Last year, I found a wonderful set of books that helps kids work on phonemic awareness and phonics. They are two Mailbox series books that allow children to sort for different sounds. Phonemic Awareness is the first book of the series. The children sort pictures for the beginning sound on each page. In the next book, Phenomenal Phonics, students sort short vowel sounds, blends, and digraphs. Both books are very beneficial in the classroom for whole class work, small group instruction, and center activities.