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Students wear detective hats and use magnifying glass cutouts to identify beginning, middle, and ending sounds in teacher-given mystery words.

Differentiation:

Pre-K: Use two-sound words with picture prompts

1st Grade: Include sound substitution ("Change the /m/ in 'mat' to /c/")

2nd Grade: Introduce multisyllabic segmentation

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Unite for Literacy provides free digital access to picture books, narrated in many languages. Literacy is at the core of a healthy community, so we unite with partners to enable all families to read with their young children.

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This visual represents the progressive structure of phonics instruction: beginning with individual letters (e.g., b, m, r, s), moving into consonant blends (e.g., cl, tr, sp), digraphs (two letters that make one sound, like ch, sh, th), and ending with diphthongs—complex vowel sounds formed by gliding from one vowel to another (e.g., oi, ow, au). This hierarchy supports decoding skills as learners advance from simple to more complex sound patterns.

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Innovative Activity: Word Construction Lab

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Innovative Activity: Word Construction Lab

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Students use LEGO bricks labeled with letters to build words. They construct CVC, CCVC, and CVCE words and test if they're real or nonsense.

Differentiation:

K: Use picture-supported CVC words

1st: Introduce blends and digraphs

2nd: Use word families and inflectional endings

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Starfall Learn to Read

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Please see Starfall's how-to-teach-reading page, Learn to Read with Phonics, Fluency, and Comprehension, and print the Free Phonics Printouts for children. Starfall™ books, games, movies, and songs follow a research-based method of systematic phonics starting with consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. Emergent readers gain confidence as they progress to long vowels and other letter-sound relationships such as digraphs.

Brought to you by Zac the Rat™, Peg the Hen™, and Gus the Duck™.
Starfall™ Where Children Have Fun Learning to Read™

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Learn to Read with Phonics | Starfall Education

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Starfall's movies, games, and ebooks create an environment where children have fun as they learn to read. We use a proven sequential phonics method.

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Bilingual Phonics Packet: Building CVC Word Skills at Home

1. Letter-Sound Flashcards / Tarjetas de Sonidos de Letras

26 uppercase & lowercase letters with picture cues

Example:

A a – Apple / Manzana

B b – Ball / Pelota

English and Spanish on each card

Picture included to support recognition

Tip: Print on cardstock or glue to cardboard. Use them for letter identification, sound matching, and games like "Find the Sound!"

2. CVC Word Building Mats / Tapetes para Formar Palabras CVC

Includes:

10 printable mats with image prompts

Space to place letters or write words

Sample CVC words (e.g., cat, dog, sun, bed)

Instrucciones (bilingües):

Say the word together.

Stretch the sounds: “c-a-t.”

Match letters to the sounds.

Blend the sounds to read the word.

Optional: write the word in the box.

Materiales sugeridos:

Letter tiles, bottle caps with letters, or cut-out letters provided.

3. Family Instructions / Instrucciones para Familias

In both English and Spanish, at an accessible reading level.
Instructions include:

How to introduce letters and sounds.

How to use the flashcards and mats.

Tips for working with children even if the adult cannot read.

Sample:

English: “Say the letter name. Make the sound. Point to the picture. Repeat with your child.”
Español: “Diga el nombre de la letra. Haga el sonido. Señale la imagen. Repita con su hijo o hija.”

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An excellent resource for all types of readers is located in ReadingRockets.org

https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-101-guide-parents/your-kindergartener/phonological-and-phonemic-awareness

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That's a complicated sounding term, but it's meaning is simple: the ability to hear, recognize, and play with the sounds in spoken language. Phonological awareness is really a group of skills that include a child's ability to:

Identify words that rhyme

Count the number of syllables in a name

Recognize alliteration (words with the same beginning sound)

Segment (break) a sentence into words

Identify the syllables in a word

The most sophisticated phonological awareness skill (and the last to develop) is called phonemic awareness - the ability to hear, recognize, and play with the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. When playing with the sounds in word, children learn to:

Blend individual sounds to make a word

Stretch out a word into its individual sounds

Swap in a different sound to the beginning, middle, or end of a word to make a new word

Strong phonemic awareness is one of the strongest predictors of later reading success. Children who struggle with reading, including kids with dyslexia, often have trouble with phonemic awareness, but with the right kind of instruction they can be successful. Learn some of the warning signs for dyslexia in this article, Clues to Dyslexia in Early Childhood.

