So many sight word books are available on the market for teaching emergent readers. Check out these tried and true sight word books and sets.
When kids first learn how to read, it’s important for them to learn sight words alongside phonics. Give kids these top sight word books to expand their knowledge!
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Memorizing sight words is really important for beginning readers so I try to integrate instruction into as many parts of my day as I can. For that very reason, these 10 books to teach sight words are read often by both me and my students.
There are over one hundred sight words and high frequency words that are so common they show up in the text we read quite frequently.
Many of the books we read aloud to our students are full of rich vocabulary but they are also peppered with sight words and high frequency words.
I love to teach sight words and give practice in tons of creative ways. I provide hands-on practice, show my favorite videos and give them the chance to build the sight words in literacy centers.
As teachers, we know our students learn best in context. Hearing, seeing and connecting these words within a text is super powerful for our students!
I find that reading books that prominently feature sight words can help my students memorize them, too. Many of the books on this list feature repetitive text that includes common sight words.
After I read these books aloud, they find a home in my classroom library. My students love to reread them. Even if they aren’t reading words quite yet, they retell the story and often times use the exact same wording. They can remember it because of the repetition! That is one of the ways these books to teach sight words are so beneficial.
Note: Did you know there is a difference between sight words and high frequency words? I thought they were the same thing for the longest time. Now that I know the difference, I approach instruction differently. You can read more about that here!
This post contains affiliate links. By purchasing through this link, we get a small commission. Rest assured – we only share links to products that we know and love!
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
It’s not so hard to see why this book would make the list of books to teach sight words! The question “What do you see?” is made of four sight words that we introduce at the beginning of the school year!
This question repeats over and over again in the story along with the reply, “I see a _____ looking at me.” More sight words!
My students love to reread this story in library or retell it with puppets. They are getting multiple exposures to really common words every single time they do!
Home
I absolutely love this book by Carson Ellis. The whimsical illustrations capture both me and my students so completely. The topic is one that we discuss a lot in my classroom, too, so it easily fits into our curriculum.
Home explores the many different types of homes as well as the varied places they can be. It includes the sentence frame “A home is a…” as well as “Some homes are…” These phrases repeat through the book.
I love that we can dig deeper into this simple story by exploring the new vocabulary and broadening our world view, too!
Where Is the Green Sheep?
This adorable book uses the phrase “Here is the…” and the question “Where is the…?” as we search for the green sheep.
The book explores opposites like thin and wide as well as colors like red and blue. Most of these are also sight words or high frequency words!
My students enjoy the cadence of this read aloud as they listen and often help with the words to describe the different sheep. It is a really popular one to reread in the library.
The Bus for Us
Tess is waiting for the bus for her first day of school. She has never ridden one before. Her brother stands with her as she waits and asks “Is this the bus for us, Gus?”
We see all sorts of vehicles like taxis, fire engines and tow trucks. They peek their nose in on one page so students can guess! They absolutely love this!
The repetitive text is perfect for rereading and recognizing those common sight words.
From Head to Toe
This book introduces different animals and what they do. For example, the penguin says, “I can turn my head. Can you do it?” On the next page a child says “I can do it.”
This book is super engaging because they can do the actions the animals are doing. The text is really repetitive so they actually start to answer with the words written in the book: I can do it.
We read this book many times throughout the year and it is also one of my most popular library books.
Jump, Frog, Jump
Jump, Frog, Jump follows the same kind of pattern as the “There was an old lady who…” style books. Frog is trying to escape being eaten by the different animals in the pond.
The simple, repetitive text is a favorite of my students. Each new animal fills this sentence frame: “This is a ____ that ____ after the frog.” Then the following page says “Jump, Frog, jump!”
My students love to warn Frog to jump! Will he escape? You’ll have to read it to see!
Five Trucks
Five Trucks is about five different trucks (obviously ?). You read about their different characteristics and jobs.
The adjectives used to describe the trucks include tons of great sight words and high frequency words, like large and small. The book also refers to the trucks as first, second, third, fourth and fifth, which are all words I want my students to learn as well. #ordinalnumbers #yay
We read this book when we talk about communities. It is especially appealing to my students who are fascinated by different forms of transportation.
