Identify Beginning Sounds

What sound does 'sun' start with? Kindergarteners practice listening for the very first sound in spoken words and identifying it, like the /s/ in 'sun'. At this stage, the focus is entirely on hearing sounds, not matching them to letters. Mastering beginning sounds is a foundational Phonemic Awareness skill that prepares children to connect sounds to letters for reading.

• Phonics & Word Skills
• Phonics
• Phonological Awareness
• Phonemic Awareness
• Beginning Sounds
• Segmenting
• Sound
• Reading Foundations
• Phoneme Isolation
• Phonemes
• Initial Sounds

• RF.K.2.d — Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words. (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)
• AC9EFLY10 — segment sentences into individual words; orally blend and segment single-syllable spoken words; isolate, blend and manipulate phonemes in single-syllable words (phonological awareness)
• RF.K.2 — Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
• KRF2

• Identify Initial Sounds
• Identify Words by Beginning Sound
• Identify and Apply Digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh)
• Identify Vowel-Sound-Word Associations