Instructional Activities
Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences
As children are developing early literacy skills, they begin to associate the phonemes (speech sounds) they hear with the graphemes (letters and letter combinations) they see. The activities in this section are designed to strengthen students’ phoneme-grapheme associations.
When teaching phoneme-grapheme correspondences, it’s important to model a pronunciation of each sound that can be used when blending sounds to make words. This video provides a demonstration of blendable pronunciations of the most common sound for each letter.
The order in which you introduce new phoneme-grapheme correspondences should follow your school’s scope and sequence for foundational skills in reading. If your school doesn’t have a scope and sequence, click here to download ours.
Alphabet
Alphabet knowledge includes knowledge of the letter names, knowledge of the letter sounds, knowledge of letter formation, and the ability to access this knowledge automatically. The activities in this section are designed to build students’ alphabet knowledge.
Visual Drills
Visual Drill: Alphabet (PowerPoint)
Visual Drill: Alphabet (Google Slides)
ABC Order
Grapheme Introduction
Grapheme Introductions: Short Vowels |
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| A | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| E | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| I | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| O | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| U | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
Grapheme Introductions: Consonants |
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| B | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| Hard C | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| Soft C | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| D | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| F | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| Hard G | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| Soft G | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| H | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| J | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| K | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| L | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| M | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| N | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| P | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| Q | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| R | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| S | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| T | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| V | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| W | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| X | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| Y | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| Z | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
Consonant Digraphs
A consonant digraph is a combination of two consonant letters that form a single consonant speech sound. The activities in this section are designed to strengthen students’ familiarity with digraphs.
Visual Drills
Visual Drill – Consonant Digraphs (PowerPoint)
Visual Drill – Consonant Digraphs (Google Slides)
Grapheme Introductions – Consonant Digraphs
| CH | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| PH | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| SH | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| TH | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| WH | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
Consonant Blends
Unlike consonant digraphs, in which two letters combine to represent a single sound, consonant blends are clusters of two or three consonants that each retain their own sounds. These activities help students develop automaticity with their recognition of consonant blends.
Other Graphemes
Visual Drill
Visual Drill: Other Graphemes (PowerPoint)
Visual Drill: Other Graphemes (Google Slides)
Grapheme Introductions
| CK | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| DGE | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| NG | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| TCH | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
R-Controlled Vowels
When a vowel is followed by an R, the sound of the vowel often changes and is said to be controlled by the vowel. There are three main r-controlled vowel sounds: the /ar/ sound, as in barn; the /or/ sound, as in corn; and the /er/ sound, as in fern, bird, and curl. The activities in this section are designed to build students’ proficiency with r-controlled vowels.
Visual Drill
Visual Drill: R-Controlled Vowels (PowerPoint)
Visual Drill: R-Controlled Vowels (Google Slides)
Grapheme Introductions
| AR /ar/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| ER /er/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| IR /er/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| OR /or/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| UR /ur/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
Vowel Teams
A vowel team is a combination of letters that represents a vowel sound. In some cases, a vowel team represents the sound of the first vowel (e.g., team, rain), while in other cases, it represents the sound of the second vowel (e.g., field), and in still others, it represents another sound altogether (e.g., beige, book). In some cases, vowel teams can include letters that aren’t vowels (e.g., dew, high). These activities help students develop automaticity with their recognition of vowel teams and the sounds associated with them.
Visual Drill
Visual Drill: Vowel Teams (PowerPoint)
Visual Drill: Vowel Teams (Google Slides)
Grapheme Introductions
| AI /ā/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| AY /ā/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| EA /ē/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| EE /ē/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| IE /ī/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| OA /ō/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| OI /oy/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| OU /ow/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| OW /ō/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| OW /ow/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |
| OY /oy/ | (PowerPoint) | (Google Slides) |