Phonological Awareness
I decided to create this page when I began receiving many requests from visitors who were unsure of the sequence events that need to take place before a child can read. This page unveils one of the major building blocks of reading success, phonological awareness.
What is Phonological Awareness? Phonological awareness refers to the ability to segment and manipulate the sounds of oral language. It is not the same as phonics, which involves knowing how written letters relate to spoken sounds. Activities that develop phonological awareness in children provide practice with rhyme and with beginning sounds and syllables. (from IRA, International Reading Association)
- Phonological awareness is not just phonics.
- Phonological awareness is auditory and does not involve words in print.
- Phonological awareness is not a curriculum.
Why is phonological awareness important? “Research has shown that a child’s awareness of the sounds of spoken words is a strong predictor of his or her later success in learning to read.” (IRA) The ability to hear the sounds in words and to isolate the sounds from one another can help a child become a reader. Even before he learns the letters of the alphabet, a child can say the sounds in his language. When he can hear the sounds in a word and tell where the sounds occur in the word, he is developing pre-reading skills.
The term ‘phonological awareness’ does not describe just one skill, rather it encompasses a whole list of important skills. The following are all important parts of phonemic awareness:
Sound Word Discrimination:
- (Tells whether words or sounds are the same or different) cat/cat= same cat/car= different
- (Identifies which word is different) sun, fun, sun = fun is different
- (Tells difference between single phonemes) Which one is different? /s/ /s/ /k/ ?
Blending:
- (orally blends onset-rimes) What word is this? m-ilk
- (orally blends syllables) What word is this? mon-key
- (orally blends 2 or 3 phonemes into one word) What word am I trying to say? /m/ /o/ /p/?
Segmentation:
- (initial sound isolation): What is the first sound in mop?
- (final sound isolation): What is the last sound in mop?
Segmentation: Claps syllables in 1, 2, and 3 syllable words
Rhyming:
- (Identifying rhyming words) Do “cat” and “mat” rhyme?
- (Produces a rhyming word) Tell me what word rhymes with nose?
O.K., so now I know what phonological awareness is, but how do I teach it? The best way to teach phonological awareness to your students is through fun games and songs and a wide variety of hands-on activities. Teachers can encourage play with spoken language as part of their overall literacy programs. Nursery rhymes, songs, poems, and read-aloud books that manipulate sounds are all effective methods via which to develop phonemic awareness.
Below in the Phonological Awareness Materials section you will find descriptions of some of the items I use in my classroom to teach phonological awareness skills.
Phonological Awareness Materials:
- HeidiSongs Singable Songs for Letters and Sounds DVD: This is a fantastic product to use with young children because it incorporates music and movement which brain research has proven to be effective.
- HeidiSongs Little Songs for Language Arts DVD: This DVD features songs for teaching phonemic awareness and concepts of print, such as words in a sentence and beginning sounds in words.
- Phonemic Awareness Sound Matching Manipulatives:Lakeshore Learning Item #EE620X
- Match-a-Sound Phonemic Awareness Boxes:Lakeshore Learning #AA410X
- Phonemic Awareness Match-Ups:Lakeshore Learning Item #EE690X
- Fisher Price “Peek-a-Blocks” Alphabet Blocks: I really like these blocks because they are extremely sturdy. Each individual item is encased in a clear plastic cube with the letter plainly written on the front. The manipulatives inside are protected from little fingers and are very cute. Some of the manipulatives have actions they can perform by spinning a dial on top and others have surprise actions and features that make them very appealing to young learners. I use these blocks often in the beginning of the year.
- Phonemic Awareness Reading Rods by Learning Resources:
I use these often in the beginning of the year. There are cubes with small pictures on them and cubes with letters. The objective is to match the cubes with the pictures to the cubes with the corresponding letter. - LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set:
This is another one I use often in the beginning of the year, it is great for learning letter sounds. - LeapFrog Magnetic Word Builder:
We use this to practice word families and CVC words from mid to end of the year.
Phonological Awareness Links:
Phonological Awareness Resources:
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