Identify Beginning Sounds
Listen for beginning sounds: what's the first sound?
Kindergarten - English Language Arts - Beginning, Middle and Ending Sounds
About This Skill
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.
Skills & Topics
- Phonics & Word Skills
- Phonics
- Phonological Awareness
- Phonemic Awareness
- Beginning Sounds
- Segmenting
- Sound
- Reading Foundations
- Phoneme Isolation
- Phonemes
- Initial Sounds
Curriculum Alignment
- 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