Parents can make a big difference in helping their children become readers by practicing these pre-reading oral skills at home. Try some of the simple rhyming and word sound games described here.

Try these speech sound activities at home

Rhyme time

"I am thinking of an animal that rhymes with big. What's the animal?" Answer: pig. What else rhymes with big? ( dig, fig, wig)

Road trip rhymes

While you're out driving in the car, spot something out the window and ask your child, "what rhymes with tree or car or shop?" Then switch roles and have your child spot something and ask you for a rhyme. This can turn into a game of nonsense rhymes ("What rhymes with tree stump?") but that's great for practicing sounds, too!

Word families

Word families are sets of words that rhyme. Start to build your family by giving your child the first word, for example, cat. Then ask your child to name all the "kids" in the cat family, such as: bat, fat, sat, rat, pat, mat, hat, flat. This will help your child hear patterns in words.

Silly tongue twisters

Sing songs and say silly tongue twisters. These help your child become sensitive to the sounds in words.

Tongue ticklers

Alliteration or "tongue ticklers" - where the sound you're focusing on is repeated over and over again - can be a fun way to provide practice with a speech sound. Try these:

For M: Miss Mouse makes marvelous meatballs!

For S: Silly Sally sings songs about snakes and snails.

For F: Freddy finds fireflies with a flashlight.

Syllable shopping

While at the grocery store, have your child tell you the syllables in different food names. Have them hold up a finger for each word part. Eggplant = egg-plant, two syllables. Pineapple = pine-ap-ple, three syllables. Show your child the sign for each and ask her to say the word.

"I spy" first sounds

Practice beginning sounds with this simple "I spy" game at home, on a walk, or at the grocery store. Choose words with distinctive, easy-to-hear beginning sounds. For example, if you're in the bathroom you can say, "I spy something red that starts with the "s" ssss sound ( soap)."

Sound scavenger hunt

Choose a letter sound, then have your child find things around your house that start with the same sound. "Can you find something in our house that starts with the letter "p" pppppp sound? Picture, pencil, pear "

Which letter sounds do I teach first?

Reading expert Linda Farrell recommends that you begin with teaching the letter names, and then focus on the letter sounds that are closest to their letter names (such as /v/). And here's a great tip for teaching the trickier letter name-letter sound combinations - use arm motions. In this video, Linda demonstrates motions for /x/ and /y/. (From our video series Reading SOS: Expert Answers to Family Questions About Reading.)

Sound games

Practice blending sounds into words. Ask "Can you guess what this word is? m - o - p." Hold each sound longer than normal.

First sounds

When you're reading together with your child, pick a word from the book and say it with emphasis on the first sound. Pick another word and compare them. "Zzz-zookeeper and rrr-rhinoceros. Can you hear what sound zzz-zookeeper starts with? Is it the same as rrr-rhinoceros?

Jump, skip, hop!

Create simple picture cards that you draw or cut out of magazines. Have your child, identify what's in the picture, and then break that word into its individual sounds. For example dog is d-o-g, three sounds (phonemes). Three sounds? You and your child do three jumping jacks, skips, or hops (followed by a high-five). You can also do this game outdoors without the cards, just call out simple words for your child.

Snail talk

Tell your child you're going to communicate in "snail talk" and they need to figure out what you're saying. Take a simple word and stretch it out very slowly (e.g., /fffffllllaaaag/), then ask your child to tell you the word. Switch roles and have your child stretch out a word for you.

"I spy" blending

Here's an easy phoneme blending game you can play while talking a walk. For blending, you can say, "I see a sign that says s-t-o-p" Then your child has to blend the sounds to guess your word - stop. (Remember to say only the sounds in the word - not the letters.) Keep the words short, moving from two to three to four sounds depending on your child's skill level.

Sound counting

Using LEGO bricks, beads, or pennies, say a word and have your child show you how many sounds the word makes. For example, top = t-o-p = three sounds, so your child would place three objects in a row. Then have them tap each object as they say the sound. Remember, your child is just showing you the sounds they hear. So the word bike would be = b-i-k (silent e) = only three sounds.

