Sight Word Search Worksheets

About this resource

A word search a five-year-old can actually finish: six rows of six big lowercase letters, four to six sight words hidden across (and, on the harder puzzles, down), a pencil to circle them with, and a box under the grid to copy each word on primary lines. This is a full sight word search kit: five different things to do with the same words, 45 of them hidden in nine puzzles, and the record-keeping around them. Every student page has a "My name" line at the top.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (38 pages)

• 21 student pages in 5 formats: 9 Word Search, 3 Find and Circle, 2 Missing Letter, 3 Read and Match, 3 Find, Cut and Glue, plus a How to Find a Word page that shows a small grid with go across and up down, circled
• 45 sight words hidden in 9 puzzles, each in one puzzle only: 28 from the Pre-Primer list and 17 from the Primer list (the lists typed into this store's word bank)
• 3 answer keys, made from the same data as the pages
• 1 tracker (20 rows), 1 class progress grid (15 rows)
• 1 team note page and 1 home page (make your own word search, and a star to color for each day)
• 1 filled example (an invented student), 1 phrase bank (16 starters), 1 binder cover, and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here, a how-to-read-a-page page, and a contents page that gives every page number and lists the words in every puzzle

The Five Formats

1. Word Search (pages 7-15) — a 6 x 6 grid of lowercase letters. Words are hidden across (left to right) or down (top to bottom), never backwards. One dot: puzzles 1-3, four words each, hidden across only. Two dots: puzzles 4-6, five words each. Three dots: puzzles 7-9, six words each. The child circles the words, then copies each one in a box with a top line, a dashed middle line and a baseline.

2. Find and Circle (pages 16-18) — a word, then five words in a row; circle the two that match. The other three are real look-alike words from the same lists (next to the: he, she, they; next to saw: said, say, now). 18 rows.

3. Missing Letter (pages 19-20) — a word with one letter left out and a Word Box to check with. 16 words; each blank fits exactly one word in the box.

4. Read and Match (pages 21-23) — read a sentence, circle the one of three words that is in it, then write it. 12 short sentences.

5. Find, Cut and Glue (pages 24-26) — find the word hidden in a short row of letters, cut its piece out, glue it under the row. Six pieces a page, edge to edge in two rows of three: three straight cuts. The words get longer page by page (2, 3 and 4 letters).

Of the student pages, only the three Find, Cut and Glue pages use scissors (the divider tabs at the back are cut too). Every other student page is pencil work.

Built For The Child Holding The Page

A big "My name" line, one short instruction with a small picture, large letters and words in a rounded font, boxes with room to write, and dots (not words) to show which level a page is. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult.

Puzzles You Can Trust

Every puzzle is checked in code, not by eye: each word is hidden exactly once and cannot be read anywhere else in the grid (not backwards, not on a diagonal). The filler letters are screened so no other sight word from these lists and no dictionary word of three or more letters shows up across or down, and a check for profane strings runs forwards and backwards. The answer keys come from the same data as the puzzles.

The Words

The 45 search words come from the Pre-Primer and Primer lists as typed into this store's word bank, and the file says so. If your program's list is different, the tracker and the team note have blank lines for your own words. The words "a" and "I" are not in a puzzle, since there is nothing to search for.

Type In, Or Print

The name and date lines, the tracker, the class grid, the team note and the home page are type-in fields in any PDF reader; 240 fields in all. The letters a student circles and writes are pencil work. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Kindergarten and first grade classrooms, self-contained and resource rooms, and any teacher working with an older student who is still learning to find and read these words. The home page sends the same job to a family; the team note hands off what changed since the last meeting.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

Sight word search practice with the record-keeping around it. It is not a probe, a goal bank or a score sheet, not a reading assessment, and not a claim about any student's age or rate of progress.