August 23, 2007

Printable Phonics Worksheets

I’ve been looking for phonics worksheets on the internet these last couple weeks (my daughter is approaching that age). In the process I’ve discovered the controversy around whole word teaching as opposed to phonics. I had no idea reading was such a polarizing subject. Personally, and I probably should take my hands away from the keyboard, I think both camps bring valid points to the argument. I mean, kids need to understand words but they should also have a skill like phonics to break down a word they don’t recognize.

Anyway, that’s another topic. I don’t want to get us all in an argument. I just want to share some of the great learning tools I’ve found. I started out looking for phonics flashcards but I soon realized phonics worksheets might be better since they print out so much more handy on regular paper. Anyway, I found a few places that had both and I even looked into some of the products for sale as well.

Teach-nology.com has free printable phonics worksheets and don’t miss this page with some additional phonics learning tools as well. There were many more free worksheets scattered around the web but teach-nology.com had the best I could find. A great site!

The great thing about the phonic worksheets is that they are, of course, free but you do have to manage a lesson plan. Hmm, not a core competency of mine. This prompted me to explore some of the off the shelf products. The two I liked best: Frontline Phonics and Click n Read Phonics. ClickN’ READ Phonics seemed like the best bang for the buck. It is online based so you don’t have to worry about anything more to buy plus upgrades or improvements just happen but you may need a fast internet connection. Frontline Phonics, awarded 5 stars by About.com’s homeschooling section, has packages designed for stages of development. Check them out, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!