling pattern, or tricky part (e.g. the, she, me).
• Find It in Texts: Challenge students to spot flashcard words in decodable readers or classroom displays.

Download this set of the first 100 Dolch Sight Words Today

Download this set of the first 100 Dolch sight words in flashcard form today by using the dropdown menu to choose between the easy to print PDF or the editable Google Slides version.

More High Frequency Word Resources

Looking for more high frequency word resources to use in  the classroom? We have you covered…

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