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Phonological and Phonemic Awareness: Activities for Your Kindergartener

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Phonological and phonemic awareness are important pre-reading skills, related to the ability to hear, identify, and play with the sounds in spoken language - including rhymes, syllables, and the smallest units of sound (phonemes). Children with strong phonological awareness skills are ready to become readers.

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Innovative Activity: Readers Theater with Voice Effects App

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Innovative Activity: Readers Theater with Voice Effects App

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Students read scripts aloud, record themselves using voice filter apps (robot, echo, announcer), and reflect on prosody and pacing. Record students reading lines with silly or serious filters to boost engagement and expression. Script choice by level; allow echo reading support or assign narrator roles to less confident readers.

Differentiation:

Emerging readers: Use echo reading with adult or peer support

Intermediate: Pair reading with fluency rubrics

Advanced: Self-assess using performance recordings

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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YouTube read-alouds with captions/subtitles

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"kids books read aloud" "read aloud channel" "funny voices" fun voices literacy "learn english" books esl audiobook learn ebook stories "bedtime story" "kids...

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Hello there, I'm Awnie! I'm passionate about children's literature and love reading books to kids. I want to make stories come alive for your young ones! You can use my videos as a supplement to your family reading time. Together we can instill a love of learning and teach the joy that books can bring!

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Alphablocks is the hit CBeebies TV show that's helped a million children learn to read. Who better to show you how words work than the alphabet brought to life? I DO NOT OWN THIS CONTENT, ALL RIGHTS TO THE BBC.

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Innovative Activity: Word Detective Journals 

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Innovative Activity: Word Detective Journals 

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Students keep interactive journals where they record new words, draw pictures, use them in sentences, and sort by meaning.

Differentiation:

K–1: Use picture clues and sentence frames

2nd–3rd: Include dictionary work, synonyms, and antonyms

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Bilingual vocabulary flashcards featuring Tier 1 and Tier 2 words with colorful visuals, translations in English and Spanish, example sentences, and blank spaces for families to add home-language equivalents—designed for ELL families and those with limited access to printed materials

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Vocabulary refers to the words children must know to communicate effectively. In school terms, it can be described as oral vocabulary or reading vocabulary. Find out more about effective vocabulary instruction, the relationship between vocabulary and comprehension, and practical ways that parents can introduce new, exciting words to their kids.

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Students listen to or read a story while the teacher models thinking aloud. Then they practice using sentence starters for comprehension strategies.

Differentiation:

Pre-K–1: Use visual supports and partner sharing

2nd–3rd: Provide sticky notes for text-based evidence and reflections

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Printable comprehension bookmarks in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, and Mandarin, with visuals and strategy prompts (e.g., "Ask a question about what you read," "Make a prediction," and "Summarize in your own words"). Bookmarks include icons for each strategy and blank lines for families to write their own reflections or vocabulary words.

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Colorín Colorado is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs). Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation’s capital, and receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association. © Copyright 2023 WETA Public Broadcasting.

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"Reading Together at Home" Guide – A downloadable handout from Reading Rockets offering scripted questions for parents to ask before, during, and after reading (e.g., "What do you think will happen next?" "Why did the character do that?"), available in English and Spanish, with suggestions for families of children with limited reading stamina or attention spans. in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, and Mandarin, with visuals and strategy prompts (e.g., "Ask a question about what you read," "Make a prediction," and "Summarize in your own words"). Bookmarks include icons for each strategy and blank lines for families to write their own reflections or vocabulary words.

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Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Rasinski, T. (2010). The Fluent Reader: Oral & Silent Reading Strategies for Building Fluency, Word Recognition & Comprehension. Scholastic.

Reading Rockets. (n.d.). Vocabulary and comprehension videos and guides. https://www.readingrockets.org

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Resources for Students with Exceptionalities 

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Resources for Students with Exceptionalities 

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CAST. (2023). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines — Provides research-based framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people. https://udlguidelines.cast.org

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. J. (2017). Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model (5th ed.). Pearson.

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Rasinski, T. (2010). The Fluent Reader. Scholastic.