Sounds First Phonemic Awareness Program
The Best for All Sounds First Curriculum is a 4-year sequence of
daily phonemic awareness lessons, both basic and advanced,
designed for use in pre-K through 2nd grade.
They are easily modified for use with older students who might need reinforcement. For more information, read the overview for each grade at the beginning of the first set of lessons.
These lively 15-minutes-a-day lessons were developed as an Open Educational Resource for the Tennessee Department of Education in the spring of 2020 by a team led by Meredith and David Liben.
These are freely available for use, adaptation, and reproduction under a Creative Commons Non Commercial License.
For tips on how to efficiently print the lessons below, click here.
Pre-Kindergarten
Grade One
Kindergarten
Grade Two
Phonemic Awareness Videos
This small set of videos introduces some of the signature moves built into the Best for All Sounds First Curriculum and used over and over to support learning. Each is addressed to students, and models the teacher moves. The videos all use Kindergarten lessons, but teachers in any grade can watch these with or without their students to learn how to make the lively rhythms and movements designed to make these lessons joyous and fun and ‘sticky’ for young learners. Presenting these skills precisely, crisply and quickly is essential to developing accurate phonemic skills in students.
Before you plunge in: are you confident in your ability to pronounce all the phonemes? The best free source we know for learning precise phoneme pronunciation is “44 Phonemes” generously made available by Rollins University Center for Language and Literacy. We highly recommend watching this short video to insure you are making each sound accurately. This is crucial for student success.
Introduction - 3 tips for “Sounds First” All grades
Cut off the Sound, Word on the Curve Kindergarten & Grade 1, Week 1
This video offers quick tips for teaching the Sounds First lessons in any grade.
The motion modeled here is used in the “experiencing lessons” with any deletion skill. Here the deletion of the beginning sound is modeled.
Silence the End Kindergarten, Week 5
Mix it Up Kindergarten, Week 9
The beginning sound is grabbed and the rime unit is separated and silenced.
This video introduces what Mix It Up weeks do in any grade! They reinforce all past learning. The mixing bowl motion reminds the students any skill might be in the mix.
Change the First Sound Kindergarten, Week 10
Change the End Kindergarten, Week 14
Substitute first sound in a one-syllable word
Substitute the rime unit in one-syllable word.
Mix it Up Kindergarten, Week 18
Cut off the Sound: 2 Syllable Word Kindergarten, Week 19 & Grade 1, Week 3
Mix it Up weeks reinforce all past learning. The mixing bowl motion reminds the students anything might be in the mix.
Delete the first sound from the second syllable in a two-syllable word.
Change the Sound: 2 Syllable Word Kindergarten, Week 22
Substitute first sound in the second syllable.