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 Confusion Worksheets
A set of 10 worksheets for students struggling with dyslexia and letter confusion.
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Alphabetical Order Activity
A fun matchup activity to help teach children the letters of the alphabet and their sounds.
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Letter Ww - Alphabet Worksheet
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about phonics and the letter W.
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Letter Pp - Alphabet Worksheet
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about phonics and the letter P.
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Letter Kk - Alphabet Worksheet
An activity worksheet to use in the classroom when learning about phonics and the letter K.
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Letter Confusion Poster - b and d
A poster highlighting the difference between b and d letterforms.
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Connect the Dots Printable Alphabet Worksheet (Robot-Themed)
Download the free connect the dots printable for your students to practice putting letters in alphabetical order.
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1st Grade Spelling Words - Weekly Lists
Create successful spellers with printable weekly spelling word lists for 1st grade.
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Days of the Week Activity Mat
Review the order and spelling of the days in a week with a printable Days of the Week Activity Mat!
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Seasons, Days, & Months of the Year Spelling Worksheet
Spell the days of the week, months of the year, and the four seasons with a printable Spelling Homework sheet.
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Days of the Week Spelling Worksheets
Use these Days of the Week Spelling worksheets to help your students practice reading, writing, and spelling the Days of the week.
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Medial L Words - List & Flashcards
Practice reading and articulating Medial L words with a list of 50 words and accompanying illustrated flash cards.
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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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Consonant Digraph CH Interactive Activity
Engage students in practicing their learning around the consonant digraph of ‘ch’ with this fun beach-themed interactive activity.
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Ch Digraph Lesson Resource Pack
Introduce students to the ch digraph with this set of teaching slides and mini activity book.
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Diphthongs Maze Worksheet
Excite your students to practice their knowledge of diphthongs with this fun clue-based maze diphthong worksheet.
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Auto-Fill Customizable Spelling Worksheets
Save time making custom spelling lists and spelling practice worksheets with an editable auto-fill spelling worksheet pack.
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Spelling CVC Words - Worksheets
Develop students’ ability to segment and blend the sounds in CVC words with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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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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Phoneme Segmentation Task Cards
Segment beginning, middle vowel, and final phonemes with this set of 20 CVC word task cards.
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CVCC and CCVC Words – Playdough Mats
Print and use these 27 Kindergarten sight word playdough mats to "squish" in a bit of fine motor fun.
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Dolch Sight Word Flash Cards
Practice the first 100 Dolch Sight Words with a deck of sight word flash cards.
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Multisyllable Words Worksheets
Build multisyllable word decoding skills with a Science of Reading based worksheet pack.
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How Many Syllables? - Worksheet
Practice counting syllables in spoken words.
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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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CVC Words Parking Lot Game
Practice decoding and spelling CVC words with this set of 16 word cards and matching game board.
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Initial Letter Coloring Worksheet
Identify the first letter for each picture and then color it.
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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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Finding Phonemes - A, AW, AU, OR, ORE Digital Learning Activity
Read and spell words using the au, aw, a , or, and ore phonemes with an interactive digital learning activity.
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Spin and Spell - Months of the Year Worksheet
Spin and spell the months of the year with a printable spelling worksheet for 2nd Grade.
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Days of the Week Word Scramble
Unscramble the names of the days in a week with a printable word scramble worksheet!
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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.