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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Long Vowel Digraph Cut-and-Paste Worksheet
Reinforce your students' knowledge of long vowel digraphs with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets.
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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 Teams Interactive Activity
Practice knowledge of diphthongs during your phonics lessons with this fun bubble-themed interactive activity.
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Common Spelling Rules - Instructional Slide Deck
Boost your students' spelling skills with an instructional slide deck teaching the different spelling rules.
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Spelling Rules Posters – Plurals and Suffixes Anchor Charts
Display the common spelling rules for suffixes and plurals with a set of printable spelling rules charts.
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Long OO Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common “long oo” spelling patterns with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Long O Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common “long o” graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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OI and OY Words - Word Search
Explore words containing “oi” and “oy” with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Decoding Strategy Poster Pack
Display different decoding strategies in the classroom with this printable poster pack.
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Word Study List - Trigraphs
Introduce and explore words with trigraphs using a list of 50 trigraph words.
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100 Alphabet Letters
Practice counting to 100 by 1’s with upper and lowercase alphabet cards and our 100 chart.
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CVCC Word Work Mat
Practice segmenting and spelling simple words with this set of 24 CVCC picture task cards.
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Phoneme Spotter Story – Long 'u' Sound
A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the long 'u' sound.
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Roll and Read – Rhyming Words
A fun game for students to practice reading rhyming words.
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CVC Beginning and Ending Letters Worksheet Pack
Practice identifying missing beginning and ending sounds and letters in this set of 10 CVC worksheets.
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Combining Words - Compound Word Worksheets for Kids
Combine word parts to build compound nouns with a printable compound word worksheet.
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Compound Words - Worksheet Pack
Practice using compound words in sentences with. a pair of printable compound word worksheets for older students.
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Busy Binder - Kindergarten Morning Work Activity Book
Review daily calendar, math, literacy, and fine motor skills with a printable kindergarten Busy Binder workbook!
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Days of the Week - Months of the Year Word Search
Practice spelling the days of the week and months of the year with printable Day and Month Word Search worksheets.
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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.
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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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Vowel Teams Picture Puzzle
Practice decoding words with long vowel team conventions with this 15 piece picture puzzle.
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Veterans Day Worksheets - ABC Order
Support your students in reviewing the vocabulary and concepts surrounding the Veteran’s Day holiday with an ABC Order Worksheet.
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Double Consonant Rule - Word Building Cards
Practice spelling and building words that need double consonants when adding suffixes with a word-building center.
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Greek and Latin Root Word Rummy - Card Game
Explore Greek and Latin roots, words, and meanings with this hands-on card game.
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Spelling CCVC Words - Worksheets (Differentiated)
Develop students’ ability to segment and blend the sounds in CCVC words with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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OW and OU Words - Word Search
Explore "ou" and "ow" words with this set of differentiated word searches.
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CVC Phoneme Manipulation Worksheets - Short O
Manipulate the individual phonemes in “short o” CVC words to create new words with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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Phonics Vocabulary Poster Pack
A set of 9 phonics vocabulary posters to help explain different terms.
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My Magic E Story - Silent E Words Mini-Book
Practice reading and writing sentences with silent e words with this magic e-mini-book.
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Phoneme Segmentation - Count and Hook Task Cards
Help students gain mastery in phoneme segmentation with these hands-on count and hook task cards.
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Alphabet Playdough Mats for Fine Motor Development
A set of alphabet playdough letter mats to help children develop their fine motor skills and identify the letters of the alphabet.