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1st Grade Consonants Activities

38 1st grade consonants activities. Teacher favorites: Popcorn Blends Activity and Beginning and Ending Sounds Activity. How teachers use these

1st Grade Consonants Activities

38 1st grade consonants activities. Teacher favorites: Popcorn Blends Activity and Beginning and Ending Sounds Activity. How teachers use these

Activity
Activity1st GradePopcorn Blends Activity

In this popcorn blends activity, K-2nd Grade children spin a blend, sort 12 picture cards into popcorn boxes and fill in a practice page, with an answer key included for quick checking.

Activity
Activity1st GradeBeginning and Ending Sounds Activity

This beginning and ending sounds activity uses 12 picture clip cards and a recording sheet so preschool to 1st grade students find first and last letters. Answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeShort and Long Vowel A CVCe Activity

This short and long vowel a CVCe activity gives 1st and 2nd grade readers 24 word cards for a silent e matching game, a sort mat and a practice page. Answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeWord Work Activity

This word work activity lets kindergarten and 1st grade students build CVC words with color-coded consonant and vowel tiles, then write each word. An answer key is included for quick checking.

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Activity1st GradeBlends, Digraphs, and Trigraphs Activity

Using the Blends, Digraphs, and Trigraphs Activity, students create lists of words that have beginning and ending blends, digraphs, or trigraphs.

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Activity1st GradeConsonant Sounds Activity

Practice beginning sounds with this consonant sounds activity for Preschool through 1st Grade. Kids stack picture scoops on letter cones, then finish a practice page. Answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeConsonant Digraphs CH SH TH WH Activity

In this consonant digraphs ch sh th wh activity, Kindergarten to 3rd Grade students sort 16 picture-word cards by their first sound, with an answer key included for easy checking.

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Activity1st GradePlucking Blends L Blend Activity

This l blend activity has 1st and 2nd grade students match picture cards to word cards and sort words by bl, cl, fl, pl and sl. Answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeHard and Soft C G Sounds Activity

This hard and soft c g sounds activity lets 1st to 3rd grade students sort picture cards by the sound c or g makes, with a practice page and answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeFall CVC Mat Activity

Kids build short-vowel words with pumpkin tiles in this Fall CVC Mat Activity for preschool to 1st grade. Answer key included, so checking each word mat is fast.

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Activity1st GradeShort and Long Vowel I CVCe Activity

This short and long vowel i CVCe activity gives 1st and 2nd grade readers 24 word cards for a silent e matching game, a sort mat and a practice page. Answer key included.

Activity
Activity1st GradeCVC Word Mats Activity

This CVC word mats activity helps preschool to 2nd grade students build and spell short vowel words with letter tiles, with a practice page and an answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeCVC Vowel Activity

A CVC vowel activity for preschool to 2nd grade with 15 picture clip cards, a write-the-word sheet and a practice page. Answer key included to check every short vowel.

Activity
Activity1st GradeBeginning Consonant Blends Activity

This beginning consonant blends activity gives Kindergarten to 2nd Grade readers 12 picture clip cards, a recording sheet and a practice page, with an answer key included, so they can hear and write r-, l- and s-blends.

Activity
Activity1st GradeBlending S Blends Activity

In this blending s blends activity, 1st and 2nd grade children match 15 picture cards to word cards, then sort the words by sn, sk, sl, st and sp. Answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeApple CVC Mat Activity

This apple cvc mat activity lets PreK-1st grade students build short-vowel words with apple letter tiles on 12 picture mats. Practice worksheet and answer key included.

Activity
Activity1st GradeBlends Mini Book Activity

This blends mini book activity lets 1st and 2nd grade children make a travel book, write the blend for each picture and use each word in a sentence. Answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeFinal Consonants Activity

In this final consonants activity, kindergarten and 1st grade children say each picture name and sort the cards by the last sound: t, g, n or p. Answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeB and P Beginning Sounds Sort Activity

This b and p beginning sounds sort activity has PreK-1st grade students say each picture name and sort it by its first sound. Answer key included.

Activity
Activity1st GradeSilent Night Silent Letters Activity

This silent night silent letters activity helps 1st to 3rd Grade children sort kn, wr, mb and gh word cards by the letter they cannot hear. Answer key included for easy checking.

From our teachers' playbook

Blends, digraphs and a lot of sound

What do 1st graders learn about consonants?

By first grade most kids know their single consonant sounds, so now consonants start teaming up. Kids learn blends, where you still hear both sounds (st in stop, bl in black), and digraphs, where two letters make one brand-new sound (sh, ch, th, wh). They also meet ending teams like -ng and -nk in sing and bank. The click moment is when a child stops sounding out s-h-i-p and reads "ship" in one smooth go.

Our favorite ways to teach consonant blends and digraphs

Consonant teams are all about hearing the difference. These moves train ears first, then eyes.

Digraph detectives

Teach each digraph with a key picture and a motion: finger to lips for sh, a choo-choo arm for ch. Then read a list of words and have kids make the motion when they hear it. Hearing the sound first makes spelling it so much easier.

Why it works: the National Reading Panel found that systematic, explicit phonics teaching clearly improves how children learn to read.

Beginning Digraphs Fill in the Blank WorksheetTry it withBeginning Digraphs Fill in the Blank WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →

Build the blend

Hand out letter tiles and say "Make lip. Now make slip. Now make flip." Kids swap only the first letters each time. Building and changing one sound at a time shows that blends are just two sounds you already know, said fast.

Why it works: the U.S. Department of Education's guide for teaching elementary math recommends moving from hands-on objects to drawings to numbers.

Blends BL, BR WorksheetTry it withBlends BL, BR WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →

Blend sound check

A 3-minute check at the end of the week: say a word, kids write the blend they hear at the start. Sort your notes by blend family. Most kids are solid on s blends long before r and l blends, so you'll know where to reteach.

Why it works: researchers who compared ten study methods found practice testing is one of the two that work best (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).

S Blends WorksheetTry it withS Blends WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →

Questions parents and teachers ask us

What is the difference between a blend and a digraph?

In a blend you can still hear each letter, like the s and t in "stop." In a digraph, two letters make one new sound, like "sh" in "ship." First graders learn both, usually blends and digraphs side by side.

What consonant digraphs do 1st graders learn?

The core ones are sh, ch, th, wh and ck, plus ending teams ng and nk. Many programs also add ph later in the year.

Why does my child read "sip" instead of "ship"?

They're reading each letter on its own and missing the team. Point to the "sh," say its sound together, then reread the word. Underlining digraphs before reading helps kids spot them.

How do I practice consonant blends at home?

Play "I spy something that starts with /st/" around the house. Or write a word like "lip" and let your child add letters to make slip, flip and clip. Five minutes a day is plenty.