Curated OER
Introduce /Q/
Everything your pre-readers need to know about the letter Q is right here; this strategy combines pronunciation, letter recognition, sound, and word examples. Scholars examine the letter shape and listen to you pronounce the /kwww/...
Curated OER
High Five Blend and Word Family Game
Practice using word blends and learning about word families by participating in a class game. Learners will collaborate as teams in a game by throwing beanbags onto a shower curtain with word blends on it. They will say the sound their...
Curated OER
Introduce /o/
The best way to get your scholars familiar with the alphabet is to expose them to each letter in multiple contexts. This strategy incorporates letter recognition, sound, word examples, and pronunciation, and emerging readers will feel...
Curated OER
Introduce /f/
Hook your scholars by drawing a large f on the board; do they know what letter this is? Once you've demonstrated the sound it makes, use these tips to help them make the same sound. Although the audio function is neat, it may not be...
Curated OER
Reintroduce /t/
Use these strategies to connect letter pronunciation, sound, word examples, and recognition, focusing on the letter t. Emerging readers examine the letter and listen to you say the /t/ sound. As you explain how to do it, they try...
Curated OER
Reintroduce /i/
As your scholars begin learning letters of the alphabet, help them connect sound, pronunciation, word examples, and letter recognition using these strategies. Focusing on the letter i, begin by drawing it on the board. Can scholars...
Curated OER
Reintroduce /f/
Draw a large letter f on the board to begin this letter recognition and sounds activity, asking kids to identify it if they can. Demonstrate the /fff/ sound and explain how you are making it as learners try it out. What words can they...
Curated OER
Reintroduce /r/
The /r/ sound can be a difficult one, but scholars use some helpful tips to get it right. After examining the letter shape they listen to you pronounce this phoneme and describe what you are doing to create the sound. They try on their...
Curated OER
Introduce /n/
What is this letter? Once your class is ready to explore the letter n, use these strategies to combine word examples, pronunciation, and letter recognition. First, can they identify the letter? Make the /n/ sound, explaining how you do...
Curated OER
Reintroduce /e/
These inventive strategies help emerging readers focus on the letter e, forming sound associations along with letter recognition. Explain the mouth movement in making the /eee/ sound, asking learners to try it. Can they think of words...
Curated OER
Introduce /g/
As your emerging readers are learning the alphabet, set them up for success with strategies like these that incorporate multiple contexts and learning styles. Focusing on the letter g, write it clearly on the board. Model the /g/ sound,...
Curated OER
Reintroduce an Irregular Word
Some words are tricky. Can your scholars quickly recognize irregularly spelled words? Write the word was on the board (or any irregular word you'd like to practice), touching each letter as scholars segment the phonemes. Explain that the...
Spelling Words Well
Letter Lane
Dinosaur, fox, bone, mushroom. Emergent readers practice the beginning consonants sounds of b, d, f, and m with an activity that asks them to identify the images featured on a colorfully illustrated game board.
Curated OER
Kindergarten/First Grade Phonics
Get involved with phonics by recognizing one particular letter. Learners name a letter, know it by sound, decode basic CVC words and use the letter in writing. A variety of options are given to the your learners: making a letter collage,...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Matching, Medial Match
Early readers get together and match medial phonemes. They take turns picking picture cards from a pile; they say each word, then determine whether the pair has matching medial sounds.
Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, University of Texas at Austin
Lesson 7 - Letter Combinations
Individually, letters have their own sounds, but when combined with other letters, those sounds completely change. Introduce letter combinations with a lesson that asks learners to search for combinations in familiar words and use oral...
Pre-k Pages
Fire Engine Alphabet Clothespin Activity
Weeoou weeoou! What's that sound? It's the alphabet fire truck! Cover the letters of the alphabet and fire engines with a fun letter-matching game.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Matching, Phoneme Go Fish
Go fishing for initial sounds with this engaging phoneme game! Similar to the card game Go Fish, pairs use picture cards and try to match initial sounds. They set aside any pictures that are a match and ask their partner for specific...
Curated OER
Swat The Spot
Students practice beginning letter/sound association. In this beginning letter/sound lesson, students listen to a reading of Potluck by Anne Shelby while identifying the sounds that are associated with the beginning letters of words in...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Advanced Phonics: Syllable Patterns, Syllable Game
A game designed to support advanced phonics instruction challenges scholars to read and break a word into syllables. If the player is correct, they move their game piece forward on the board. Whoever gets to the end first wins!
Florida Center for Reading Research
Final Phoneme Spin
Segmenting words into different phonemes helps kids on the road to reading and writing. Have some fun with this spinner game which includes all the print-outs you will need. Simply assemble the spinner using a brad and lay out the...
Curated OER
Introduce /t/
What sound does the letter t make? As scholars develop letter recognition, form sound associations with strategies like these. Explain the tongue movement in making the /t/ sound, asking learners to try it. Draw the t on the board and...
Curated OER
Build Fluency /m/
Once kindergartners have learned the letter m they are ready for this sound correspondence activity. Start with a stack of letter cards including mostly m and a few other letters they haven't learned yet. Find these letter cards here for...
Curated OER
Introduce Soft-C
Do your emerging readers know that letters sometimes borrow the sounds of other letters? Explore the soft /c/ sound, explaining that c has borrowed the sound from s. After giving scholars some examples of words that begin with this...