Kindergarten Spelling Words

Two-letter words like at, in and up are the easiest words a kindergartner can spell: two sounds, and one letter for each. Say the word slowly and your child writes the short vowel, then the consonant they hear after it. The sound boxes give each word two boxes, one per sound. Every word here starts with a short vowel, the same sound that sits in the middle of a CVC word, so these nine are also the warm-up for the next section. Is looks as if it belongs here, but its s sounds like z, so it is with the sight words below.

CVC words are three sounds with a short vowel in the middle, like cat, bed and sun, and they are the simplest words a kindergartner can spell by sound alone. Each letter spells one sound, so a child who hears the three sounds can write the word. These ten mix all five short vowels, so your child has to listen for the vowel rather than lean on a rhyme. The read, write and match sheet adds a picture to cut out and glue beside each word, which shows the word was read and not just copied. Every word family, with its own words and worksheets, is on our CVC word list: start with short a, then short e, short i, short o and short u.

The first sight words to spell are the ten most common words in English: the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that and it. They are the top ten of the Fry list, Edward Fry’s ranking of the most common words, so they are the words your child will reach for most often in their own writing. Six can be spelled by sound. And, in and it need nothing but letter sounds, and a, is and that use patterns that come a little later: a vowel that says its name, an s that says /z/, and th. The other four, the, of, to and you, are heart words, with a part that no pattern explains, and Common Core RF.K.3c names all four among its examples. The handwriting sheet below is for writing them. To read them, our kindergarten sight words list has all 25 of Fry’s first words with word cards and tracing for each pile, and how to teach sight words explains the two piles.

Sh, ch and th are digraphs: two letters that spell one sound. Shed has four letters and three sounds, sh, e and d, and the sound boxes give sh a single box so your child counts sounds, not letters. Most schools teach digraphs in first grade: Common Core RF.1.3a asks first graders to “know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.” Start here once CVC words are easy. Th has two sounds of its own. It buzzes in this and them and is only air in moth and path, and each has its own list: voiced th words and unvoiced th words. The 1st grade digraph words add wh.

Use one sheet for a few minutes at a time, and stop while your child is still getting words right. Each section’s sheets are numbered in the order to use them: word cards to read the words together, sound boxes to count the sounds, then tracing and writing. Work through one section before moving to the next, and keep the mixed review for when the sections feel easy.

Say each word before your child writes it. Stretch it out, s-u-n, and have your child write a letter for every sound they hear. Once a word has been traced, cover it before the last try so it comes from memory: copying a word that stays in view practices handwriting, not spelling. How to teach spelling at home has the whole five-minute routine.

A wrong spelling that follows the sounds is progress, not a mistake to stamp out. A kindergartner who writes nt for night has heard the first and last sounds, and that is where many children are at the end of kindergarten. How kids learn to spell sets out the stages and what comes after each one.

Paper and a screen do different jobs. Paper is where a child forms each letter by hand, which is what the tracing and handwriting sheets are for. A screen can do something paper cannot: say every sound out loud while the word is being built, as many times as your child needs to hear it.