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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Gumball Compound Words Worksheet
Help your students learn to read and identify compound nouns with a printable colour-by-code worksheet.
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Finding Phonemes - Spelling Words with DGE, GE, J, and G Interactive
Read and spell words using the j, g, ge, and dge phonemes with an interactive digital learning activity for 2nd Grade.
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Phoneme Find - R, RR, and WR Spelling Game
Decide when to use r, rr, or wr to spell the /r/ sound with an engaging Interactive Phonics Activity!
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W, WH, or U? Phoneme Interactive Game
Decide when to use w, wh, or u to spell the /w/ sound with an engaging Interactive Phonics Game!
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Busy Binder - Morning Work Pages for Kindergarten
Review daily calendar, maths, literacy, and fine motor skills with a printable morning work pages for kindergarten!
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Phoneme Interactive Spelling Game - M, MM, MB
Use an interactive spelling game to help your students learn to spell words with m, mm, and mb correctly.
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Consonant Digraph Cover Up Game
Practise consonant digraphs with your students with this set of two fun partner cover up games.
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Vowel Digraph Cover Up Game
Practise vowel teams with your students with this set of three fun partner cover up games.
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Printable Early Reader Books - Ocean Animals
Learn about sea life with a printable ocean book for year 1 students.
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Flags of the World - Print and Cursive Alphabet Line
Display the alphabet in print or cursive with a unique Flags of the World Alphabet Line.
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Digital Activity for Learning Diphthongs
Practise diphthong knowledge with this fun and engaging digital learning activity.
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Long Vowel Digraph Writing Worksheet
Learn to encode long vowel digraphs with this set of writing worksheets.
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Roll and Read Diphthong Activity
Explore different diphthongs with this fun gamified diphthong activity.
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Diphthongs Worksheets
Practice diphthongs with this set of fun and engaging worksheets.
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Letter Sound Worksheets - Initial, Medial, and Final Positions
Practise isolating initial, medial, and final letter sounds with a fun set of Letter Sound Worksheets for Year 1.
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Alphabet Poster Pack
Create your own classroom alphabet display with these ink-friendly classroom alphabet posters.
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Consonant Digraph Phonics Journal
Help students remember and record words and examples of different consonant digraphs during your phonics lessons.
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Consonant Digraph Cut-and-Paste Worksheets
Reinforce your students' knowledge of digraphs with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets.
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Vowel Teams Phonics Journal
Help students remember and record words and examples of different vowel digraphs during your phonics lessons.
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Long Vowel Digraph Sort Cut-and-Paste
Reinforce your students' knowledge of long vowel digraphs with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets.
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Digraph Search and Find Worksheet Pack
Search for images that contain particular consonant digraphs with this worksheet pack.
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Long A Vowel Digraph Interactive Activity
Practise identifying the different graphemes that spell the long /a/ sound with this fun space-themed interactive activity.
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Long Vowel O Teams Interactive Activity
Practise identifying the different graphemes that spell the long /o/ sound with this fun boat-themed interactive activity.
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Vowel Teams Sorting Activity (OA, OW and OE)
Decode words with the OA, OW and OE vowel teams using 18 picture cards with sorting mats.
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Long E Vowel Digraphs Interactive Activity
Practise identifying the different graphemes that spell the long /e/ sound with this fun space-themed interactive activity.
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Vowel Team Digraph Poster Set
Display this poster set in your classroom when teaching children about different vowel team digraphs.
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Long I Vowel Digraphs Interactive Activity
Practise identifying the different vowel digraphs that spell the long /i/ sound with this fun iceberg-themed interactive activity.
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Consonant Digraph KN Interactive Activity
Engage students in practising their learning around the consonant digraph of ‘kn’ with this fun knight-themed interactive activity.
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Consonant Digraph CH Interactive Activity
Engage students in practising their learning around the consonant digraph of ‘ch’ with this fun beach-themed interactive activity.
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Consonant Digraph SH Interactive Activity
Engage students in practising their learning around the consonant digraph of ‘sh’ with this fun beach-themed interactive activity.
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Consonant Digraph TH Interactive Activity
Engage students in practising their learning around the consonant digraph of ‘th’ with this fun sloth-themed interactive activity.
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Consonant Digraph WH Interactive Activity
Engage students in practising their learning around the consonant digraph of ‘wh’ with this ocean-themed interactive activity.