I Want My Hat Back
I Want My Hat Back is about a bear who has lost his hat. He asks the animals he sees if they have seen his hat. There are a lot of opportunities to inference where the hat has gone.
It will leave your students laughing, I PROMISE.
The text in this book is SUPER simple. In fact, I would venture to say that almost all of the words are sight words!
This book is one of my favorites of all time. Including it in this list is a must for me! I love reading it aloud to my students and they love rereading it in the library.
If you haven’t read this one to your class, you NEED to. (Seriously!)
Frog and Toad
Frog and Toad books are well-loved classics for a reason. Students find the stories really engaging and relatable.
The text is simple and accessible and full of the sight words we start our year learning. Those are just a few reasons students come back to this series over and over again.
I love to introduce Frog and Toad toward the beginning of the year. My students are fascinated by the chapters and Frog and Toad’s friendship.
Elephant and Piggie Books
I have saved my absolute FAVORITES for last. You cannot find better, more engaging sight word books to read aloud to your students than Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems.
Elephant and Piggie are friends who work through important issues like friendship, waiting and sharing. They do it in a really funny way that students relate to. Honestly, I enjoy the banter between the characters, too!
I own every single one of these books because they are just THAT GOOD. They are some of the first books my students read on their own in the library because they text is really simple and predictable. In addition to that, they are super engaging.
I chose these 10 books to teach sight words because they are ones both my students and I choose to read over and over again. I truly believe the repetition has helped them memorize more words!
How do you use books to encourage students to learn new sight words and practice familiar ones? I would love to know! Let me know below.?
If you’re looking for printable sight word practice, check out these Sight Word Sentences! Each page targets a sight word for tons of explicit practice.
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Are you teaching sight words to young readers?
You’re in the right place!
In this post I’ll show you exactly how to teach sight words using hands-on lessons and free printable sight word books.
But first things first …
What ARE sight words, anyway?
It depends whom you ask.
When reading researchers use the term sight words, they’re referring to the words that a reader recognizes instantly, on sight.
Sight words can also refer to words that our readers encounter frequently when reading. That’s the definition I’ll be using here. We want our readers to know these words instantly as they work to become fluent readers.
It’s time to rethink how we teach sight words.
I used to think that when we teach sight words to young readers, we should teach them as whole words. This is why I used to share a collection of sight word books that taught the words through repeated exposure. (Those will soon disappear from the site and my shop.)
But research is telling us that this isn’t how the brain learns to read.
In order for kids’ brains to make new words a part of their permanent sight word vocabulary (the fancy word for this is orthographic mapping), they need to connect the sounds to the letters.
In other words? Sound it out.
Integrating high-frequency words into phonics lessons allows students to make sense of spelling patterns for these words. – readingrockets.org
I know what you’re thinking.
What about words that we CAN’T sound out?
We call attention to the parts of the word that are phonetic (and there’s usually at least 1-2 of them). Then we teach learners to learn the tricky parts by heart.
How to teach high frequency words to young learners
- First, know our goal here. Our goal is not to teach loads of sight words as whole words, because kids need to connect the sounds to letters when reading. Instead, our goal is to integrate sight word learning with phonics instruction.
- Next, we need to make sure our learners are ready to sound out words. Not sure? Check out this post.
- All set? Great. Name the new word, and have your learner repeat it.
- Name the individual phonemes (sounds) in the word. For example, in the word is, there are two phonemes: /i/ and /z/.
- Spell the sounds. Call attention to any unexpected spelling. In is, we spell /i/ with i and /z/ with s.
- If possible, have your learner read related words. Has and his are great words to read alongside is because they are short vowel words with an s that represents the the /z/ sound.
- Have your learner read connected text. Connected text can be decodable sentences or books.
Watch the video to see a sight word lesson in action …
Where can you find sight word lessons and decodable sight word books?
You’ll find a beginner’s collection below. Enjoy!
P.S. I look forward to adding more of these to our membership site, The Measured Mom Plus. I do not plan to add any more free books to this page. Learn more about membership here.
