Phonics Teaching Resources
Make teaching phonics easy with printable phonics worksheets, activities, games and more designed for elementary ELA and ELAR teachers.
This collection of 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 recognizing 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 recognize 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
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
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 over 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 kindergarten, first, and even second grade getting a handle on all phonics elements!
- Free Plan
Summer Word Search Puzzle
Search and spell your way into summer break with a fun Summer Word Search!
- Free Plan
My Spelling Dictionary Booklet
Help young learners build their writing and spelling confidence with their very own Spelling Dictionary Booklet!
- Free Plan
Digraph Coding Robot Mat
Practice identifying digraphs with the help of a coding robot and mat.
- Plus Plan
Alphabet Craft Printable Templates
Assist young students with letter recognition, phonemic awareness, and fine motor development with these adorable alphabet craft templates.
- Plus Plan
Sound Wall Classroom Interactive Bulletin Board
Print a complete Sound Wall designed to help you enhance your phonics program by displaying the phonemes your students are currently mastering.
- Free Plan
Free Spelling Worksheets for Any List
Grab these spelling worksheets for any list and use them to prep your weekly spelling homework with ease!
- Free Plan
Kn, Ph and Wr Digraph Picture Cards - Free
Use our Digraph Picture Cards to introduce your students to kn, ph and wr digraph words.
- Free Plan
Alphabet Letter Match
A fun match-up activity to consolidate your students' knowledge of uppercase and lowercase letters.
- Free Plan
Segmenting and Blending Mats
A set of beautifully designed templates for students to practice blending and segmenting words.
- Free Plan
Differentiated Spelling Bee Word Lists
Prepare your students for school spelling competitions with printable Spelling Bee Word Lists for simple, common, difficult, and challenging spelling words.
- Free Plan
CVCC Word Work Mat
Practice segmenting and spelling simple words with this set of 24 CVCC picture task cards.
- Free Plan
Vowel Teams Diphthong Worksheets
Practice diphthongs with this set of fun and engaging worksheets.
- Free Plan
ABC's of Gratefulness - A to Z Gratitude List
Make a list of things to be grateful for with a printable A to Z gratitude list template.
- Plus Plan
Spelling Detectives Worksheets - Fixing Spelling Errors (3-4)
Build spelling and editing skills with printable ‘Find the Spelling Errors’ Worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Beginning Letter Sound Picture Match Worksheet Pack
Explore single letter sounds with this picture match worksheet pack for your kindergarten students.
- Free Plan
Connect the Dots Printable Alphabet Worksheets
Use this set of 3 dot-to-dot worksheets to get your youngest students practicing their recognition of the alphabet.
- Plus Plan
Months of the Year Spelling Worksheet
Help your students learn to spell the months of the year with a printable spelling homework sheet.
- Plus Plan
Disappearing Snowman (Hangman Alternative)
Practice vocabulary and spelling skills with this interactive word guessing game.
- Plus Plan
Reading CVC Words - Picture Puzzle
Decode CVC words with this 15 piece puzzle.
- Plus Plan
Sweet Sight Words Worksheet - FAST
Practice reading, writing, and identifying the high-frequency word “fast” from the Second Grade Dolch sight words list.
- Free Plan
Initial Letter Coloring Worksheet
Identify the first letter for each picture and then color it.
- Free Plan
Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check Sheet Templates
Use a Look, Say, Cover, Write, and Check sheet to encourage students to study and practice their weekly spelling words.
- Plus Plan
Sock Letter Matching Activity
Match socks together for a great letter matching activity where the lowercase letter, uppercase letter and beginning sounds are matched.
- Plus Plan
Busy Binder - Kindergarten Morning Work Activity Book
Review daily calendar, math, literacy, and fine motor skills with a printable kindergarten Busy Binder workbook!
- Plus Plan
Months of the Year Worksheets
Read, write, and spell the months of the year with a set of printable Months of the Year worksheets for kindergarten.
- Free Plan
Consonant Digraph Cut-and-Paste Worksheets
Reinforce your students' knowledge of consonant digraphs with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Color By Vowel Sound (Winter Worksheet for Kindergarten & 1st Grade)
Use a "cool" color by vowel sound worksheet to bring a bit of Winter into the classroom this season.
- Plus Plan
Phoneme Segmentation Flashcard Activity Set
Print this phoneme segmentation activity set stocked with 100+ printable flashcards for your classroom reading centers!
- Free Plan
Th Word List and Digraph Flashcards
Practice reading and spelling words with the Digraph TH with a list of 50 words and accompanying illustrated flash cards.
- Free Plan
Spaceship Word Chains - Worksheets
Manipulate the individual phonemes in 3- and 4-letter words to create new ones with this set of word chain worksheets.
- Free Plan
OW and OU Words - Word Search
Explore "ou" and "ow" words with this set of differentiated word searches.
- Free Plan
Silent Letters Worksheets - Read, Find, and Color
Identify letters that are silent with this set of three find and color worksheets.