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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My Dog Don - Decodable Reader (Level 2)
Develop confident, successful readers with this phonics-based, printable decodable book.
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Syllable Types - Teaching Presentation
Teach students about the six syllable types with this comprehensive interactive teaching presentation.
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Alphabet Display Poster
A bright and colourful poster to display when introducing the letters of the alphabet.
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Rhyming Match – Worksheets
Identify rhyming words through images with this set of 5 worksheets.
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Phoneme Spotter Story – 'oo' Sound
A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the ‘oo’ sound.
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Alliteration Poem Poster
A poster providing a definition and example of an alliteration poem.
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Vowel Digraphs Poster Pack
Expose your students to the most common vowel digraphs with this set of 24 posters.
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Counting Syllables Worksheets
Five worksheets that allow students to consolidate their understanding of syllables.
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Alphabet Matching Activity
A great matching activity to consolidate your students' knowledge of the alphabet, letters and sounds.
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Dolch Words Card Game – Classroom Game
A card game for dolch sight words.
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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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Diphthong Fluency Charts
Practise reading out these word lists that contain different diphthongs with these fluency charts
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CVC Spell and Write Task Cards
Practise spelling CVC words and manipulating their phonemes to create word chains with this set of hands-on work mats.
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The Pink Dump Truck - Decodable Reader (Level 2)
Develop confident, successful readers with this phonics-based, printable decodable book.
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Camping with Dad - Decodable Reader (Level 2)
Develop confident, successful readers with this phonics-based, printable decodable book.
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The Pit - Decodable Reader (Level 1)
Develop confident, successful readers with this phonics-based, printable decodable book.
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CVC Phoneme Manipulation Worksheets - Short E
Manipulate the individual phonemes in ‘short e’ CVC words to create new words with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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Short and Long Vowels Interactive Activity
Help develop students' phonemic awareness with this interactive activity on short and long vowel sounds.
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Word Study List - CCVC Words
Introduce and explore words containing the consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant pattern with this extensive list of CCVC words.
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CVC Word Chain Task Cards
Manipulate the individual phonemes in CVC words to create new ones with this set of differentiated task cards.
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Final 'E' Worksheet Pack (I_E)
Explore words that make the 'long i' sound using the split i_e digraph with this set of 11 worksheets.
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SMASH IT! Vowels Game
Distinguish between long and short vowel sounds with this set of 5 game boards and vowel letter cards.
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Colour by Sight Words - 6 Words - Chicken
A fun colouring activity to use when working with sight words.
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Alliteration Poster For Young Students
A poster to use with young students when teaching alliteration.
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Alphabet Characters Story Generator Cards
A set of cards using alphabet-related image prompts for writing.
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Decodable Text to Picture Match-Up
Four sets of decodable sentences with matching pictures.
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Phoneme Spotter Story – Long 'i' Sound
A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the long 'i' sound.
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Alphabet Match-Up Cards
A set of upper and lowercase alphabet cards to use as a matching activity.
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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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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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Diphthong Colouring Activity Worksheets
Practise finding different vowel team diphthongs with this set of fun colour-by-code worksheets for your students.
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Ph Digraph Lesson Resource Pack
Introduce students to the ph digraph with this set of teaching slides and mini activity book.