Phonics is a broad term in the category of grammar. A strategy for instructing individuals on how to comprehend and write an alphabetical language is called Phonics. Students understand the connections between spoken language sounds and written letters through phonics learning. While Phonics seems easy to teach, it is crucial to polish the language and vocabulary of children. Children who understand Phonics also know which letters to choose when constructing words.
Students may encounter the concept confusing because it contains matching separate letters or groups of letters to the sounds of spoken English. For example, the letter k can be written as c, k, ck, or ch. In this case, students can be confused as the car has the sound of k with the letter c. When trying to write a word, Phonics helps students acknowledge the sounds first and then write the corresponding letters. Hence, when students are introduced to the right sound, they are more likely to write correct spellings.
As Phonics can be a confusing part of grammar, several free websites help students, parents, and teachers understand the concept better. These websites enable teachers and parents to acquire knowledge, browse fresh activities, and get downloadable material for students.
Free phonic websites for kids
Free websites help students practice reading words wherein they recognize the letters and blend all the corresponding sounds. Check out these websites and ace at Phonics through free knowledge and notes available on the web.
1. Reading Bear
This is an excellent website for kids to access various free learning materials for understanding phonics. The website offers innovative learning techniques to engage children in a fun learning environment. With more than 1200 vocabulary items, it is an encouraging website filled with fundamentals of Phonics.
The website’s home page provides an understanding of the letter sounds. Students can either opt to view engaging presentations to understand the concept or take the quiz on multiple topics including digraphs, syllables, and blends. Human audio used in presentations makes it easier for students to comprehend the pronunciation and meaning of words.
Additionally, the website provides videos under the training videos tab. It includes introductory videos, parts of module training, and generating quiz review tests. The website is helpful for children to operate single-handedly as it is easy to navigate with entertaining graphics.
2. ABC Fast Phonics
An engaging all-online website offers easy access to learning with sounds. With Flash software available on most devices, students can hear the sounds, engage in grammatical concepts, and develop reading skills.
The website uses different cartoon characters and animated pictures to make learning fun for students. As it includes these visually appealing graphics, students can generally learn Phonics without additional help from parents or teachers. These pictures are clickable and produce sound to make students understand the concept. The home page offers various learning lessons on Vowels, letter sounds, consonants, two-letter types, and other phonics-related aspects.
Each lesson opens a new window to introduce students to the world of learning grammar and using the correct letters by listening to the sound. It develops their listening skills and improves their imagination.
3. Teach Your Monster to Read
Presenting an entertaining website best suited for students who love graphics and gaming. While most students love to engage in gaming experiences, this website offers to learn and read through storytelling concepts. The story revolves around a monster wherein children need to play games and find answers to understand Phonics.
The website content is developed to enable students to comprehend their phonics understanding through reading. As students read a story format, they also get an opportunity to play the game. Students can find games for number skills and reading for fun. Each section has a different set of games to offer interactive learning sessions.
Students can log in with student details, or parents can create an account for kids. The website is completely free only on the computer. Children get broad exposure to world education by playing games involving distinctive concepts.
Helpful websites for parents and teachers
While certain websites are more beneficial to students, here are the websites developed for instructors, parents, and adults to access study material and informative topics on Phonics. Check out the websites and take help from the free resources available in each one of them.
1. Phonics.com
Phonics.com is yet another engaging and helpful way for parents and teachers to engage in teaching Phonics. The website is absolutely free for users across the globe as it aims to impart important lifelong skills to students.
The home page is divided into 4 tabs – Phonics Alphabet, Phonics Play, Workbooks, and Blogs. The home page provides an opportunity for different lessons on Phonics. Each lesson offers teaching notes, downloadable revision worksheets, playful games, and workbooks. The best part about the website is that the data is well structured and easy to navigate to the lessons and download materials. This way, parents and teachers can assign these games to children as a part of their classroom or home-based learning activity.
This website is highly beneficial for Homeschoolers as the revision worksheets and workbooks offer visually appealing graphics, descriptive explanations, and entertaining activities for conceptual learning.
2. Lalilo
Lalilo is an interesting website to engage in experiential teaching for teachers. This website is absolutely free for teachers across the world. The website offers multiple training resources and materials excellent for teaching the concept of Phonics. Well, the website offers a lot more than phonics learning.
Teachers need to sign up with their credentials for lifetime access to the website. Various phonics worksheets are easily downloadable by teachers. The website also offers innovative strategies for classroom management, student study plans, sheets for tracking progress, and advice on different subject matters. It offers a bundle of lesson plans and printable to teach Phonics, letter sounds, and other grammatical concepts.
Additionally, the website is home to high-end blogs throwing light on teaching methodologies. The website offers literacy-driven exercises for students and structured planning tools for instructors.
3. Free Phonics Lesson
It can be challenging to compile relevant words and letter sounds for Phonics. Hence, this website is one of the ideal resources for parents and teachers to get exposure to multiple lessons.
On the home page, different sections offer interactive videos, references, and lessons. Teachers and parents can use these links to access multiple Phonics concepts. It covers the prominent lessons on Vowels, suffixes, blends, spelling patterns, digraphs, and silent letters. Each link leads to a lesson and some exercises and activities for students.
With such a website, parents and teachers can easily engage children in solving the exercises as a test or classroom activity. The lesson includes detailed explanations, examples, and reading practice statements at the end. It helps children improve their reading skills, improves concentration, and they find it entertaining with animated graphics.
Features to look out for in a website for phonics
As parents and teachers struggle with finding or creating the course content, it is always a good option to use free websites for teaching grammatical concepts. When using any website, you should keep in mind certain features that are highly essential in teaching children.
- The website should be easy to navigate and offer a user-friendly interface to access the material and study-related articles.
- Websites containing various high-end graphics and engaging animations should also have a mobile compatibility feature to access data in real time.
- Ensure the website offers detailed instructions for games and certain activities, as it can be confusing to figure out things without guidelines or a manual.
- Websites with search bars help teachers or parents get the exact details on a certain topic or teaching concept.
- When looking for a phonics website, ensure the content matches the requirement as certain websites might display irrelevant content, wasting time.
- Instructors and parents can look for websites that offer study materials or books that are easy to download or print for a quick learning session.
Summing up
As Phonics is one of the fundamental grammatical concepts that shape a child’s reading and writing skills, teachers and parents should engage in interactive activities and online games to teach this concept. The website mentioned above combines multiple worksheets, study materials, entertaining games, mobile applications, and well-structured articles.
It is important for instructors to also offer easy exercises to students that are available on the web. This helps students develop reading skills and improves memory. Students receive an excellent opportunity to be a part of an educational community followed by individuals worldwide.
I am Shweta Sharma. I am a final year Masters student of Clinical Psychology and have been working closely in the field of psycho-education and child development. I have served in various organisations and NGOs with the purpose of helping children with disabilities learn and adapt better to both, academic and social challenges. I am keen on writing about learning difficulties, the science behind them and potential strategies to deal with them. My areas of expertise include putting forward the cognitive and behavioural aspects of disabilities for better awareness, as well as efficient intervention. Follow me on LinkedIn