Start your alphabet study strong using these strategies combining pronunciation, recognition, letter sound, and word examples focused on the letter a. Scholars examine the letter shape and listen to you pronounce the /aaa/ sound. As you...

What is Mico trying to say? Use a puppet to make this final-phoneme activity more engaging for kindergartners. Using three picture cards at a time (included), they listen to him say a final sound. To which of the three images is he...

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...

Make letter sounds a game for pre-readers using these letter cards. After you demonstrate, learners take turns drawing letters out of a bag. Weight them for the letters they have been practicing most recently. Once they've chosen a...

What does the letter a sound like? Scholars practice with letter sound correspondence by honing their pronunciation of the /aaa/ sound. Use these helpful tips to explain how to make this sound if needed. Then, they brainstorm...

Get your scholars excited about phonemes using Mico the puppet; they use the picture cards to examine three words at a time. Mico says the ending sound of one of the words, and learners determine which of them is a match. You'll want to...

Use these inventive strategies to focus on the letter r, forming sound associations along with letter recognition. Explain the tongue movement in making the /r/ sound, asking learners to try it. Draw the r on the board and give...

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...

Mico the puppet offers a phoneme challenge for emerging readers: can they find the object with the middle sound they hear? Use the fantastic set of full-color picture cards to play this game with small groups or even the whole class....

As your youngsters begin to recognize the letters of the alphabet and their correponsding sounds, there are some they will be more familiar with than others. Cement their letter associations using this quick strategy, shown here with the...

What's the sound, Mico? Use your class' favorite puppet (in this example, Mico) to teach them about initial sounds in single-syllable words. Using the picture cards provided, choose three and lay them out in front of learners. When Mico...

Mico (or your favorite puppet) helps emergent readers recognize words from segmented phonemes. Explain to learners that he struggles with pronouncing words and needs their help. Model how Mico segments sounds in single-syllable words....

First graders listen closely as their teacher sounds out a variety of words, one phoneme at a time. They then practice blending sounds to create words on their own. Tip: While you sound out words have your class write down each phoneme...

Kids see, say, then count the phonemes they hear in a series of simple words. They practice counting phonemes with the teacher, then sound out the same word on their own. As they count each phoneme they write it down on their paper. A...

F-u-n spells fun. It is a simple word that little learners can sound out as they build phonemic awareness and those early reading skills. This short scripted instructional activity provides teachers with the basics for teaching how to...

You ever feel like your going in circles? Because this lesson seems very much like others I've seen. First graders put up a finger as they count each phoneme the teacher emphasises as she says a series of words. 

Practice sounding out multi-syllable words with this scaffolded lesson. Learners decode words by segmenting them into phonemes and combining the sounds. Your lines are in bold here, but you can easily use this simply as an outline...

Kindergarteners build phonemic awareness by segmenting words with two or three phonemes. As the teacher says each word, the kids put up a finger for each phoneme they hear. This can also be done with manipulative such as blocks or tally...

Sounding out individual phonemes and blending them to make a word is usually one of the first tasks mastered when learning to read. Make master decoders out of your learners, they sound out a series of simple two and three-letter cvc...

Count the syllables in your name, now count the syllables in your friend's name. Kids count syllables as they clap out and segment words. This activity is done as a whole class and has the potential of being highly engaging. The engaging...

This resource is more of a suggestion than a full lesson plan. It explains how young pre-readers can work with their teacher to practice blending phonemes to make words. The class watches the teacher as she says and orally segments a...

Students analyze phoneme sequence in a word. They spell words using phoneme analysis and read new words using phoneme analysis.

Young readers explore consonant sounds. In this beginning phonics activity, learners fill in a beginning/middle/end vertical column chart with the sounds they hear in the pictured object. Practice spelling CVC words.

Pictures help young learners remember new, unknown vocabulary. Show them this picture book and have them review the words that accompany each picture. Consider creating pictures for the five words on the last page.