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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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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Thanksgiving Crafts – ABC and 123 Turkeys
A Thanksgiving activity for students to practice counting, skip counting, and the letters of the alphabet.
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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.
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Plural Nouns Chart - Printable Plural Rules Guide
Give your students a reference guide to help them remember all of the different plural rules.
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Consonant Digraph Cut-and-Paste Worksheets
Reinforce your students' knowledge of consonant digraphs with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets.
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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.
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Science of Reading Decoding Strategy Bookmarks and Poster
Help students succeed in reading fluency with this free printable bookmark and poster set of strategies for decoding unknown words.
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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.
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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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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.
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Thanksgiving Color by Code - Vowels
Use this color by vowel sound Thanksgiving worksheet as for a bit of Turkey Day fun in the classroom.
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What's Missing? - Alphabet Worksheet
A set of worksheets to practice writing the letters of the alphabet in order.
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CVC Words Bingo Game
Practice decoding simple CVC words with this set of printable Bingo boards.
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Long Vowel O Teams Interactive Activity
Practice identifying the different graphemes that spell the long /o/ sound with this fun boat-themed interactive activity.
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Blending Words Reading Warm-Up Task Cards
Get your students ready for reading with these blending words reading warm-up task cards.
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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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Silent Letters Worksheets - Read, Find, and Color
Identify letters that are silent with this set of three find and color worksheets.
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Segmenting and Blending Mats
A set of beautifully designed templates for students to practice blending and segmenting words.
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Plural Noun Anchor Charts - Posters
Help children grasp the tricky concept of pluralizing nouns by displaying these 8 plural noun anchor chart posters.
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Spelling Test Template Pack
Make those Friday spelling assessments easier with a pack of printable Spelling Test Templates!
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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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Diphthong Vowel Teams Interactive Activity
Practice knowledge of diphthongs during your phonics lessons with this fun bubble-themed interactive activity.
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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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Sign Language Alphabet Poster
Display this poster in your classroom as a reminder of how to represent the letters of the alphabet when spelling words in ASL (American Sign Language).
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My Little Sight Word Book - Said
A little book of activities for the sight word ‘said’.
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Initial Letter Coloring Worksheet
Identify the first letter for each picture and then color it.
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Alphabet Initial Sound Recognition Worksheets
Explore alphabet beginning sounds with this set of alphabet sounds worksheets to develop letter recognition.
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Uppercase and Lowercase Letters Maze Worksheet Set
Help students learn to recognize both uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet with this fun set of maze worksheets.
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4th Grade Spelling Homework Worksheets
Print your own 4th Grade Spelling Homework sheets with 36 weeks of printable, phonics-based spelling worksheets.
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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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Vowel Teams Diphthong Worksheets
Practice diphthongs with this set of fun and engaging worksheets.
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Consonant Digraph Phonics Journal
Help students remember and record words and examples of different consonant digraphs during your phonics lessons.