Sight word readers
SIGHT WORD WORKSHEETS THAT ALIGN WITH THE SCIENCE OF READING
Sight Word Worksheets – Based on the science of reading!
$15.00
Say goodbye to worksheets that simply keep kids busy. THESE worksheets help kids focus on the spellings of each individual sound … which is exactly what they need to master these high frequency words!
Check out the rest of our sight word series
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9
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Reader Interactions
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As a reading interventionist, I often meet kids that are behind in sight words. One student, Jesse, a first grader, didn’t know her sight words. She was stuck reading low level kindergarten books. At school, she was given a list of 100 words to memorize. She practiced them everyday. Yet, she didn’t retain them. It appeared that she was blind to sight words. I tried to find books to teach her sight words. I was unimpressed. Most sight word books are repetitive and teach kids to guess. In my free printable sight word books I made sure to incorporate:
-text that is not guessable
-fun animal facts to keep kids engaged
-a picture that is for fun (not to help the child guess)
-a few easy sight words like: the, many, they…etc.
-a few harder sight words like: enough, different, through…etc.
Many struggling readers have significant difficulties when learning sight words. In fact, dyslexic students can almost seem blind to them. Jesse, for example, had to review “they” across multiple lessons to retain the word. Struggling readers need systematic exposure (wherein they only learn 2-4 at a time) and books that allow them to practice. In this post, Reading Elephant offers two free printable sight word books.
In addition, Reading Elephant also offers systematic phonics books.
Printable sight word books…one is about lizards!
The first is a nonfiction book about lizards. Kids can learn fun facts, like how some lizards can walk on water, while learning new sight words. Jesse, like many kids, loved learning about animals. She was willing to reread nonfiction animal books because she wanted to memorize animal facts. Thus, I created some fun nonfiction animal books that help kids learn sight words. Click the following link for the first of the free printable sight word books:
Sight Words
In the above book, kids can practice the following sight words: from, some, are, other, they, two, your, great, most, very, have, through, many, their, water, where, do.
Does your student like lizards? If so, you can have fun quizzing them about sight words and lizards. This coupling can help kids cope with the boredom of rote memorization. Here are some fun animal facts and sight words to learn in the above story:
Question: How big are some lizards?
Answer: Lizards can be as big as two men (like Komodo dragons) or as small as the tip of your nose (like the Jaragua lizard).
Question: Why can some lizards push through water to swim?
Answer: They have strong tails.
Question: Where can lizards climb and why?
Answer: Lizards can climb on walls and trees. They have hairs on their feet that stick to things.
Next, your student can learn sight words and read about camels.
Printable sight word books…and the other is about camels!
A lack of sight word knowledge can leave a child stuck on low level books. To accelerate a struggling readers progress, expose her to sight words. In the following book, kids can learn sight words and fun facts about camels, like how they have thick lips that can tolerate the spikes on desert plants. Click the following link for the other of the free printable sight word books:
Sight Words
In the above book, kids can practice the following sight words: have, one, two, their, are, of, the, they, from, eyes, many, to, different, very, walk, sometimes, enough, water, does, another, would, you. 
Again, to make memorizing sight words a bit more tolerable, you can quiz your student on fun camel facts at the same time. Write questions like the following on your board. Read the sentences out loud on your own. Then, pause at sight words. Have your student help you read the sight words:
Question: How many humps can a camel have?
Answer: Camels can have one or two humps.
Question: Why do they have many sets of eyelashes?
Answer: Camels have many sets of eyelashes to help shield their eyes from the sun.
Question: Why do camels have thick lips?
Answer: Camels have thick lips so they can eat many different plants in the desert like cacti.
Our decodable books include sight words. Enter our shop.
What are sight words?
Sight words break the phonetic code. They are words that deviate from the regularities in English. For example, “they” is a sight word. If “they” were spelled phonetically, we would write “thay.” Also, “would” is a sight word. If “would” were spelled phonetically, we’d write “wood.”
