This phonics lesson practices isolating initial sounds in words. The lesson includes research-based strategies and strategic questions that prepare students for assessments. In this lesson, students will practice isolating and pronouncing initial, medial vowels, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words. This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/. Rigor increased from kindergarten from the basic CVC pattern to more difficult word constructions that include consonant blends. A word construction chart and extra resources are provided as well.