Bingo cardsDolch lists
Sight word bingo
Bingo cards filled with words from Edward Dolch's 1948 sight word lists, one list at a time. It suits early readers practicing words by sight in a group game.
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On this page
Edward Dolch published his sight word lists in 1948, and teachers still use them as a set of common words for early readers. This page puts one list onto bingo cards, and the caller reads the words aloud while children find them on the card.
What prints
The sheet is titled "Sight Word Bingo". The rule line below covers marking squares and winning with a complete line, which on a 4 × 4 card is four in a row. This page opens on a 4 × 4 card, 4 cards per page and 2 pages, so you get 8 cards. A 4 × 4 card has no free square, because it has no center. Words are printed as they appear in the list, in the same lowercase form that early readers see. There is no key and no name line.
The settings
- Title (optional): a heading for your cards, 32 characters at most.
- Card type: Sight words is on. You can move to number cards, theme cards or your own list.
- Sight word list: Pre-primer, Primer, First grade, Second grade or Third grade. The page opens on Primer.
- Card size: this page uses 4 × 4. The 3 × 3 and 5 × 5 grids are there as well.
- Cards per page: 4 is selected, and 1 or 2 give bigger cards.
- Pages of cards (each card is different): 1 to 12, set to 2 here.
- Free space in the middle: a toggle, honored on 3 × 3 and 5 × 5 cards only.
The lists are 40 words for Pre-primer, 52 for Primer, 41 for First grade, 46 for Second grade and 41 for Third grade, which adds up to 220. Since each card picks from only one list, a card can never mix levels.
How to play for learning
The IES practice guide cited here has a recommendation on teaching students to decode words, analyze word parts and recognize words. Bingo gives children a repeated chance to match a spoken word with its written form. Use it alongside other work, not in place of it.
Call the word, say it in a sentence, and let children find it. For a challenge, ask a child to read each covered word back to you before a bingo is confirmed. Smaller cards give shorter games, and mixed-ability groups can use 3 × 3 for the youngest and 5 × 5 for the strongest readers.
Worked example: a small reading group
Mrs. Alvarez has five first graders working on the Primer list. She keeps the 4 × 4 card, sets Cards per page to 4 and Pages of cards to 2, and prints 8 cards, which leaves a few spare. She reads words like "ate", "ride" and "please" aloud, and each child covers the match with a counter. When a child gets a row, she asks him to read the four words in it. Two kids miss "ride", so she writes it on a card for the next day.
Related sheets
For practice off the board, see the sight words worksheets and the sight word flash cards. For a card with your own words, use the bingo card generator.