There are many sight words in English. In K-1, kids should memorize about 100-120 sight words. They should NOT memorize these words all at once. Rather, kids should learn sight words systematically, or a handful at a time. Reading Elephant recommends teaching 2-4 new sight words at a time. In the above free printable sight words books, kids can practice some of the most common sight words.
In the above free printable sight word books, there’s a student and teacher version. The teacher version has a list of sight words in each story. In addition, all of the sight words are underlined. That way, you as the teacher know how to cue the student. On sight words, don’t encourage sound-by-sound reading. On all other words, encourage sound-by-sound reading.
How to correct your student
When your student makes an error on a sight word, simply give her the word. It’s that simple. Since sight words break the phonetic code, these words cannot be read sound-by-sound.
Sight words are common. However, there are only about 100-120 sight words worth memorizing. Sight words like should, have, could, they…etc. are everywhere. They’re sprinkled throughout our written language, but there really aren’t many of them… consider that there are 100-120 sight words worth memorizing and over a quarter of a million words in English. Sight words are generally descended from Old English. Over time, we’ve changed their pronunciation. Our spelling system does not keep up with sound changes. Thus, sight words are a relic of history.
There are a few tricks you can use
Even sight words contain phonics. There are always a few sounds in sight words that are regular. Usually, the first and last sound can help the student unlock the word. For example, in “would” the /w/ and /d/ are regular. Tell the student it’s a sight word. Next, highlight the beginning and ending sounds. Give the student another try. If she still makes a mistake, simply give her the word…you don’t want to encourage guessing!
Instead, encourage methodical reading strategies. After the child 1) knows it’s a sight word, 2) sees the phonetic aspect of the sight word, then you can simply give her the word. Let the student move on with the story. Make a note of the word she missed.
Make notes of the missed sight words
Write down the sight words your student struggles with. Incorporate them in later instruction. Introduce each missed sight word in a sentence. Read the sentence aloud. Put the new sight word on a flashcard. Then, incorporate the sight word into reading and spelling activities.
I hope your student enjoys learning sight words and lizard/camel facts!
If you like the free printable sight word books in this post, please let me know in a comment below or an email. Thank you for reading!
Reading Elephant
Reading Elephant offers a printable phonics books library for struggling readers.
I CAN READ EASY WORDS SIGHT WORD BOOKS: Sam and Ann: Level K-1 Early Reader: Beginning Readers
Level K-1, were developed for parent guided reading practice of the most basic sight words. A Sight Word is a word recognized on sight and not sounded out. No more than 20 words are presented in each book. The stories are engaging and have lots of reading practice and cute, colorful pictures. Before each story, all of the words are presented in flashcards. After the story, there are reading practice sentences and a timed word list.
Nancy Genetti was a Special Education teacher for 28 years. She holds a teaching degree in both; Elementary Education and Special Education, as well as an endorsement in English as a Second Language. Her commitment has always been to find creative ways of teaching children with learning disabilities, children learning English, and beginning readers. The I CAN READ EASY WORDS SIGHT WORD BOOKS are a result of her lifelong dedication to bridge those challenges. She is also the illustrator of the books.
46 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 17, 2013
About the author
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Get help and learn more about the design.
Happy Friday! I’m here to share with you my 11th sight word reader set! Today I’m sharing sight word readers for the word “can”.
In this download, there are these 3 booklets:
- I Can Brush My Teeth
- I Can See the Monsters
- I Can Go Camping
Each of these sight word readers focus on the word “can”. They also mostly use words that were learned in previous sight word readers. The child can also use the pictures to help them read the sentences. You may have to help them with words that are not sight words. Encourage your child to sound out words if they can!
You can download the FREE sight word readers here —> Sight Word Reader- can
Print pages 2-13 on paper. (Page 1 is my Terms of Use.) You can also print the pages front and back. If you have troubles printing, make sure Adobe is up to date. You can download the most current version here.
After printing, cut out the pages and staple them together. Enjoy reading!
Looking for more sight word readers?
Check out my bundle pack that includes 22 sight words and 66 printable booklets! Find out more about the bundle here.
Learn the words “can” and “see” with this fun, interactive sight word flip book. Your students will love learning new sight words and practicing sight words they already know. Plus, Book A: “I Can See” includes color name identification as well.
