Phonics Teaching Resources
Make teaching phonics easy with printable phonics worksheets, activities, games and more designed for primary teachers.
This collection of Australian curriculum-aligned teaching resources has been carefully reviewed by our expert teaching team to make sure every resource is classroom-ready — so we can make your lesson planning easier!
New to teaching phonics, or just looking for new ways to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Is Phonics?
You've likely heard the word 'phonics' thousands of times throughout your own education and maybe on one of those old as from the '90s. But what is phonics, exactly?
Phonics is technically defined as the systematic instruction of the relationships between letters and sounds in written language. But that's a mouthful, isn't it? More simply, phonics is the word we use to refer to the method of teaching reading by focusing on the relationship between written letters and the sounds they represent.
In phonics, kids learn how to decode written words by recognising the sound-symbol correspondence.
Phonics vs. Phonemic Awareness
When we start talking about letters and their sounds, we start to wander into phonemic awareness territory. So what's the difference?
The words phonics and phonemic are similar, and the two concepts are — surprise, surprise — related. But there are key differences.
Phonemic awareness is essentially the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds — aka phonemes — in spoken language. It's those individual sounds and their correspondence to the letter symbols that can be used by kids to then decode written words.
So students learn to recognise the individual sounds of spoken language (phonemes) and how these sounds can be represented by letters (graphemes) in written language. Then they apply this knowledge to decode written words by understanding the sound-symbol correspondence.
Consider this example:
- Let's say your student can identify the separate sounds in a spoken word such as 'cat' (i.e., /k/ /a/ /t/). That's phonemic awareness.
- Now let's say you're teaching that same student that the letter 'c' represents the /k/ sound and that the letter 'a' represents the /a/ sound, and that these sounds combine to form the word 'cat.' That's phonics!
How to Teach Phonics in Primary School
OK, you probably already know that phonics is all about teaching word recognition via grapheme-phoneme associations and letter-sound correspondences.
It’s a means of teaching early readers the pieces that make up a word so they can blend them together to decode the English language as readers and writers.
But how do you teach it?
In the earliest stages, phonics instruction typically begins with teaching students the most common letter-sound relationships. You start with consonants, then move on to vowels, then consonant blends.
Students then learn to sound out words by decoding the letters and blending the sounds together to form words.
Phonics Vocabulary Terms to Remember
The English language system is one of the hardest to teach and learn, so how do you teach phonics? Let’s start with the phonics vocabulary.
- For starters, there are 26 letters that create approximately 44 phonemes, the word for the individual speech sounds that make up words. Put together, phonemes make words. OK, easy enough, right?
- Well, these phonemes can be written in more than 200 different letter combinations, known as graphemes. Graphemes can be made up of 1 letter (such as 'p' in 'pig'), 2 letters (such as 'gh' in ghost), 3 letters (such as 'igh' in night), or 4 letters (such as 'ough' in rough).
- Then there are digraphs or two letters that work together to make one sound — such as “ph” in graph. But wait, isn’t that a grapheme? Yup, a digraph is a type of grapheme.
- So is a trigraph, trigraphs, aka three letters that work together to make one sound, such as 'dge' in edge.
- And if you’re teaching phonics, you can’t forget dipthongs, the name for a sound that is formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, such as 'ou' in loud.
Most students will spend foundation, year 1 and even year 2 getting a handle on all phonics elements!
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Christmas Colour by Vowel Sound Worksheets
Use colour by vowel sound worksheets for a bit of Christmas fun in the classroom.
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Connect the Dots Christmas Worksheets
Practise ordering the alphabet by connecting the dots on these Christmas dot-to-dot worksheets.
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Phonics Sound Wall Display
Build a classroom sound wall to match your phonics programs and literacy progressions with a printable sound wall display.
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Decodable Text Worksheets – Common Consonant Digraphs (Set 1)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
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Digraph Handwriting - Worksheets
24 digraph worksheets that focus on handwriting and vocabulary activities.
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OW and OU Words - Word Search
Explore words containing ‘ow’ and ‘ou’ with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Christmas Memory Game - Beginning Letter Sounds
Have fun matching Christmas words with their beginning sounds using a printable Christmas Literacy Memory Game.
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Decodable Text Worksheets – Common Consonant Digraphs (Set 2)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
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Level 2 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 2 decodable readers.
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Read, Find and Colour – CVC Words
Consolidate your students' decoding skills with this set of search and find worksheets.
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My Alphabet Book - Printable Alphabet Worksheets
An alphabet booklet to use in the classroom when learning letter recognition.
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Phoneme Segmentation Worksheets - CVC Words
Use this worksheet pack to give students practice at segmenting words into phonemes.
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Vowel Digraphs Worksheet Pack
Practise writing and enhancing knowledge of vowel digraphs with this worksheet pack.
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Level 4 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 4 decodable readers.
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Spelling CCVC Words - Worksheets
Develop students’ ability to segment and blend the sounds in CCVC words with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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OI and OY Words - Word Search
Explore words containing ‘oi’ and ‘oy’ with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Animal Alliteration Activity - Brainstorming Template
A brainstorming template to use in the classroom when learning about alliteration.
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Consonant Digraphs Worksheet Pack
Practise writing and enhancing knowledge of consonant digraphs with this worksheet pack.
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CVC Word Chain Ladders - Worksheets
Build word chains with CVC words using this set of printable phonics worksheets.
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My Diphthong Cheat Sheet
Help students learn all about diphthongs with this handy diphthong student reference sheet.
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Word Twist – Word Building Game
Encourage word building in your classroom with this fun Boggle-style game!
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Rhyming Poems Poster
A poster providing a definition and example of a rhyming poem.
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Word Morph Active Game
An active game that allows students to test and build their phonetic knowledge.
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Phoneme Spotter Story - Long 'a' Sound
A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the long 'a' sound.
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Decodable Text Worksheets - Single Graphemes (Set 1)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
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Th Digraph Lesson Resource Pack
Introduce students to the th digraph with this set of teaching slides and mini activity book.
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Long E Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long e’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Decodable Readers Teacher Support Pack
A set of free supplementary resources to support the implementation of Teach Starter’s series of phonics-based decodable readers.
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Sounds of 'OO' - Cut and Paste Worksheet
Sort words according to whether they contain a long or short ‘oo’ sound with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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How Does It End? – Final Sounds Match-Up Activity
Consolidate your students' understanding of end sounds with this set of 15 task cards.
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Consonant Digraph Sound Wall Cards
Guide students through phonics with these consonant digraph sound wall cards for a classroom display.
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Level 5 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 5 decodable readers.