Second Grade Sight Words
The Good and the BeautifulMaster second grade sight words! Download a free list of sight words and some fun sight word games for practice.
One goal of second grade is building confident readers. By this age children are confident in their letter sounds and most phonetic blends as they read. Mastering phonics and decoding are essential skills taught in second grade. It is also helpful for second graders to learn a short list of high-frequency sight words.
The Good and the Beautiful Second Grade Sight Words List
The Good and the Beautiful team carefully selected 40 high-frequency sight words for second-grade learners. Many of these are high-frequency words are rule breakers or use complex phonics rules that children learn in later grades.
Use our free printable second-grade sight-words list to introduce words that are more difficult to spell phonetically.
Other Sight Word Lists
Dolch Sight Words List
The Dolch Sight Words Lists, grouped by grade level, makes up about 80% of the words children third grade and younger read daily.
Fry Sight Words List
The second 100 Fry sight words make up about 50% of the words a child reads daily. Dr. Edward Fry created this list in the 1950s and updated in 1980.
*Both the Dolch and Fry lists of sight words are commonly used and contain many words that can be spelled phonetically. The Good and the Beautiful does not recommend using these lists as sight words lists because many of the words should be decoded at this age rather than memorized.
Should Children Memorize Sight Words?
| Pros of Memorizing Sight Words | If the child memorizes the most frequently used words in texts and doesn’t have to take time to stop and decode the words, then he or she can read more quickly and pleasantly. |
| Cons of Memorizing Sight Words | Most of the Dolch and Fry kindergarten sight words can be decoded easily. Children have only a certain amount of time to learn each day. Memorizing words can be just as hard and take just as long as learning to decode the words. Time spent memorizing high-frequency words can instead be applied to a good phonics program that teaches children how to decode and read those words, as well as many others. |
| The Good and the Beautiful Philosophy on Kindergarten Sight Words | The Good and the Beautiful, one of the most widely used homeschool curriculum programs, focuses on phonics while also having kindergartners memorize a short list of the highest-frequency words and words that can’t be decoded easily. This method has proven successful with tens of thousands of children using The Good and The Beautiful Language Arts Courses. |
Download our free PDF of second grade sight words, filled with posters, flashcards, games, and other fun activity ideas!
Reading Booster C Set
The Reading Booster C Set teaches phonics and reading in a powerful, fun, and sequential way, creating strong and enthusiastic readers. The set includes an fascinating set of read together chapter books, cards, and digital games that teach phonics principles, word families, and second grade sight words.
Find Good Books for Your Second Grade Reader!
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