Planning phonics activities that are effective for all students can be overwhelming. Phonics mats are a simple way to differentiate instruction for younger learners in the classroom. Learn how to use them with students in small groups and centers!
Phonics Activities to Excited Young Learners
Phonics is the foundation of learning to read! You can’t jump into reading books without first reviewing the basics. Phonics is learning to correlate letters and their sounds to create and read words. It involved understanding how letters and their sounds work together to make words.
When teaching phonics, using simple activities that are fun for kids, like Phonics Mats, is a fantastic way to introduce and solidify those necessary language skills. They can be incorporated into literacy centers, small group phonics lessons, or independent practice times and morning work.
Table of Contents
- Phonics Activities to Excited Young Learners
- Common Challenges
- What are Phonics Mats?
- What do Phonics Mats Include?
- How & When to Use Them
- What Teachers Are Saying About Phonics Mats
- Phonics Mats Resources
- More Phonics Ideas to Try in the Classroom
Common Challenges
All students have challenges in certain areas of literacy in the classroom. Whether they are working on letter sounds or reading comprehension, there’s always something to build on. Let’s look at a couple of ways phonics mats will help students.
Scenario 1
Imagine this: Students enter your classroom with varying degrees of understanding around letter sounds and words. Some can identify letters and read short CVC words, while others are still learning all the letter sounds.
Sound familiar?
An easy way to ensure all students’ needs are met is to provide them with differentiated phonics activities. Phonics Mats allow students to work on the skills they need to learn and strengthen: beginning sounds, CVC words, reading comprehension, and more. Just place them in centers, use them in small groups, or assign them as morning work and let kids practice their skills!
Scenario 2
Imagine this: You’ve delivered your daily phonics lesson about reading and writing final sounds in CVC words. Students need to practice somehow, but you aren’t sure how. You wish you had an activity that students could work on independently and facilitate learning in small group time with the teacher.
Can you relate?
Setting up centers and small group time with various phonics activities will help students master reading and writing skills. With Phonics Mats, kids can work on skills taught during lessons, and you’ll have something you can teach further while at your teacher’s table. The differentiated mats allow for tons of flexibility!
What are Phonics Mats?
Phonics Mats are simple, one-page activity worksheets where students work on different literacy skills. Each set of Phonics Mats covers a different skill set kids in kindergarten and first grade need to learn: alphabet, consonant sounds, short vowels, phoneme practice, rhyming, long vowels, blends, and more.
Students work on fun activities, such as searching for pictures that match a phonetic pattern, tracing, reading short passages and answering comprehension questions, identifying sounds, and more.
What do Phonics Mats Include?
There are many different types of Phonics Mats to use with kids. Each targets a different skill and can be used independently or in a group.
Alphabet Phonics Mats
Students identify, find, trace, and write the letters of the alphabet on these mats. These are perfect for the beginning of the school year.
In the alphabet phonics resource, students will
- ⭐ Read through uppercase and lowercase letters
- ⭐ Build fluency with repeated reading
- ⭐ Match to identify uppercase and lowercase letters
- ⭐ Practice writing their uppercase and lowercase letters
- ⭐ Show their knowledge of letter order by filling in missing letters
Consonant Phonics Mats
These mats cover letters and their sounds. They also cover filling in missing letter sounds in words and writing upper and lowercase letters.
In the consonant sound phonics resource, students will
- ⭐ Read through uppercase and lowercase consonant sounds
- ⭐ Show comprehension through drawing ad question answering
- ⭐ Match to identify uppercase and lowercase letters
- ⭐ Practice writing their uppercase and lowercase letters
- ⭐ Show their knowledge of letter order by filling in missing letters
Rhyming Phonics Mats
These mats go over the basics of rhyming words. Students color pictures based on words that rhyme. The words focus on short vowel sounds as well!
In the rhyming phonics resource, students will
- ⭐ Read passages with decodable words, rhyming words, and sight words
- ⭐ Build fluency with repeated reading
- ⭐ Answer questions that require students to refer to text for the answers
- ⭐ Practice writing complete sentences
- ⭐ Use Elkonin boxes to spell and write rhyming words
- ⭐ Produce and write rhyming words when given a picture and word cue
- ⭐ Rainbow write a set of 5 rhyming words
Phoneme Segmentation Phonics Mats
Students will use these mats to decode words and the sounds in words. They will build their fluency, practice sentences, and answer short comprehension questions.
