What is on this flashcards
The primer list is the second Dolch set, usually worked through across kindergarten once the pre-primer words are solid. Its most useful feature is hiding in plain sight: a large share of these words are the past tense partners of words a child already knows. Came, ran, saw, ate and went are the past of come, run, see, eat and go. The list also completes the basic colors with black, brown and white, and adds four to the number words.
How to use it
Cut out the 52 primer sight word cards after printing. Keep cards organized in a small box or ring for quick reading warm-ups at home or in class.
Three ways to practice
Pair the past with the present
Set out came, ran, saw, ate and went, then find come, run, see, eat and go from the pre-primer pack. Matching each pair shows your child that these are not five brand new words to memorize but five familiar words wearing a different ending, which cuts the work almost in half.
Finish the color set
Add black, brown and white to the blue, red and yellow cards from the earlier pack. Six color words together make a natural sorting game, and children enjoy hunting the room for something that matches each card.
Practice the polite words
Please, thank you and yes all appear on this list. Use them where they actually belong, at the dinner table or in a note, rather than only on a card. Reading a word in the place it gets used gives it a meaning that drilling never quite manages.
A tip worth knowing
Group look-alike words together (like came/come, saw/say) to help your child notice subtle letter differences.
Printing this sheet
Press Print this sheet and only the cards reach the paper, with the site menus and buttons stripped out. Cards print twelve to a page with dashed cut lines, so the 52 cards in this Kindergarten-Grade 1 pack come out on 5 sheets. The layout fills either US Letter or A4 in portrait, meaning the same file works on both paper sizes without resizing or scaling. Ordinary paper is fine for a deck you expect to replace, while 65lb cardstock or a pass through a laminator gives cards that survive a term in a classroom center.
Frequently asked questions
Should we finish the pre-primer list before starting this one?
Mostly, yes. The primer words assume a child can already read the pre-primer set, and several only make sense as pairs with them. If your child knows around three quarters of the pre-primer words on sight, it is reasonable to begin mixing in primer cards rather than waiting for a perfect score.
Why do so many of these look like words we already learned?
Because they are past tense forms. English changes the vowel rather than adding an ending for many common verbs, so see becomes saw and eat becomes ate. Pointing out the pattern is genuinely useful, since a child who spots it stops treating each one as an unrelated new word.
Can we mix primer cards with the pre-primer deck?
Yes, and it helps. Once a pre-primer word is known on sight it still needs occasional review or it fades. Keeping a small review pile of old words behind the active primer pile keeps everything fresh without adding much time to a session.