Sight Words in Reception and Key Stage One.

What the Word Mapping Mastery® approach changes for learners in R/ KS1

Mapping makes the process explicit.

It supports children to:

segment spoken words into phonemes
see how each phoneme is represented in writing
build orthographic knowledge deliberately, rather than by chance

For children who would otherwise self-teach, mapping accelerates pattern recognition.
For children who would not, it makes learning possible.

DfE Common Exception Words

Words to support in Reception and Key Stage 1

In Reception and Key Stage 1, children are often given lists of words to learn at home. These may be called high-frequency words, tricky words, or common exception words, depending on the school or phonics programme.

On this site, we take a different approach.

How we look at words

We don’t treat words as irregular or exceptional.

Every word is made up of:

phonemes (the sounds in spoken language)
graphemes (the letters that represent those sounds)
its meaning

A word only becomes difficult when some of its grapheme–phoneme links have not yet been taught.

Why word lists work for some children and not others

Some children develop strong phonemic awareness early. They are able to segment and blend speech accurately and begin to self-teach orthographic knowledge, even when words are presented as lists. These children often appear to “memorise” words, but in reality they are rapidly mapping sounds to spellings internally.

However, this does not work for all children.

When children are given word lists without support to see how sounds map to print, those who do not yet have secure phonemic awareness are often left relying on guesswork or fragile memory strategies. This makes learning less efficient and can lead to difficulties with reading and spelling over time.

The difference is not motivation or effort. It is access to the mapping process.

What the technology makes possible

With the mapping technology, words are broken down into their phonemes and graphemes. Children can see how spoken language connects to written language, even for words they haven’t been taught yet.

This allows children to:

practise segmenting and blending accurately
recognise patterns across words
store words more efficiently as they read and write

The technology works with the words children are expected to learn at school, including those sent home in Reception and KS1. They use the Spelling Routine to further support the bonding of speech sounds, spelling and meaning.

Why this matters

The aim isn’t to rush through word lists.

The aim is to help children quickly learn the process of mapping sounds to print, so reading and spelling become easier over time.

Once children understand how words are built, new words stop feeling like exceptions.

This system supports self-teaching while children are still in Reception and Year 1. Mapping words helps children learn how sounds link to spelling, which is what enables self-teaching, rather than the particular words on a list.

Where do these words come from?

There is no single national list of words for Reception and Key Stage 1.

Instead, schools in England draw from several overlapping sources:

1. National Curriculum expectations (England)

The National Curriculum specifies common exception words for:

Year 1
Year 2

These are words children are expected to read and spell by the end of KS1. They are described as “exception” words because, at the point they are introduced, some of the grapheme–phoneme links have not yet been taught.

2. Letters and Sounds high-frequency words

Letters and Sounds, the original DfE phonics guidance, included:

a list of the first 100 high-frequency words
a further 200 high-frequency words

These were selected based on how often they appear in text, not on how they are structured. Many schools still use these lists, even though Letters and Sounds is no longer a validated programme.

3. Phonics programme word lists

Each validated phonics programme now teaches:

grapheme–phoneme correspondences in a different order
different words at different points

This means the same word may be considered “taught” in one school and “not yet taught” in another.

Which words are included here?

This site includes words commonly expected in Reception and KS1 across England, drawn from:

Year 1 and Year 2 common exception word expectations
the Letters and Sounds high-frequency word lists
words frequently sent home by schools for practice

These are the words parents are most often told their children “should know”.

The words (Reception and KS1)

Reception

There is no statutory word list for Reception.

Children encounter words through:

phonics teaching
decodable books
teacher-chosen texts

Any words sent home in Reception are school- or programme-specific, not nationally defined.

Year 1: National Curriculum common exception words (11)

These are the only words explicitly specified by the National Curriculum for Year 1:

the, a, do, to, today, of, said, says, are, were, was

These are the words children are expected to read and spell by the end of Year 1, even though some grapheme–phoneme links may not yet have been taught.

Year 2: National Curriculum common exception words (32)

By the end of Year 2, children are expected to read and spell the following words:

door, floor, poor, because, find, kind, mind, behind, child, children, wild, climb, most, only, both, old, cold, gold, hold, told, every, everybody, even, great, break, steak, pretty, beautiful, after, fast, last, past

What about the longer “high-frequency” lists?

Many schools also use:

the Letters and Sounds first 100 high-frequency words - seen below
the next 200 high-frequency words

These are not statutory, but they are still widely used and sent home, which is why parents recognise them.