{"id":4056,"date":"2023-09-15T06:58:51","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T14:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.abcmouse.com\/learn\/?p=4056"},"modified":"2026-04-27T13:10:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T20:10:50","slug":"how-to-teach-phonics-to-kindergarteners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abcmouse.com\/learn\/advice\/how-to-teach-phonics-to-kindergarteners\/4056","title":{"rendered":"How to Teach Phonics to Kindergarteners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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How to Teach Phonics to Kindergarteners<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Tips and activities to help make learning phonics fun for your kindergartener. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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By Jill Staake<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reviewed by Dr. Stanley Diih<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Table of Contents<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Phonics and Phonemic Awareness<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making Letter-Sound Correspondence Automatic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning Vowels and Consonants<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introducing CVC Words<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tackling Beginning Blends<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When your child reaches kindergarten age, it\u2019s time to start focusing on learning to read in earnest. Before they move on to first grade, they\u2019ll need to have mastered basic phonics<\/strong> so they\u2019ll be ready to apply those skills as they continue their reading journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what is this concept exactly, and do you teach phonics to kindergarteners?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Phonics Vs.<\/strong> Phonemic Awareness<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Phonics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Phonics is a way of teaching kids to read by focusing on the letters in a word and their corresponding sounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In kindergarten, kids should master breaking words into individual sounds, and putting sounds together to form new words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time they finish this important year of learning, students should be able to decode (sound out) simple 2 and 3 letter words using their basic phonics skills. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Phonemic Awareness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Building a child’s phonemic awareness can support them in phonics instruction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phonemic awareness is like having a special pair of ears that can hear and manipulate the tiniest sounds in words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever noticed how you can say “cat” and hear the separate sounds – “cuh,” “aah,” and “tuh”? Think of words as puzzles made of sounds, and you’re the puzzle solver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Note: <\/strong>Many experts recommend teaching letter phonics in a specific order<\/strong>, rather than alphabetically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A goal of learning phonics is to get kids reading simple words more quickly, helping emergent readers recognize the progress they\u2019re making. Opinions differ on the exact best order to teach letter phonics; here are few to consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n