How to Create an Effective Step-by-Step Phonics Lesson Plan for Kindergarten

My phonics routine used to consist of a 30-minute phonics lesson followed by an independent activity. I quickly found that this was too long for my students and not very effective. Soon, I switched to a quick and simple 15-minute step-by-step phonics lesson plan, which now includes additional independent practice in both centers and small groups. This change has greatly improved my students’ success in phonics and made teaching it much more enjoyable for me. Here’s how to teach phonics with my updated daily routine and lesson plan for kindergarten.

Phonemic Awareness

The very first part of our phonics routine is to do a phonemic awareness daily warm-up. It is a quick 5 minute activity that helps students develop phonemic awareness. I keep mine on a clipboard and just go through each section with my students. We start with review our phonics flashcards. This changes depending on what phonics skill we are working on. Next, there are three skills that we practice each week. 

Read more about my daily Phonemic Awareness Warm-ups and how I implement these lessons here: Daily Phonemic Awareness Lessons

Find the full year of Phonemic Awareness Warm-Ups here:

Find the Phonemic Awareness Lessons on TPT here:

• Kindergarten Daily Phonemic Awareness Lessons
• First Grade Daily Phonemic Awareness Lessons
• Pre-K Daily Phonemic Awareness Lessons

Introduce skill with a song

Next, you will want to hook your students into getting excited about your lesson. The easiest and most effective way is by playing a song. I just pick a phonics song that goes along with the lesson and play using YouTube. For example, if we are learning about word families, I may pick this song here.

Find all my Phonics YouTube playlists here: Sweet for Kindergarten's Phonics Playlists

Whole Group Activity

Then, you will want to move into your actual lesson and activity. I like to introduce exactly what we will be learning with an objective for the day and a visual, whether that is a teaching poster or anchor chart. After you introduce or review the skill for the week, it’s time for a whole group activity to practice that phonics skill. It can be any activity, like a picture sort, memory, or spelling words using a whiteboard.

Here you can find 4 engaging phonics whole group lesson activities.

Independent Activity (completed during Centers)

After the whole group lesson and activity, we break off into our ELA center rotations. During centers, there are usually 1-2 centers practicing the phonics skill of the week. Typically, it is one hands-on center activity (like a spin and cover game or memory game) and one independent activity (like a worksheet or letter craft) to complete.

Find more ideas for phonics centers here: 4 Engaging Games to Play During Centers

Small Group Instruction (completed during Centers)

Even though this is not part of my daily phonics lesson, I do practice phonics with my small group a few times a week. This gives me a chance to really differentiate my phonics instruction and hit exactly what each group needs to improve. 

Read more about my small group time here: How to Structure your ELA Small Group Time

My goal with our daily phonics routine is to keep it simple, yet engaging! You can find this exact lesson plan to use during your daily phonics routine inside the Kindergarten Phonics Curriculum. If you want all the phonics lesson planning done for you, plus activities, assessments, worksheets, and more for the year, you can find everything you need inside the Phonics Curriculum available in my TPT store. Available for Kindergarten and First Grade:

Try out a FREE Phonics Lesson Plan from start to finish here:

Learn more about the Phonics Curriculum available for both Kindergarten and First Grade here: All About the Sweet for Kindergarten Phonics Curriculum

Want to see more? You can learn more about how I teach a phonics lesson on YouTube here: How to Teach a Phonics Lesson: Step-by-Step

I hope this post was helpful as you navigate creating your own daily phonics routine for your class.