Before a child can read a single word, they must first hear the individual sounds within it. This curriculum builds that foundation.
Phonemic awareness — the ability to identify, blend, and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words — is one of the strongest predictors of early reading success. Yet it’s one of the most commonly skipped steps in reading instruction. When children struggle to decode words, the missing piece is often not the letters themselves but the sounds those letters represent.
This resource addresses that gap directly. Ten systematically sequenced skill sets move students from identifying sounds in spoken words all the way to substituting phonemes in long vowel patterns — building the phonological processing skills that make decoding feel automatic rather than effortful.
What’s Inside
10 structured skill sets progressing from sound identification to advanced phoneme manipulation:
- Skill 1 — Identify words with three phonemes using brightly colored illustrations (includes teacher data tracking page)
- Skill 2 — Identify words with four phonemes using brightly colored illustrations (includes teacher data tracking page)
- Skill 3 — Orthographic mapping practice using letter tiles or handwriting, covering words with 2–4 letter sound combinations
- Skill 4 — 25 printable “I Spy” drill cards for blending and segmenting three-sound words
- Skill 5 — 25 printable drill cards for blending short vowel words
- Skill 6 — 25 printable drill cards for segmenting short vowel words
- Skill 7 — 25 printable drill cards for substituting short vowel sounds
- Skill 8 — 25 printable drill cards for blending long vowel words
- Skill 9 — 25 printable drill cards for segmenting long vowel words
- Skill 10 — 25 printable drill cards for substituting long vowel sounds
Simple To Use
Print, laminate for repeated use, and work through one skill set at a time at your student’s pace. Skills 1 and 2 are designed to be printed in color. Data tracking sheets are included for Skills 1 and 2 so progress is easy to monitor.
Best for: Parents, tutors, and reading specialists working with early readers, struggling readers, or students with dyslexia who need explicit, structured phonemic awareness instruction before or alongside letter-sound work.
