Words in Primer List 1
This page lists the 13 sight words in Primer's List 1, including All, Am, Are. Each word links to its own dedicated tracing worksheet below, with a print-ready layout and its own short description.
Practicing a full list at once
Working through one list at a time — rather than all 220 Dolch words together — keeps practice sessions short and manageable. A child who's comfortable with every word in List 1 is ready to move on to the next list in Primer, and eventually to the next grade level after that.
Why lists of about 10-13 words
Splitting each grade into smaller lists is a practical pacing choice, not an arbitrary one — roughly a dozen words is what a young child can work through meaningfully over a week or two of short practice sessions, without the list feeling so long that progress is hard to notice. List 1 on its own is a genuinely achievable short-term goal, rather than an abstract slice of a much longer list.
What comes after List 1
Once every word in List 1 feels solid, the next step is simply the next list within Primer — the words stay at the same overall difficulty level, so the jump is gradual rather than sudden. After every list in Primer is done, the natural next step is moving on to the next Dolch grade level, continuing the same steady progression through the full 220-word list.
A simple routine for this list
Pick two or three words from List 1 at a time rather than all of them at once. Have the child say each word aloud, trace it a few times, then say it again — that read-write-read loop reinforces both recognition and motor memory more effectively than either alone. Come back to the same handful of words over a few short sessions before moving on to the next few in List 1, rather than trying to cover the whole list in a single sitting.