Beginning Sounds with Animals — Letter W

Listen for the first sound in whale. On this sheet the child is handed the letter W and finds every one of the animals whose name begins with its sound — whale, wolf and woodpecker all open with W. Saying each word, catching its opening sound, then tying that sound to the letter W is the Kindergarten letter-sound link this practises, set among a cat, a sheep and a hen.

Beginning-sound matching is phonics, not visual searching: the child is not looking for the shape of W on the page, they are listening for which animals START with its sound and connecting that sound to the letter. With whale, wolf and woodpecker to find, the practice stays concrete, and every picture named strengthens the link between the sound the child hears and the letter W it goes with.

Hunting a scene of animals for the letter W is the kind of quiet phonics that adds up fast. After W, keep the listening going with the A-sound pictures in animals, or the B-sound pictures in animals. The whole animals collection and every beginning-sounds sheet print cleanly or play free online for kindergarten — and the more opening sounds a child sorts, the more automatic the sound-to-letter link becomes. Say whale one more time, stretch out its very first sound, and feel exactly where the letter W begins it.