Top 12 Easiest Phonics Sounds! - Red Cat Reading (2024)

Learning to read is essential for children. Reading and understanding the written word plays a huge part in our everyday lives. Whether children learn to read for work, school, or pleasure, reading is necessary for all children to have developmental success. While there are various ways to teach reading, teaching children phonic sounds is a great place to start. In general, phonics are the sounds that are associated with a letter or group of letters. Read on to find out more about helping your child to learn the easiest phonics sounds!

Sound it Out

Many parents and/or teachers including myself have said the phrase “sound it out.” That’s exactly what phonics are. They are sounds put together to form words and help children learn to read and spell words. The easiest phonics to teach children to read are s, a, t, p, i, n, d, e, m, h, and, b. Even though you might not think you know how to teach phonics, I’d like to share with you some fun ways to incorporate phonics into your everyday life so that you can help your child be a super successful reader. It’s easy, I promise!

Top 12 Easiest Phonics Sounds! - Red Cat Reading (1)

Easy Phonics Activities

Collecting Items

One of the best ways to teach phonics is to identify things in your child’s environment that begin with the corresponding letter sound. For example, you could grab a basket or bin that you and your child can fill together with items that begin with the letter P. In the container, you could add a pencil, a paperclip, a picture, a popsicle stick, and a Peppa Pig toy. All of these items start with a letter P and you and your child can practice saying the P sound as you identify the items in the basket. Your child won’t even realize they are learning with this fun activity.

Building Blocks

Another fun way to teach phonics sounds is to use interlocking building blocks. Not the tiny little ones, but rather the Duplo or Megablok sized blocks. Take a permanent marker and write letters on the side of the blocks to spell simple sight words. Then, use a longer block as the base and write the correct word on it so the child knows what letters to look for. For example, you might write the letter T on one block, A on another, and N on the final block. On the longer, rectangular block, write the word “TAN.” Then, you can explain to your child the find the T, A, N and you can put them all together to “build” a word. As your child gets more comfortable with the different phonics sounds, he or she can change up the first letter to practice other easy phonics such as man, ran, pan, and so on. You can find more info about this activity by visiting The Printable Princess. My own son isn’t a huge fan of reading and writing, but when I asked him to play blocks with me, he didn’t argue one bit and he didn’t even realize that he was learning. This one is sure to be a hit!

Top 12 Easiest Phonics Sounds! - Red Cat Reading (2)

Red Cat Reading Phonics Videos and Books

In this day and age, kids love to use their computers and tablets so why not let them? Red Cat Reading has amazing phonics books and other resources to teach phonics to children.

This Red Cat Reading video is one of the many great resources that we have to offer and we have many more phonics videos for kids. It features the Top 12 Easiest English Phonics (as chosen by us!):s, a, t, i, p, n, d, e, c, b, m and h

The more your child hears these sounds and associates them with letters and words, the better readers they will become. If we give children a good foundation and quality phonics training, they will grow and develop into strong readers. The tools offered through Red Cat Reading are engaging, very kid friendly, and all free with your 2 week trial! The phonics videos, books, and games for kids on our website make learning phonics a blast! While we don’t necessarily want kids to have tons of screen time, these educational activities are well worth checking out. Don’t miss out and visit our website today!
Top 12 Easiest Phonics Sounds! - Red Cat Reading (3)

〜 By Gabrielle Fisher

Top 12 Easiest Phonics Sounds! - Red Cat Reading (2024)

FAQs

Top 12 Easiest Phonics Sounds! - Red Cat Reading? ›

The easiest phonics to teach children to read are s, a, t, p, i, n, d, e, m, h, and, b. Even though you might not think you know how to teach phonics, I'd like to share with you some fun ways to incorporate phonics into your everyday life so that you can help your child be a super successful reader.

What are the easiest sounds to learn? ›

Easier words are made with nose sounds (m, n, ng), low pressure sounds (l, w, r, y, h) and vowels (e.g. ahh, eee, ooh). Words like more, no, wow, hello, owl, yeah, eye and ear are therefore easier words for your child to learn.

What are the most common phonics sounds? ›

In first grade, phonics lessons start with the most common single-letter graphemes and digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh, and ck). Continue to practice words with short vowels and teach trigraphs (tch, dge). When students are proficient with earlier skills, teach consonant blends (such as tr, cl, and sp).

What are the 42 phonics sounds? ›

LETTER SOUND ORDER
  • s, a, t, i, p, n.
  • ck, e, h, r, m, d.
  • g, o, u, l, f, d.
  • ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or.
  • z, w, ng, v, oo, oo.
  • y, x, ch, sh, th, th.
  • qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar.