Along with easy-to-follow dotted sentences, these easy sight word books teach one-to-one correspondence as well as connect word identification to the student’s own world. After finishing each book, students can read by themselves or with help from a more proficient reader. The possibilities are endless for these printable sight word books!
This book caters to the student’s comfortability in his own environment. By calling on him to observe the world around him and identify colors, this sight word book makes learning motivating and accessible.
*Note: These books are written assuming the student identifies the words I, go, the, up, like
In this leveled sight word book, you will find:
Focus sight words: can, see
Sight Words: I, can, see, a
New Words: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, rainbow, of, colors
Next leveled sight word book in this series: “I Was A”
Printing Instructions: Print single-sided (black and white will use less color ink!)
Binding Instructions: After filling out and completing each page as desired, cut out each page and staple on the left.
Sight words are a vital part of the reading journey, particularly for young children. The more times they see a word, the easier it becomes for them to recognize it.
Words on sight word lists are commonly used and so they appear often. Reading age appropriate texts using these words enhances their understanding of the word as well as ensures a solid foundation for reading in the future.
Sight word books give kids a variety of ways to see and practice these words in a fun, engaging way. Check out the great options below to find activities to fit your needs.
Purchase FromTeachers Pay Teachers
EducationOutside’s mini books cover the first 100 Fry sight words and provide ample opportunities for young readers to read, write, and identify each word. These interactive books invite kids to do a different task on every page.
Each book focuses on a single sight word and has pages for tracing, circling, writing, reading in context, and completing a sentence using the target word. These books come in black and white or color so you get to choose whether to add coloring pictures into the mix.
These books will keep kids busy and learning as they memorize these important words.
These readers by JEFishy provide one-to-one correspondence as kids read through sentences each featuring a kindergarten sight word. With colorful pictures and a fun storyline, kids will be engaged and interested the whole time.
You get an option of printing in black and white or color so you can let kids color the pictures as part of your lesson. These are great for desk work, at home learning, or as a center.
Each book lets kids trace one of five sight words multiple times while reading a kid-friendly story.
If you want to cover a variety of words, this endless sight word bundle by SimplyKinder will keep your students busy for a long time. The bundle includes 67 pages for each sight word and over 200 books to work through.
The set includes color words, number words, Dolch pre-primer through first grade sight words, Fry’s first 100 words, and a variety of other common words. Kids get to dot, trace, write, cut, search, practice, and read the target word in a variety of fun activities.
With this bundle, you won’t soon run out of ways to practice nearly any sight word.
These sight word reader books by SoDangFun provide five common sight words for kids to practice. Also, included are color and number words within two of the books.
Students will get to trace words and finish sentences, as well as draw pictures to go with their sentences. Each sentence begins with a sentence starter including the sight word and allows students to use their imagination to create their own unique book.
Purchase FromTeachers Pay Teachers
If you’re working with preschoolers, this pre-primer mini book set from EducationOutside covers the full list of Dolch words for this age group. The books present a variety of interactive ways for kids to practice each word. Each book features one word and is eight pages of different activities.
These printable books include tracing, circling, writing, and reading the word, as well as a place to finish the sentence.
With both black and white and color options, you can turn this into a coloring activity if desired. This is great for centers, desk work, or at-home learning.
EducationToTheCore’s sight word booklets feature the top 100 Fry words and each book targets a different word. Kids will enjoy tracing, coloring, and highlighting the sight word in the book and won’t even realize they’re learning at the same time.
Picture clues help kids understand the reading passage in each book and a visualization component is included for kids to draw their own picture.
With 200 pages of practice, these printable books are ready in a just a few minutes and are an excellent addition to any lesson plans.
Looking for a simple set that is easy for preschoolers and kindergarteners to follow? These sight word books by PagesWithPurpose feature Fry’s first 100 words in easy-to-read sentences with the target word in a traceable font for kids to practice.
The cute illustrations also provide picture clues and coloring opportunities to add a fun, creative aspect. Each book has six sentences for kids to read and trace. These are great activities to improve sight word recognition and are quick and easy to print.
