Dolch Word Lists - The Dolch words are commonly referred to as 'sight words'
because they cannot often be represented by illustrations or sounded out
phonetically. Instead, they need to be recognized 'on sight'. A child knowing
all the Dolch words will be able to recognize the majority of words in
children's literature, and experts therefore recommend that native English
speakers learn these words by the end of the first grade in school.
It should be noted that although the Dolch word lists are divided into five
levels (pre-primer to grade 3), words in the second and third grade lists do
appear in books for younger children, just with less frequency. Therefore,
all the words should be recognizable by the end of grade one.
http://www.dolch-words.com/dolch.html
Most common words - Students can master the most common 1000 words they will
see in text. Lists are sorted into lists of 100 words by the frequency that
they appear in text.
http://www.duboislc.org/EducationWatch/First100Words.html
Onsets & rimes - rimes are word endings which students can use to make
many different words. Learning rimes can increase a child's vocabulary by
hundreds of words!
http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/ela/e_literacy/supporting.html