Essential Word Lists by Grade

• PRINT
• EMAIL

Building vocabulary skills is a critical component to students’ success. This article provides links to vocabulary lists and other resources to help you choose words that best meet the needs of your classroom. These word lists will help keep your students on track for academic success.

Once you determine the words your students need to know, Word Wizard can help you teach the vocabulary. Copy and paste your word lists into Word Wizard's Mini-Dictionary to create glossaries. You can even use the Quiz Maker for assessment.

For more information on picking the best word lists for vocabulary instruction, read Francie Alexander's Recommended Word Lists for Vocabulary Instruction. Alexander is Scholastic's Chief Academic Officer and an expert on reading, literacy, and vocabulary instruction. You can also find grade-level vocabulary lists in these Scholastic Professional Books of 100 Words Kids Need to Read at different grades.

Grade Level Vocabulary Lists

Tampa Reads, a K-5 vocabulary program, has produced thoroughly researched lists of words that are essential to grade-level success. The words were chosen according to frequency of use at each grade level, as well as by their appearance on various standardized tests. Here are links to Tampa Reads' National Reading Vocabulary list:

• Grade 1 National Reading Vocabulary (PDF)
• Grade 2 National Reading Vocabulary (PDF)
• Grade 3 National Reading Vocabulary (PDF)
• Grade 4 National Reading Vocabulary (PDF)
• Grade 5 National Reading Vocabulary (PDF)
• Grade 6 National Reading Vocabulary [coming soon]

Another good source of grade-level vocabulary lists comes from Indiana's Literacy Framework Reading Vocabulary and Verbs. This listing provides critical reading vocabulary and critical student vocabulary verbs for grades 1-8.

Dolch Word Lists

These word lists were compiled by Edward Dolch, PhD, in his book, "Problems in Reading." He analyzed children's literature at the time and compiled lists based on frequency and importance:

• High Frequency Words
• Sight Words (can be accessed by grade level)

Other Resources for Vocabulary Lists

• Academic Word Lists were created by a linguistics teacher, Averil Coxhead in 2000. The lists include the most important words to know for successful progress in school. These words are particularly important for English language learners, who may otherwise suffer across the curriculum areas.
• Ogden's Basic English, a site that reduces the Oxford English Dictionary to its most basic words, provides many sublists, including verbs, compound words, prepositions, and more. The linguist Charles Ogden first compiled this list in 1930 after culling the dictionary to reduce it to the most essential words.
• Word Zones lists have the 5,586 most frequently used words at different grades, as well as a list of Spanish-English cognates. These lists were compiled by Elfrieda Hiebert, a Berkeley professor and reading specialist.

Matt Miller is fighting an uphill battle by proposing national standards for American schools.
Matt Miller is fighting an uphill battle by proposing national standards for American schools.

Helping Your Child Meet State Standards
Explains state standards and how can you help your child achieve them. Provides a sample standard. Discusses school districts' deadlines for benchmarks.

UNIT PLAN	Get the Buzz on Honey Bees: national standards-aligned science and geography lessons sponsored by Bee Movie Get the Buzz on Honey Bees is an educational program that aligns with national standards in science and geography. Developed by Scholastic and...