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46 Sight Words To Work On With Your Second Grader
These words will open up a whole new world of reading for your child.
By the time your child enters the second grade, they’ll likely need to knowthe sight words they learned in first grade as well as kindergarten, and be ready to move on to learning new ones. But what exactly are the sight words for second grade? Knowing what they are can help your child become a better reader and perhaps encourage an even greater love of not just reading, but learning in general.
What exactly are sight words?
“There are two main lists that are sources for sight words in elementary education: Dolch and Fry.,” explains Elena Smith, a speech and language pathologist. “The Dolch sight word list is based on high-frequency words for kindergarten through third grade and contains a total of 220 words. While it's sometimes split into grade levels, as mentioned above, each district decides on their own sight words for each grade.” The Fry sight word list, on the other hand, is based on the frequency of words in reading material for third through ninth grade and consists of 10 levels, each containing 100 words, for a total of 1,000 words.
What’s different about the sight words list for second grade?
“One difference between words students encounter in grade one and beginning of grade two and later on has to do with multisyllabic words, or words that have many syllables and need to be properly divided in order to read them correctly,” says Dr. Rebecca Mannis, a learning specialist and developmental psychologist in New York City. “When students don’t have strong syllabication skills, it can impact their comprehension. If a student is not aware that they’re misreading words, substituting them or otherwise just needs a long time to properly decode them, then that can interfere greatly with what they understand and how they can then think critically about what they are reading and store the information.”
Sight words your second grader should work on
Get your second grader ready for school by practicing some sight words from the Dolch list of words they may be expected to work on during the coming school year. Here are the most commonly assigned sight words for second grade:
- Always
- Around
- Because
- Been
- Before
- Best
- Both
- Buy
- Call
- Cold
- Does
- Don’t
- Fast
- First
- Five
- Found
- Gave
- Goes
- Green
- Its
- Made
- Many
- Off
- Or
- Pull
- Read
- Right
- Sing
- Sit
- Sleep
- Tell
- Their
- These
- Those
- Upon
- Us
- Use
- Very
- Wash
- Which
- Why
- Wish
- Work
- Would
- Write
- Your
If you want your second grader to develop a love for learning and reading, help them get a grasp on their sight words. “Sight word mastery for emergent readers can be achieved successfully when parents use a multi-sensory approach at home, especially when connected to a child’s interests,” says Holly DiBella-McCarthy, an educator and author. “Keeping learning fun will increase engagement and provide the repetition young brains require.”
Sources interviewed:
Holly DiBella-McCarthy, an educator certified in special education
Dr. Rebecca Mannis, Ph.D., learning specialist and developmental psychologist
Elena Smith, CCC-SLP, founder and clinician at Ivy Speech and Language
