Beginning Sounds Worksheets pdf FREEBIE plus ABC Bookmarks for Initial Sounds Activities

You're probaby here because you are teaching a brand new reader, and you might be about to embark upon the alphabet. It's so exciting to watch a young reader bloom, and I hope this beginning sounds worksheets freebie will be exactly what you are looking for!

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Free Printable Beginning Sounds Worksheets

Beginning sounds worksheets for first grade, grade 2, kindergarten & preschool [some beginning sounds worksheets cut and paste, too]

Teaching reading doesn't need to be too complicated, but a few components do need to be in place.

Of course, you know that kids need to know their alphabet, and the sounds that each letter makes, but did you ever consider that recognizing SOUNDS and matching them to words (without even seeing the letter) comes first?

It's called phonemic awareness. Some kids pick it up very quickly. And others will need a little extra practice.

All kids will eventually need to be able to pick out the initial sound they hear in a word, and then be able to tell you what letter that sound corresponds to. (And then the next sound, and the next, etc.)

What are initial letter sounds?

When you begin teaching reading, you'll likely naturally gravitate to teaching your child initial letter sounds without even knowing it.

It's one of the first steps toward building phonemic awareness in your student. At an early point in the process of teaching reading, you'll teach the names of all the letters (the alphabet song), including recognizing and discriminating between each capital and each lower letter of the alphabet, as well as the sounds of each of these letters. (Yes, these are different, as I mentioned earlier.)

For instance - your child will need to know that "A" is pronounced "ay", but it can have the long A, or the short A sound. And the same holds true for lower case "a".

Moving on, your child will need to discriminate the sounds of letters within words. Here's an example:

How do you teach letter sounds to kindergarten students?

There are so many ways to introduce letter sounds to students of all ages, but the best way is through movement, crafts, and using all the senses.

I've been working on each letter here to give you ideas for teaching all the letters. You can use physical activity to get kids up and hopping, or crafts to work on those fine motor skills.

Teaching this way will help your child really learn the letters and sounds.

How do you practice sound in a letter?

Phonemic awareness ( the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words), is SUPER important for kids who are learning to read.

In fact, most older kids who are struggling to read have problems because they are lacking in phonemic awareness skills.

You can encourage phonemic awareness without ever putting pen to paper, or showing your child a picture of the letter at all. Phonemic awareness has to do with SOUND.

So for instance, you might say, "What is the first sound you hear in this word? (Say CAT.) You want your child to pick up the "C" sound in cat, and then be able to tell you that this is the letter "C".

Here are some fun ways to practice just the sounds of letters and words:

Listen and learn songs for each letter of the alphabet. (Not the alphabet song - that song is great, but only teaches the names of the letters.)
Go on a scavenger hunt searching for items of a certain sound/letter.
Play rhyming games.
Play games that teach syllables.
Read aloud to your child often.
Everywhere you go, point out objects and sound them out with your child, deciding together what letter it might start with, or what sounds you hear within it.
Start with your child's name, teaching each letter and each letter's sound.

Beginning Sounds Picture Cards and Activities

I've created a set of beginning sounds picture cards or flashcards that you can use with your student(s) to practice initial sounds. You can grab these for free here, along with a bunch of other freebies for beginning readers!

Also, be sure to include other active ways to teach your child to hear and discriminate between different sounds.

Beginning Sounds Activities - Preschool ABC Bookmarks

Another way to work on initial and beginning sounds can be through these little bookmarks I made. Take a look at them below, and head over to Teachers Pay Teachers to grab them if you like! 🙂

Beginning Sounds Worksheets pdf FREE

Meanwhile, don't forget to head over to sign up through this link to get your FREE beginning sounds picture cards. I hope these are helpful to you!