A balloon-popping letter A game where preschoolers find big A, little a, and pictures that start with A, with voice directions and stars. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
The Letter A Song (Original Music Video) will help students learn all about the letter by watching a video about letter sounds, vocabulary words, and letter formation.
The Alphabet Song (Animated Music Video) will help students learn letter names and sounds by listening to the catchy lyrics and colorful video.
The Baby Shark Alphabet Song (Animated Music Video) will help students learn letter names and sounds by listening to the catchy lyrics and colorful video.
A toy-brick peek-a-boo game where preschool kids tap the moles holding a big B, a little b and pictures that start with B. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
A carnival water-squirter letter A sound game where kindergarten kids squirt the targets with the short a and long a sounds, from apple and acorn to cat and cake. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
The Alphabet Songs Collection - Classic will help your kids gain a better understanding of letter names and sounds by listening to these ABC Songs.
A starry dot-to-dot game where preschool kids tap the stars with a big C, a little c and pictures that start with C. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
Keep this Digraphs Word List within reach during 1st Grade phonics. Twelve consonant digraphs and forty-eight example words sit on one print-ready page, so readers can check a spelling in seconds.
The Alphabet Songs Pack - Animated will help support your visual learners gain a better understanding of letter names and sounds by listening to this song.
A soccer vowel teams game where second grade kids kick the ball at words with ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ow, ie and igh, like rain, bee, boat and pie. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
A balloon-popping party game where preschool kids pop a big D, a little d and pictures that start with D. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
A mail-route adventure game where preschool kids find a big E, a little e and pictures that start with E. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
A short vowel E reading comprehension story worksheet starring Ben and his hen. 1st graders read the decodable story and answer questions. Includes a complete answer key — great for quick, no-prep phonics and reading practice.
A farm egg-catching short vowel review game where first grade kids catch the eggs with short a, e, i, o and u words like cat, hen, pig, pot and sun. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
A comic-book cooking game where third grade kids read each order and pour the prefix pre, dis or mis into the pot to cook up words like preheat, dislike and misspell. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
A retro arcade game where 4th grade kids read each clue and tap the critter holding the matching word, using Greek and Latin roots like tele, scope, port and graph. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
An underwater bubble game where 5th grade kids read each clue and pop the bubble with the matching word, using Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
This alphabet uppercase letter matching activity has preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade children match 26 letter cards to a game board. A practice page and answer key are included for easy letter recognition fun.
This alphabet letter recognition assessment helps kindergarten teachers quickly check which uppercase and lowercase letters a child can name. Includes a complete A-to-Z answer key for fast, low-prep progress checks.
Sounds, blends and the joy of decoding
Phonics teaches kids how letters and sounds work together so they can read and spell new words. It starts with single letter sounds and blending short words: c-a-t = cat. Next come digraphs like sh, ch and th, then blends, silent e, vowel teams like ai and ee, and bossy r words like car and bird. Older kids move on to prefixes, suffixes and Greek and Latin roots. The click moment is when a child sounds out a word they have never seen and reads it all by themselves!
Phonics sticks when it is explicit, a little bit every day, and full of real reading. These are our go-to moves.
Give kids a digraph word list and have them sort the words into sh, ch and th columns. Say each word out loud before sorting it. Hearing, seeing and moving the word all at once builds a strong sound-letter link.
Why it works: teaching letter sounds directly and in order is one of the best-supported findings in reading research (National Reading Panel, 2000).
Try it withDigraphs Word ListWorksheetsOpen it →Once kids learn short e, hand them a decodable story like Ben and the Eggs. Have them read it aloud and answer the questions. It shows you right away who can apply the pattern and who needs another round.
Why it works: researchers who compared ten study methods found practice testing is one of the two that work best (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withBen and the Eggs Phonics Reading Comprehension Story Worksheet - Short Vowel E SoundAssessmentsOpen it →Keep yesterday's patterns alive with a quick daily game. A short vowel review game at the start of phonics time keeps old sounds sharp while you teach new ones.
Why it works: short practice spread over several days beats one long session, according to a large review of learning research (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withShort Vowel Review GameGamesOpen it →Phonics practice can be the giggliest part of the day.
GamesKids race to match vowel teams like oa, ee and ai to the pictures that make those sounds.
Open Vowel Teams Game →
GamesOlder readers stack pre, dis and mis onto base words and see how the meaning flips.
Open Prefixes Pre Dis Mis Game →
VideosThe Letter H Song has kids huffing out /h/ like they just ran a race.
Open Letter H Song (Original Music Video) →Teacher favorites right now: Letter A Game, Letter A Song (Original Music Video) and Alphabet Song (Original Music Video).
Phonics is the connection between letters and the sounds they make. Kids use it to sound out, or decode, words when reading and to spell words when writing.
Most programs go letter sounds, short vowel words, digraphs and blends, silent e, vowel teams, then r-controlled vowels. Prefixes, suffixes and word roots come later in the elementary grades.
Many kids start learning letter sounds in preschool, and formal phonics usually runs from kindergarten through 2nd or 3rd grade. Older students keep building word skills with prefixes, suffixes and roots.
Read decodable books together, play quick sound games, and have your child sound out words on signs and cereal boxes. Five to ten minutes a day goes a long way.
Phonemic awareness is hearing and playing with sounds, with no letters at all, like clapping the sounds in "dog." Phonics connects those sounds to written letters.
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