As 2026 early literacy classrooms evolve, educators are discovering that the most engaging phonics instruction happens when students aren’t just coloring, but moving, sorting, and manipulating sounds.

Why phonics matters: Explicit, systematic phonics instruction helps children connect sounds to letters, laying the foundation for confident reading and writing. Classroom-tested methods: Heggerty and ...

Anna Scretching-Cole teaches about the diagraphs th and wh. Anna Scretching-Cole teaches about the diagraphs th and wh by writing and spelling words. Digraphs are two letters that represent one sound.

Isabel Simmons helps children learn about the digraphs sh and ch. Isabel Simmons shows children how to build, spell, and read words with the digraphs sh and ch. Digraphs are two letters that represent ...

Phonics is a cornerstone skill, both in the context of the Science of Reading as well as across curricula. If students do not have the basic ability to read words on a page, any other instruction a ...

A third-grader works through a phonics lesson in Washington, Ill. Editor at Large As a teacher in Oakland, Calif., Kareem Weaver helped struggling fourth- and fifth-grade kids learn to read by using a ...

A new study has found evidence of big gains in students’ reading ability from using one specific phonics program—and suggests that consistent implementation is key to getting the strongest results.

On a chilly Tuesday back in January, my 7-year-old son’s classroom in Minneapolis was humming with reading activities. At their desks, first- and second-graders wrote on worksheets, read independently ...