Phonics and early decoding
Connect known letters and sounds, blend accurately, and read a short text without guessing.
Ready for your next group
10 distinct activities, separate adult pages, a 4-page delivery guide and a progress record. Free. No sign-up.
A4 · UK spelling · Suggested Reception-Year 2. Select by skill; these are not curriculum-alignment claims.
The complete PDF contains the guide followed by 10 two-page activities. Print only learner pages when answers should stay with the adult.
Before you begin
Agree the entry point with the class teacher or phonics lead. Learners need the specific letter-sound correspondences listed on each activity; teach missing correspondences within the school programme first.
These materials supplement the school systematic phonics programme, not replace it. Follow its sequence. Each sheet states its required correspondences. Learners decode the printed words; do not prompt guessing from pictures or context. Adults read task instructions. No audio feature is included.
Ten connected teaching steps
Activity 1Blend the first six
Blend known correspondences accurately and check the whole word.
Download activity + adult notes
Activity 2Build it, change it
Blend known correspondences accurately and check the whole word.
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Activity 3A short-o word path
Blend known correspondences accurately and check the whole word.
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Activity 4Listen, read, sort
Blend known correspondences accurately and check the whole word.
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Activity 5Read, then explain
Blend known correspondences accurately and check the whole word.
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Activity 6Two letters, one sound
Blend known correspondences accurately and check the whole word.
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Activity 7Read ck as one sound
Blend known correspondences accurately and check the whole word.
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Activity 8Spot sh, then blend
Blend known correspondences accurately and check the whole word.
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Activity 9Change sh to ch
Blend known correspondences accurately and check the whole word.
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Activity 10Read a small text
Blend known correspondences accurately and check the whole word.
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Deliver, observe, revisit
Choose one aim. Review a known example, model aloud, practise together and give each learner a fresh turn. Keep the class teacher involved and use the progress record to note examples and the help needed, rather than awarding a diagnostic score.
If the learner cannot recall a correspondence, return to that taught correspondence. If sounds are known but blending breaks down, model continuous blending with two or three sounds. Revisit a word after a delay before increasing complexity.
Sources and limits
These are original teaching materials, not a validated intervention. No guaranteed improvement, diagnostic interpretation or curriculum endorsement is claimed. Sources inform teaching principles; they do not validate these sheets.
- DfE: The Reading Framework (England)
- IES: Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding, K-3 (US)
- EEF: Oral language interventions
Sources checked 20 October 2026.