What sounds are in phonics for grade 1? ›

What is Phonics? In 1st grade, readers recognize and read words with ch, th, sh, and ph, read regularly spelled one-syllable words, know long vowel sound/spellings, read two-syllable words that follow basic patterns, and recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

What are the easiest phonics sounds? ›

The easiest phonics to teach children to read are s, a, t, p, i, n, d, e, m, h, and, b. Even though you might not think you know how to teach phonics, I'd like to share with you some fun ways to incorporate phonics into your everyday life so that you can help your child be a super successful reader.

What sounds should be taught first? ›

Letters that occur frequently in simple words (e.g., a, m, t) are taught first. Letters that look similar and have similar sounds (b and d) are separated in the instructional sequence to avoid confusion. Short vowels are taught before long vowels.

What is the most difficult phonics? ›

In the case of the hardest phonics, usually the most difficult sounds for young children are words that involve a hard th, soft th, ch, sh, ng, r, wh and ck sounds in the words.

What type of phonics is most effective? ›

Systematic phonics instruction is significantly more effective than non-systematic or no phonics instruction in helping to prevent reading difficulties among at-risk students and in helping children overcome reading difficulties.

Which is the best phonics? ›

Introducing new words after that is quite simple.
  • All Aboard Phonics. All Aboard Phonics is a great program and it's verified by the British Department of Education. ...
  • Bug Club Phonics. ...
  • Junior Learning Letters & Sounds. ...
  • McKie Mastery Power Phonics. ...
  • Jolly Phonics. ...
  • Song of Sounds. ...
  • Sound Discovery. ...
  • Twinkl Phonics.
Sep 27, 2022

What order should phonics be taught? ›

Here is a simple sequence of phonics elements for teaching sound-out words that moves from the easiest sound/spelling patterns to the most difficult:
  1. Consonants & short vowel sounds.
  2. Consonant digraphs and blends.
  3. Long vowel/final e.
  4. Long vowel digraphs.
  5. Other vowel patterns.
  6. Syllable patterns.
  7. Affixes.

What letters should a child learn first? ›

Letters like s, t, r, m, n, a, o, and p should be taught first. These are “high-frequency” letters and emphasis on these letters first will allow children to quickly start reading simple words.

What are the 44 phonetic sounds? ›

Note that the 44 sounds (phonemes) have multiple spellings (graphemes) and only the most common ones have been provided in this summary.
  • 20 Vowel Sounds. 6 Short Vowels. a. e. i. o. u. oo u. cat. leg. sit. top. rub. book. put. 5 Long Vowels. ai ay. ee ea. ie igh. oe ow. oo ue. paid. tray. bee. beat. pie. high. toe. flow. moon. ...
  • 24 Consonant Sounds.

What is phonics for grade 1 beginners? ›

In 1st grade your child will start by being able to read CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant words) like t-a-p, then move on to read words that start with bl, sl, and tr. They'll learn that the letter “e” at the end of some words will be silent (gone, time). They'll also master long vowel sounds such as ai, ee, oa.

What are the basic phonics for 2nd grade? ›

2nd graders are expected to learn the letter blends: str, tr, sw, st , sp, sn, sm, sl, sc, pl, gr, fl, dr, cr, cl, br, and bl. Demonstrate this concept by blending together two or three flavors in a smoothie, such as strawberry, banana and vanilla.

What is Level 1 phonics for kids? ›

Level 1 phonics is the first of six stages in the Twinkl Phonics programme. Unlike later levels where children will learn all about letters, sounds and the graphemes that represent them, Level 1 focuses on helping children to develop good listening and early speaking skills.

What are the basic English sounds? ›

Some examples of common digraphs are listed below.
  • ch: chin and ouch.
  • sh: ship and push.
  • th: thing.
  • th: this.
  • wh: when.
  • ng: ring.
  • nk: rink.
Oct 15, 2019

Which sounds are hardest to learn? ›

That the hardest sounds for children to learn are often the l, r, s, th, and z is probably not surprising to many parents, who regularly observe their children mispronouncing these sounds or avoiding words that use these letters. Typically, such behavior is completely normal for children.

At what age should a child learn sound? ›

Kindergarteners (5 To 6 Years Old)

Formal introduction to “sounding out” or decoding words begins at this age. As part of this work, your child will benefit from learning to hear individual phonemes (single letter sounds) in words — a foundational skill for sounding out words.

In what order should the alphabet and sounds be taught? ›

In choosing an order like this, it's wise to start with letters whose sounds can be sustained (like s, f, or m), teach high utility letters first (for example, waiting to teach letters like z and x) and order the short vowels in what is often considered the best order (a, i, o, e, u).

Why isn t phonics taught anymore? ›

After several decades of so-called reading wars, where dubious theories led educators to abandon the phonics method in favor of a variety of divergent — and often unsuccessful — literacy learning techniques, a growing number of states and districts are right back where they started.

