Heart Words Set 1: I, a, the | Science of Reading & UFLI-Inspired Activities + Interactive Google Slides

Help your early readers master their first heart words with this engaging, hands-on Heart Words Set 1 resource from Sweet Little Learners.

This printable literacy pack focuses on the high-frequency heart words I, a, and the and is designed to help Kindergarten and early Grade 1 students build automatic recognition through meaningful, developmentally appropriate practice. This resource includes printable worksheets, literacy centres, simple sentence work, phrase reading, and an interactive Google Slides lesson to support whole-group teaching, small-group instruction, centres, and independent review.

Students will practise heart words in a variety of ways, including:

• tracing and reading

• circling and finding heart words

• building and reading simple sentences

• matching, drawing, and fill-in-the-blank tasks

• building words with magnetic letters

• reading phrase cards

• tracing and writing

• finding heart words in a poem

• pocket chart sentence building

• spin-and-cover game practice

This pack is perfect for teachers looking for a structured literacy, Science of Reading-aligned, and UFLI-inspired way to introduce early heart words in a fun and accessible format. The activities support repeated exposure, oral language, sentence reading, and visual recognition in a way that feels playful and purposeful. The printable centres include Build It, Read It, Write It, Find It, Pocket Chart Sentences, and Spin & Cover.

What’s Included

• heart word worksheets for I, a, the

• cut-and-paste sentence building

• read, match, and draw page

• review page

• fill-in-the-blank page

• 6 printable literacy centres

• phrase cards

• find-it poem

• game board and spinner

• interactive Google Slides lesson for teaching and review

Best For

• Kindergarten

• Grade 1 intervention

• small groups

• literacy centres

• structured literacy instruction

• heart word review

• homeschool literacy practice

Why Teachers Love It

This resource makes heart word instruction simple, explicit, and engaging. It gives you printable practice, centre-based reinforcement, and digital teaching support all in one pack, making it easy to use across your literacy block.