This is the last of the five Dolch lists: 41 words, for ages eight and nine. A child who has come this far can probably read most of them already, so the question with this deck isn’t “can she read it” but “does she read it without stopping.” A pause on together is enough to lose the thread of a sentence. The cards follow on from the Dolch second grade flash cards.
What’s in the Download
Eight pages: a cover, all 41 words in large type with cut lines, and a page listing the words. Eight cards to a page on A4. A look inside:
The 41 Words
| # | Word | # | Word | # | Word | # | Word |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | about | 12 | far | 23 | light | 34 | six |
| 2 | better | 13 | full | 24 | long | 35 | small |
| 3 | bring | 14 | got | 25 | much | 36 | start |
| 4 | carry | 15 | grow | 26 | myself | 37 | ten |
| 5 | clean | 16 | hold | 27 | never | 38 | today |
| 6 | cut | 17 | hot | 28 | only | 39 | together |
| 7 | done | 18 | hurt | 29 | own | 40 | try |
| 8 | draw | 19 | if | 30 | pick | 41 | warm |
| 9 | drink | 20 | keep | 31 | seven | ||
| 10 | eight | 21 | kind | 32 | shall | ||
| 11 | fall | 22 | laugh | 33 | show |
Words to Watch
Myself and together are the long ones, and both are built from smaller pieces: my and self, then to, get and her. A child who stalls is usually reading left to right and giving up halfway. Cover the second half with your finger, then slide it away.
Grow, show and own all use ow to say long o, not the ow in cow. If that trips your child up, our phase 3 phonics flashcards practice the other sound so the two stay apart. Hold and kind also break the short-vowel pattern.
Light has the silent gh. Pull right out of the second grade deck and read the two together.
Shall is the oddball. Hardly anyone says it, so teach it inside a question: “Shall we go?”
Bring, carry and hold are easy to read and easy to muddle in meaning. Act them out: bring me the book, carry the bag, hold my hand.
Using the Cards at This Age
At this level, speed is the point. Flash each card for about three seconds. A word read at once goes in one pile, a word that took thought goes in another, and you start the next session with the second pile.
Five to ten minutes a day works better than one long session on Sunday. Stop on a word your child knows.
Three Things to Do With the Deck
Story Chain
Draw five cards. Your child tells a short story that uses every one: “Today I will try to carry my own bag, even though it’s far.” Writing it down counts double.
Phrases
Put two or three cards together and read them as one chunk: my own, only ten, better today. Good readers see chunks, not single words.
Teach the Teacher
Hand your child the deck. They flash the cards, you read them, and now and then you get one wrong on purpose. Catching your mistake takes real attention.
Eight-Week Plan, Five Words a Week
| Week | New Words | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | bring, carry, hold, keep, got | Carrying verbs + classroom helpers game |
| 2 | cut, draw, clean, show, try | Making-and-doing verbs + art session |
| 3 | drink, grow, fall, hurt, laugh | Body and feeling verbs + story prompts |
| 4 | six, seven, eight, ten, today | Number words + calendar practice |
| 5 | hot, warm, light, long, far | Describing words + weather talk |
| 6 | better, full, kind, small, much | Comparison words + better/best sentences |
| 7 | about, if, never, only, own | Thinking words + “what if” questions |
| 8 | done, myself, pick, shall, start, together | Final 6 + one timed run through all 41 |
Week 8 ends the whole Dolch system. Let your child choose a book and read you a page.
Questions
Is this the last Dolch list?
Yes. Third grade finishes the 220 service words. Dolch also made a separate list of 95 common nouns, like apple, house and school, which some teachers add afterward.
My child already reads all of these. Do we still need the cards?
Time one run through the deck. If your child gets through all 41 without stopping, skip the plan and spend the time on books. The cards are for the words that make them pause.
Why is shall on the list?
It was common in the books Dolch studied. Today most children hear it only in Shall we?, so it often has to be taught as a word with a meaning, not just a shape.
What should my child read after the 220 words?
Early chapter books and series readers. If your child likes word goals, the Fry list of 1,000 common words is the usual next step.
To go back to an earlier level, every deck is linked from the Dolch sight words flash cards guide.