What is the weakest phoneme? ›

The phoneme D has the weakest pattern and energy of all the fricatives; it can almost disappear in rapid speech, and unfortunately it occurs in many of the most common function words in English (the, that, then, there, their, etc.).

What grade level is phonics? ›

What is phonics? In 4th and 5th grades, children are combining their knowledge of letter-sound relationships, syllable patterns, and word/segment meanings to read unfamiliar multisyllabic words. They can break words into their parts and analyze each component to help them read and understand grade appropriate words.

What are the 4 types of phonics? ›

What are the 4 Types of Phonics Teaching for Children? There are four major types of phonics teaching methods that children who are studying phonics to learn to read might be taught. These include synthetic phonics, analogy phonics, analytic phonics, and embedded phonics.

Is there anything better than hooked on phonics? ›

For your budding readers of ages 2-8, HOMER is an incredible online platform that teaches students how to read through fun activities and games. In fact, HOMER has been shown to improve early reading scores by 74%! That's why we consider HOMER to be the very best Hooked On Phonics alternative out there today.

What are the four main types of phonics? ›

There are four major types of phonics teaching methods which children who are studying English phonetics to learn to read might be taught. These include synthetic phonics, analogy phonics, analytic phonics and embedded phonics. Read on to learn more about each of these different teaching structures.

What is high quality phonics? ›

High-quality phonic teaching, therefore, secures the crucial skills of word recognition that, once mastered, enable children to read fluently and automatically thus freeing them to concentrate on the meaning of the text.

What age is good for phonics? ›

So when should children start learning phonics? Research shows that children are ready to start phonics programmes when they have learned to identify all the letters of the alphabet – which is usually somewhere between three and four years of age.

Which is better phonics or jolly phonics? ›

Jolly Phonics is effective because it uses a more child-centred approach to introducing phonics to children. Learning the correct pronunciation of letters can help give students a head start in reading3, because children learn letter-sound knowledge to put words together.

Which blends to teach first? ›

The most common beginning blends that are typically introduced to students first include bl, br, cl, br, dr, fr, tr, fl, gl, gr, pl, pr, sl, sm, sp, and st.

What are the 5 basic reading skills? ›

There are five aspects to the process of reading: phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, reading comprehension and fluency. These five aspects work together to create the reading experience. As children learn to read they must develop skills in all five of these areas in order to become successful readers.

Do you teach the alphabet or phonics first? ›

In Montessori education we teach the letter sounds first. This helps with reading. Once the child knows the letter sounds they can begin to write with the movable alphabet. It's also important to then teach the names after the phonetics.

What are the easiest letters to teach? ›

Start with letters that contain only vertical and horizontal lines (L, I, E, F, H, T). Slowly introduce letters with curves (C, O, Q). Finally end with letters with diagonal lines (A, N, M, etc). Children learn best through play based learning, so make sure to have fun while teaching!

What helps kids learn letters fast? ›

8 Simple Ways for Teaching Kids the Alphabet
  • Use everyday items to create an alphabet chart.
  • Play letter sounds games.
  • Introduce new letters on a regular basis.
  • Use songs and rhymes.
  • Encourage them to write their own letters.
  • Use toys to help reinforce letter sounds.
  • Introduce handwriting early on.
  • Reward their efforts.
May 10, 2022

How many letters should a 4 year old know? ›

Late Preschool (Age 4)

Kids usually begin to: recognize familiar signs and labels, especially on signs and containers. recognize words that rhyme. name some of the letters of the alphabet (a good goal to strive for is 15–18 uppercase letters)

What are the 10 codes in phonetics? ›

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

What are the 12 phonetic vowels? ›

If you observe the position of the tongue, the mouth will remain the same when these words are pronounced. There are 12 pure vowels or monophthongs in English – /i:/, /?/, /?/, /u:/, /e/, /?/, /?:/, /?:/, /æ/, /?/, /?:/ and /?/.

What is Stage 1 phonics? ›

What is Phase 1 phonics? Phase 1 phonics is the first stage of the phonics teaching programme. At this stage, the focus is primarily on developing speaking and listening skills. Speaking and listening are an important set of literacy skills that will create the foundation to a lot of your children's further learning.

What age is phonics Level 1? ›

This is usually between the ages of 3 and 4. How will my child learn Phase 1 phonics? In phase 1 phonics, children will focus on listening to the sounds around them and also begin building on their segmenting and blending skills.

What is basic phonics? ›

Phonics involves matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters. For example, the sound k can be spelled as c, k, ck or ch. Teaching children to blend the sounds of letters together helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words by sounding them out.