In the phoneme segmentation phonics resource, students will
- ⭐ Read passages with decodable words, identify letter sounds, and read sight words
- ⭐ Build fluency with repeated reading
- ⭐ Answer questions that require students to refer to text for the answers
- ⭐ Practice writing complete sentences
- ⭐ Use Elkonin boxes to spell decodable words
- ⭐ Recognize and write letter sounds when given a picture and word cue
- ⭐ Rainbow write a set of 5 words that share a common sound
Short Vowel Phonics Mats
Kids will use these mats to read and write short vowel sounds. They will also illustrate pictures that match short vowel words, answer simple questions, and practice fluency.
In the short vowel phonics resource, students will
- ⭐ Practice tracing and printing short vowel letters
- ⭐ Work on decoding and fluency with repeated readings
- ⭐ Show comprehension through drawing and multiple-choice questions
- ⭐ Practice listening for and isolating short vowel sounds
- ⭐ Show their knowledge of short vowels by filling in missing sounds within a word
Consonant Blend Phonics Mats
Students use these mats to identify and write consonant blends in words. They find, highlight, and write blends and answer simple questions.
In the consonant blend phonics resource, students will
- ⭐ Practice tracing and printing beginning blends
- ⭐ Work on decoding and fluency with repeated readings
- ⭐ Show comprehension through drawing and multiple-choice questions
- ⭐ Practice listening for and isolating consonant blend sounds
- ⭐ Show their knowledge of blends by filling in missing letters within a word
How & When to Use Them
The great thing about Phonics Mats is that they can be used in virtually any area of the classroom. Use them to reinforce a skill in independent literacy centers or use them to facilitate learning one on one during rotations. They’re also great for whole group practice, so you can see where each student is in terms of their skill level.
Print them off for individual student use as a consumable or laminate them to use over and over in centers. Students can use a dry-erase marker and wipe them clean for the next student. Use the varying pages to get tons of practice and differentiation for students.
Here are a few ways to use the Phonics Mats in the classroom.
- Print Phonics Mats on cardstock, laminate them, and use them with whiteboard markers in your literacy center.
- Print Phonics Mats and include them in your literacy center for many choices.
- Copy Phonics Mats back to back with the cover page to create a daily practice journal.
- Copy and put it into a folder. Use it for morning work or fast finishers.
- Use it with your class in Google Classroom.
Digital Phonics Mats
In this age of technology, digital resources are a lifesaver for teachers in the classroom. Phonics Mats are offered as digital resources so students can use them at home or in computer centers. Assign them through Google Classroom or PowerPoint and let students do the rest.
What Teachers Are Saying About Phonics Mats
Being able to write on the pages once they have been laminated and slipped into plastic sleeves saves copying and the students have enjoyed the diversity of that recording strategy. – Debra S.
My students loved these and I loved using them! It was a great review and helped me learn a little more about what my students were missing. – Erin H.
Students have fun completing these mats. They look forward to working on these every morning. Love the different options available to differentiate for my students. – Joana O.
As a recently assigned Learning Support teacher for our 3-5 graders, I need resources that will fit my diverse learners in our classrooom. I look for engaging materials and resources to assist in making my lessons run efficiently and are easy to use. Thank you for helping meet these needs. – Cindy C.
Phonics Mats Resources
Try the Phonics Mats by Proud to be Primary. They all include multiple pages of practice for students. They’re versatile, easy to print, and kids love them.
- Consonant Phonics Mats
- Rhyming Phonics Mats
- Alphabet Phonics Mats
- Phoneme Phonics Mats
- Short Vowel Phonics Mats
- Consonant Blends Phonics Mats
- Digraphs Phonics Mats – coming soon
- Syllables Phonics Mats – coming soon
- Long Vowels (Silent e) Phonics Mats – coming soon
- Long Vowels (Vowel Teams) Phonis Mats – coming soon
Free Phonics Mats to Try
Try Phonics Mats in your classroom with this 15-page FREE resource! Place in centers or use during morning work or small groups for student practice. These no-prep activities will help kids work on letter sounds, decoding, rhyming, letter recognition, and more.
Click the image below to grab a copy.
If you like this resource, you’ll also love Writing Mats! Like Phonics Mats, they’re great for writing centers and practicing handwriting, finger spaces, and conventions.
More Phonics Ideas to Try in the Classroom
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