If you’re looking for the whole kit and kaboodle, this huge set of sight word books from SightWordActivities will fit the bill. First off, this is the entire 220 word Dolch sight word set from pre-primer through third grade. Each book highlights one sight word and you can progress through each list as quickly or slowly as your lesson plans dictate.
Each page provides kids an activity to do, such as coloring, tracing, cutting, and writing the word. This is great for any lesson plan or activity center and keeps kids engaged and interacting. You even get a blank, editable book so you can add any word you like.
This is another great Dolch sight word bundle from MrsDsCorner that includes 219 sight words. Each page of the book features a different activity for students to complete. The cover also depicts the word in sign language.
Inside, students will read sentences, trace, write, find and circle, color, and cut and paste the target word. Sentences are repeated to increase comprehension and give confidence as they read through the book.
Each day of the week, the first four pages can be done again to further increase word recognition. At the end of each book, there is a certificate which can be signed as proof of completion and mastery.
Conclusion
Reading is a skill we use throughout our lives and recognizing commonly used words is essential to reading success.
Whether you’re teaching preschoolers or school-age kids, the resources above are great sight word book options to help grow their skillset and set them up for success.
I finally finished my latest full-color emergent reader and sight word set for my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
School Tools Emergent Reader and Sight Word Set $5.00
I really love this one. It’s an emergent reader, with a simple, repetitive pattern: Look at the ____. But you also have the option of including pages that teach children the expectations for using all of their school tools—perfect for the beginning days of school.
The illustrations are bright and engaging…
Included is:
- A full-color emergent reader
- A reproducible black-line master for the emergent reader
- A class book template
- Pocket chart cards for retelling the story
- Individual sentence-building cards
- A few other sight word practice activities
I also included some «Just for Fun» bonus content—color labels for supplies and several cute little prints to decorate your classroom…
I hope you like it!
So head on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store so you’ll be ready to go before the first day of school!
(I’m really not a good salesperson!!!!)
Sight words…High Frequency Words…Pop Corn Words…Heart Words…
Whatever you call them…they make up a big part of our language arts instruction. And don’t you just love them? Don’t you love trying to explain why was is w-a-s and not w-u-z. And that the o in of makes a short u sound, but if you add another f—well then it makes a short o sound again. Sigh.
Although I love matching games and rainbow words and flashcards and all those other nifty ways we teach sight words, the best way to teach them is, of course, in context. So over the years, I have made a bunch of sight word books. So here are the first set. I have the kids read them to themselves, and then read them to 3 friends (and the friends sign the back). I also have them highlight the new word.
Book: I Like Parties
Sight Words: I, like
Download Book_I like Parties
Book: Bounce, Bounce, Bounce
Sight Words: I, see, color words
The kids like to make their own «bounce» lines. I also have them underline the color words with the corresponding color of crayon.
Download Book_Bounce (I see)
Book: Animal School
Sight Words: I, see
This books forces the kids to look at both picture clues and letter clues (initial consonants).
This could say I see a rabbit or I see an elephant. They have to look at the r at the beginning of rabbit to figure out what the word is.
Download Book_Animal School
Book: I am..
Sight Words: I, am, like
Download Book_I am
Book: I Can
Sight Words: I, am, can
Download Book_I can[1]
Book: I am an Artist!
Sight Words: I, like, to
The kids can color their own picture here…
Download Book_I am an artist (like to)
Book: I Go, Go, Go!
Sight Words: I, go,to
This book features environmental print. I print these in color, but they also work in plain old black and white.
Download Book_I Go, Go, Go!
Book: We Like School
Sight Words: we, like, can
This book is a little challenging as it does not follow a repeating pattern.
Download Book_We Like School
I will add my next set of books over the next week or so. I will also put these in the printables section on the right sidebar. Enjoy!
One more oldie but goodie:
Here is the first emergent reader I will be using this year. I start teaching basic high frequency words and 1:1 correspondence the very first day! It uses mostly Discovery School Clipart (my absolute favorite clipart!!)
Download Book_back_to_school