What is phonics for 3 grade? ›

What is Phonics? In 3rd grade, readers will be able to read multisyllabic and irregularly spelled words. They will know the 6 syllable types and be able to apply them when they are breaking words down.

What is phonics skill for 2nd grade? ›

In 2nd grade, readers can distinguish long and short vowels when reading, read regularly spelled words with long vowels, read words with common prefixes and suffixes, and recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

How to teach phonics in grade 1 2? ›

Here are some basic tips on how to help your child build phonics skills:
  1. Talk about letters and sounds. Help your child learn the names of the letters and the sounds the letters make. ...
  2. Model finger-point reading. ...
  3. Practice patience! ...
  4. Encourage attention to letters and sounds.

What reading level are kids in grade 1? ›

Entering first graders should be able to: Read 80-100 Kindergarten Sight Words (see OCPS sight word list link) Identify all uppercase and lowercase letters. Identify all letters and their sounds.

What age is Level 2 phonics? ›

Phase 2 Phonics (Ages 4 - 5)

What are the 7 short sounds? ›

There are 7 'short' vowel sounds, although children are usually only introduced to the 5 which are most commonly heard in simple CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words: /a,(æ)/ in cat, /e,(e)/ in peg, /i,(I)/ in pin, /o,(ɒ)/ in hot, /u,(ʌ)/ in bus.

What sound is best to study to? ›

The best sounds to listen to when studying include classical music, white noise, and nature sounds.

What are the basic sounds? ›

Basic sounds: buzz, hiss, and pop. There are three basic modes of sound production in the human vocal tract that play a role in speech: the buzz of vibrating vocal cords, the hiss of air pushed past a constriction, and the pop of a closure released.

What are the 12 sounds? ›

English Speech Sounds -12 Pure Vowels(Monophthongs) & their Symbols
  • As you might have heard that there are 5 vowels a,e,i,o,u. ...
  • Monophthongs are also called pure vowels as they have single sound in their pronunciation. ...
  • /a:/ Palm/pa:m/, Calm/ka:m/, Cart/ka:t/
  • /u:/ Cool/ku:l/, Fool/fu:l/, Food/fu:d/

Is cat a long a or short a? ›

The short vowel sound for A can be found in words like apple, attitude, cat, actually, and can.

What are the 45 sounds? ›

  • a. cat, hand, fan. Centre Single Vowels (tongue relatively flat) əә ...
  • a, al, ar. glass half car. Back Single Vowels (tongue pulled back) uː ...
  • o, a. rob top watch. Double (Diphthong) Vowels (2 positions) eɪ ...
  • o, o_e, oa. no stone road. aʊ ou, ow. ...
  • b. bag rob. t. time late. ...
  • football. f. full knife. FRICATIVE. ...
  • ʃ shirt crash. ʒ ...
  • bang. w. wall.
Feb 1, 2016

What is the best sound for ADHD? ›

Brown noise for ADHD is thought to be particularly beneficial. Brown noise, like white noise, plays sound at all frequencies. However, brown noise plays lower frequencies louder and high frequencies softer. It's thought to be a better color of noise to fall asleep to, because it can support sleep and relaxation.

Which sound is good for brain? ›

Binaural beats in the alpha frequencies (8 to 13 Hz) are thought to encourage relaxation, promote positivity, and decrease anxiety. Binaural beats in the lower beta frequencies (14 to 30 Hz) have been linked to increased concentration and alertness, problem-solving, and improved memory.

What sound helps you memorize? ›

White noise contains equal amounts of all the sound frequencies that we can hear. Since at least 2007, research has suggested that it can boost the memory and attention levels of children diagnosed with ADHD.

What is the easiest language to learn phonetically? ›

Romanian is an easy language to learn because it's a phonetic language. Similar to Spanish and Italian, Romanian letters are always pronounced the same way. Once you master how to pronounce them, you can say any word in the whole language!

Which sounds are easier to lip read? ›

'Who', 'what', 'where', 'when', 'which', and 'why', for starters. And the words 'a', 'oh', and 'the', which we say all the time. Those other sounds that we can't see because they're behind the lips, in the throat—well, that is when you pay attention to the context.”

What is sound for beginners? ›

Sound is made up of vibrations, or sound waves, that we can hear. These sound waves are formed by objects vibrating (shaking back and forth).

What are 5 pleasant sounds? ›

1. Pleasant sounds
  • Music sound from Harmonium.
  • Song sounds from human being.
  • Bird's sound in the morning.
  • Slow wind's sound.
  • Vibration sound of leaves of tree.
  • Sound of raining.

How can I learn phonetics easily? ›

Make a list of vocabulary words written in IPA and try to sound out each word, paying attention to both the consonant and vowel symbols and other special symbols, like diacritics and suprasegmentals. You can also reinforce your knowledge further by writing out familiar words phonetically.

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