Beginning Phonics

Start these right after your letter and sound daily practice.

They put a few rules in your child’s ear early.

That helps reading now and spelling later.

Strong Readers Begin with a Strong Phonics Foundation.

Add these charts one at a time to your other phonic charts.

  • Start with the short a chart.

  • Short-a words are often the easiest to master: cat, sat, fat, man.

  • There are 2 charts for extra practice

  • Stay here as long as your child needs. Once short a is solid, the other short vowels usually come faster. You are teaching how to sound out a word, not how quickly you can leave letter A.

  • Confidence in the process matters more than finishing each the vowels.

  • Do not have your child memorize the list. Have them say each sound, then the word.

A simple way to practice

A black and white educational worksheet teaching the short 'a' sound with words, pictures, and examples.
Download first short A chart
Download second short A chart

Add short O words next

A black and white educational poster illustrating the short 'o' sound. It features a cute octopus drawing and lists words that contain the 'o' sound, including 'dot,' 'dog,' 'hog,' 'log,' 'fog,' 'cop,' 'pop,' 'box,' 'fox,' and 'stop.' The poster is decorated with hearts and dotted borders.
Download Short O

sounds for short e & i are often difficult for children to differentiate so it is wise to put u between them

A black-and-white educational worksheet about the short e sound, featuring a cartoon elephant at the top right, with the title 'Short e' and a phrase 'e says eh like in elephant.' It lists six words with short e sounds: leg, red, pen, men, jet, and vet, each on the left or right side, separated by a dotted line and small heart icons. The worksheet is decorated with dotted borders and small decorative hearts.
Download Short E
A printable educational worksheet featuring a word play on 'u' sounds. The title says 'Short u u says ū like umbrella,' with a small umbrella illustration. The worksheet lists two columns of words, with the left column containing words: cup, hut, pup, sun, fun, and the right column containing words: rug, bug, run, cut, nut. Decorative hearts and dotted borders surround the content, and it is created by Mrs. Bee.
Download short U
Educational chart showing words with the short i sound, including 'fit,' 'hill,' 'fish,' 'wish,' 'dish,' 'bill,' 'mitt,' 'pill,' 'miss,' and 'sit.' Contains illustrations of an igloo and decorative hearts.
A black-and-white educational worksheet with the title 'Short a' and the subtitle 'a says ă like in apple'. It features two columns of simple words: 'rag,' 'pat,' 'map,' 'man,' 'jam' on the left, and 'van,' 'sad,' 'wag,' 'cap,' 'lap' on the right. The worksheet is decorated with small hearts and dashed borders.
Download Short I
A black and white printable worksheet titled 'Sometimes y' with a smiling letter 'Y' in the top right corner. It has two columns of words starting with 'my,' 'sky,' 'by,' 'fly,' 'shy' on the left, and 'dry,' 'try,' 'fry,' 'cry,' 'why' on the right. There are decorative hearts at the top, middle, and bottom, and it is created by Mrs. Bee.
Download Y says I
Return to Kindergarten Overview

Start with the Color Words.

  1. Print the cover page

  2. Print 2 copies of the Color Words pages.

  3. Place 2 hole punches at the top of the pages.

  4. On one copy, underline each color word using the matching color.

    • Markers work best

    • Crayons work well too

    5. Add binder rings so pages can flip easily as you build your chart set.

Step 2:Add the H Brothers

The H Brothers are special letter teams that work together to make one new sound. Learning these sounds early will help later on.

How to Use the H Brothers Chart

  • Print the H Brothers cover page and chart.

  • Add it to your phonics rings behind the Color Words Chart.

  • Practice every day after your daily phonic drill.

  • As your charts grow you will not need to practice every chart every day. You might let your child choose 2 charts and you 2 choose charts.

Step 3: Meet the Baby Words

  • Once your child has been introduced to the E and O vowel sounds, they're ready to begin reading Baby Words.

  • Baby Words are special because they end with a vowel. When a Baby Word ends in a vowel, the vowel can say its own name.

Step 4: Meet Some Rule Breakers

Most of the time, these rules work, but there is always someone that wants to break the rules, like when letter “o” decides to use his third sound which is 0000 like in do & to

  • Print the Rule Breakers chart.

  • Add it to phonics chart rings

  • Practice reading the Rule Breaker

Step 5: Add the Little Words

  • Once your child has been introduced to the all the vowel sounds, they're ready to add Little Words to your beginning phonic charts.

  • Little Words do not end with a vowel, so the vowel is the short sound. Make sure you notice the difference between on & no in the list. You might talk about why they do what they do.

  • Print the Little Words and add it to your phonics chart.

  • Practice ( one time through is totally fine)

Cover page for phonics charts with the title 'Beginning Phonics Charts' and the subtitle 'Building a strong foundation for confident readers.' It features a cartoon girl and boy standing beside a stack of books topped with an apple, with a bee flying nearby.
Download the Color Words Chart Pack (free download)
A children's rhyme explaining how to say 'sh', 'th', 'wh', and 'ch' sounds with instructions and example phrases.
A black-and-white educational chart titled 'Baby Words' with a rule stating that when a baby word ends in a vowel, the vowel can say its own name. The chart lists simple words like 'me', 'he', 'we', 'be', 'bee', 'see', 'ho-ho-ho' on the left and their vowel sounds 'go', 'so', 'no', 'I', 'a', 'A' on the right.
A black and white educational poster titled "Rule Breakers" explaining a rule about breaking rules with an example. It states most rules work, but someone always breaks them, like when the letter "o" uses its third sound, "ooo," as in the words "do," "who," "zoo," "boo," "Pooh," and "kangaroo." The poster is decorated with a dotted border and a small heart with lines on either side.
Educational poster explaining that little words do not end in a vowel, so the vowel is the short sound, with examples of words like 'is,' 'it,' 'in,' 'at,' 'up,' 'on,' 'an,' 'am,' 'no,' 'at,' 'in,' 'up,' 'on,' 'an,' 'am' arranged in two columns.
Color words with color underlines: red with a red line, purple with a purple line, orange with an orange line, brown with a brown line, yellow with a yellow line, black with a black line, blue with a blue line, pink with a pink line.
A black and white educational coloring sheet titled 'Color Words' with a list of color words in two columns: red, orange, yellow, green, blue on the left and purple, brown, black, white, pink on the right.
Download the H Brothers (free download)
Download Baby Words (free download)
Download Some Rule Breakers (free download)
Download Little Words (free download)

Add these after your have completed all the vowels and as your child becomes ready to move forward. No need to rush!