Prep and Kindy sight words

In the first year of school, most of what Australian children read and write comes from a small pool of short, common words: at, in, can, big, the, this, see, day. Schools often call them sight words or high-frequency words. The lists below are the 100 Kindy words built into Phonogram Fun, ten a week for ten weeks, grouped by sound so each week builds on the last.

Use them as they are, print them for the fridge, or keep them for the weeks when nothing comes home. If your school sends its own list, use that one: you can photograph it into Phonogram Fun and the words turn into sound-it-out practice. The short routine further down works with any list.

What is Prep called in each state?

The first year of school goes by a different name depending on where you live, which makes searching for "Prep sight words" or "Kindy sight words" confusing. It's the same year everywhere: the full-time year before Year 1, usually the year a child turns five or six.

So a "Kindy" list from a Sydney school and a "Prep" list from a Brisbane or Melbourne school are for the same age group. The app labels this year K.

The Prep and Kindy list, week by week

The coloured tiles on each card are that week's focus sounds. All ten weeks print on one A4 page.

Prep and Kindy sight words, weeks 1 to 10 · free to print from phonogramfun.com/learn

Sight words or sound-it-out words?

"Sight word" gets used two ways. Some teachers mean any very common word a child should read instantly; others mean a word that can't be sounded out and has to be memorised. The first meaning is useful. The second covers far fewer words than most parents expect.

Almost every word on these lists can be sounded out with the first sound of each phonogram: can is can and ship is ship. Even me and no are regular once your child knows that e and o can say their names. A child who reads this by sound three times usually reads it by sight on the fourth. That's how words become sight words: by being decoded often, not by being drilled as shapes.

The handful of genuinely odd everyday words, like said, was and you, are covered in Common exception words, grouped by the one part of each word that breaks the pattern.

What the words have in common

Week 1 is two-letter words: at, it, in, on, up, am, an, if, each a short vowel and one consonant. Me and no end in a vowel that says its name, which is a useful early lesson: a letter can make more than one sound.

Weeks 2 to 5 are three-letter words, one short vowel at a time: a in cat, hat, van, i in big, sit, kit, o in hot, top, mop and u in sun, bug, tub. Teachers call these CVC words: consonant, vowel, consonant. Changing one letter makes a new word (bat, cat, hat, mat), which is the moment many children realise reading is a code they can crack. Week 3's kit uses k rather than c because c before i says /s/, as in city. Week 5's bud, dug and tub are good practice for children who still mix up b and d.

Week 6 brings the first letter team: sh, two letters making one sound. It sits at the start (ship, shop, shed) and at the end (fish, wish, dish, cash). Fish is four letters but three sounds, so children start counting sounds, not letters.

Week 7 is th, which has two sounds: the buzzy one in the, this, that, then, them and the quiet one in bath, moth, cloth. Put a hand on your throat to feel the difference. (The app's list says math; most Australian children will say and write maths.)

Week 8 is ch in chin, chip, chop, rich, much, such, and sneaks in a vowel team: ea saying /ē/ in each, peach, teach, beach.

Week 9 is ee in see, bee, tree, keep, sleep, sheep, with consonant blends where you hear both sounds: tr, fr, sl, and thr in three.

Week 10 is two ways to write /ā/: ay at the end of a word (day, say, play, stay) and ai in the middle (rain, main, train). ai never ends an English word, which is why day isn't spelled "dai". That one rule saves a lot of guessing later.

How to practise Prep sight words at home

Two or three words a night is plenty at this age, and five minutes beats twenty. Keep it spoken and playful; writing comes last.

1. Hear it. Say the word and use it in a short sentence: "sun. The sun is hot."
2. Say the sounds. Say it slowly, one sound per finger: /s/ /ŭ/ /n/. Pure sounds, so /s/ not "suh". In Phonogram Fun, tapping a word splits it into coloured tiles and plays each sound.
3. Build it. Make the word with magnetic letters or letter cards, then swap one letter to make a new word: sun to run to bun.
4. Write it. Your child says each sound as they write it, then reads it back. If a letter goes wrong, point to it and ask for the sound, rather than fixing it for them.
5. Find it. Spot the word in a picture book or on a sign. Finding a word in real life is the best reward there is at five.

For a fuller routine, including what to do when it goes wrong, see How to practise spelling words without tears.

After Prep: Year 1

In Year 1 the lists get a little longer and add more letter teams, and in Term 3 most states run the Year 1 Phonics Check. The next set of weekly lists is Year 1 spelling words. For what's normal at this age, see Phonics for 5 year olds.

Questions parents ask