1st Grade Spelling Words

First grade is where two-letter teams enter the picture. Words like ship, chin, and that use digraphs, where two letters make one sound. That’s a real jump from kindergarten’s single-sound spelling, so it helps to teach the pattern out loud: “s-h says /sh/.” Once the sound is solid, the spelling follows.

The sight words here (have, they, said, was, come) don’t play by the rules, and that’s the point. They’re worth memorizing because they carry so much of what a first grader reads. Practice the pattern words by sounding out, and the sight words by sight.