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!
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Letter Craft Activity - 'H' is For Hen
An activity to assist young students with letter recognition, phonological awareness, and fine motor development.
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Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Maze - 'Xx'
A fun maze to use when learning how to identify uppercase and lowercase letters.
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Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Maze - 'Tt'
A fun maze to use when learning how to identify uppercase and lowercase letters.
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Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Maze - 'Jj'
A fun maze to use when learning how to identify uppercase and lowercase letters.
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Rhyme Time - Match-Up Activity
A set of 32 match-up cards for students to practice rhyming.
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Rhyming Match Worksheets
Identify rhyming words through images with this set of 5 worksheets.
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ABC Order - Cut and Sort Worksheet
A cut and sort worksheet to practice alphabetizing words to the third letter.
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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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Roll and Read – Sight Words – Grade 1
A fun game for students to practice reading sight words.
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Roll and Read – Sight Words – Kindergarten
A fun game for students to practice reading sight words.
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Word Work Grid and Worksheets - Version 2
A grid with spelling activities and corresponding worksheets that can be used for any set of spelling words.
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Phonics Assessment - Uppercase and Lowercase Letters
Test your students' knowledge of the uppercase and lowercase letters in the alphabet with this assessment kit.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Alphabet - Dinosaur
Join the dots and letters to make a picture.
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SMASH IT! Compound Words Game
Practice compound words with this set of 8 combining words game boards and picture cards.
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Months of the Year Spelling Worksheet
Help your students learn to spell the months of the year with a printable spelling homework sheet.
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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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Days of the Week - Spelling Homework Sheets
Read, write, and recognize the names of the 7 days of the week with a pack of daily spelling worksheets.
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Interactive Spelling Game - Words With 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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Beginning Letters - Individual Alphabet Worksheets - BW
A beginning letter worksheet for each letter of the alphabet.
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Alphabet Writing Rhymes - Teaching Slides
Use these fun alphabet writing rhymes to help students learn to write the letters of the alphabet.
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Classroom Alphabet Poster Pack
Create your own classroom alphabet line with these ink-friendly classroom alphabet posters.
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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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EE, EA and EY Vowel Team Lesson Resource Pack
Introduce students to EE, EA and EY vowel digraphs with this set of teaching slides and mini activity book.
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Diphthong Vowel Team Fluency Charts
Practice reading out these word lists that contain different diphthong vowel teams with these fluency charts.
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Ch Digraph Words With Images
Learn words that contain the 'ch' digraph with these word and picture flashcards.
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Diphthong Vowel Team Sound Wall Cards
Use these diphthong vowel team cards as visuals on a sound wall or as flashcards during your phonics lessons.
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Diphthong Vowel Teams Teaching Slides
Teach your students about diphthongs with this set of 23 teaching slides.
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'EE' Vowel Team Board Game
Decode words with the ee long vowel team in this word card board game.
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R-Controlled Digraphs Worksheet Pack
Practice writing and enhancing knowledge of r-controlled digraphs with this worksheet pack.
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1st Grade Consonant Digraphs Worksheet Pack
Practice writing and enhancing knowledge of consonant digraphs with this worksheet pack.
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FIND IT! Consonant Digraphs Board Game
Practice decoding words that include 4 examples of consonant digraphs with our digraph flashcards and board game set.
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Dot Painting ABC Worksheets
Build fine motor skills and letter recognition with a fun set of Alphabet Do-a-Dot printables.