From sounds to words
- Beginning sounds. Hear the first sound of a word and match it to its letter.
- Ending sounds. Listen to the end of the word, which is harder to hear.
- Short vowels. The middle sound: c _ t, p _ g, s _ n.
- Build the word. Write all three sounds, one in each box.
- Rhymes. Hear that cat and hat end the same way.
- Word families. Change the first sound: cat, hat, bat.
- Digraphs and blends. Two letters, one sound (sh, ch) or two quick sounds (fr, st).
Pictures first
Phonics practice works when children say the word out loud. A picture gives them the word without needing to read it, so they can focus on the sounds. Each picture is chosen to have one obvious name, and the letters use simple shapes children learn first, like the single-story a.
Keep going
Pair these with spelling worksheets for the words that can’t be sounded out, and withpicture puzzles for spelling whole words with pictures.
NCF and NCERT links
- UKGNIPUN Bharat expects Balvatika children to recognise letters and their sounds and to read simple words of two or three letters.
- Class 1The NCF-FS (C-10.1, C-11.1) has children hearing, blending and splitting the sounds in words, in their first and second languages.
- Class 1NIPUN Bharat’s Class 1 target is reading short sentences of four or five simple words.
The NCF-FS calls for a balanced approach: explicit teaching of letters and sounds, alongside reading for meaning. Children who have already learned how letters and sounds work in their home language find English phonics easier, because the idea is the same even if the script is new.
Say each picture’s name together first. Indian English sometimes uses other words for the same object, and the sheets need the word that matches the letters.
Summarised in our own words from the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCERT, 2022) and the NIPUN Bharat guidelines (Ministry of Education, 2021).
