Grade 1: Starting Letter Spelling (Animals)

A collection of starting letter spelling worksheets focusing on animals. Designed for early learners, they will write in the starting letter to complete the word and complete a line of tracing the upper and lowercase of the letters used in the page.

Children are introduced to selected vocabulary to help them develop their phonetic knowledge. Learning the sounds and being able to blend them together is essential to allow children to read unfamiliar words independently. Being able to decode words into their individual sounds will enable children to start spelling.

From my experiences, children who tend not to have any phonics knowledge struggle with new content, as they tend to heavily rely on one strategy that uses picture clues to help with with the context. A child should be introduced to various strategies to have a repertoire of techniques to learn. Understanding the sound-spelling relationships of words can help the child derive meaning for themselves. Phonics is key to helping students comprehend text.

The Animal Spelling worksheets allows teachers and parents to have more than one way for their child to come to terms with spelling.

Phonics

Phonics is essential for children to decode letters into their respective sounds, a skill that makes independent reading more efficient. Phonetic reading is very important in the education of children. Phonetic reading can help children learn new words independently.

The main advantage of phonics is that is it helps increase a child’s fluency in reading. Fluency does not regard speed, it means reading the text accurately with the correct pronunciation. Through practice the speed that a child can read will be built up.

Blending is key when it comes to phonics. It involves combining all the sounds to make the word. The hardest obstacle for teachers is getting the students to understand the technique. Through practice and patient, students will be able to pick it up.

Useful Links

For more worksheets: http://www.mrgregenglish.com/mr-gregs-worksheets/

For teaching resources: http://www.mrgregenglish.com/teaching-resources/