What is Phonemic Awareness?
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds-phonemes--in spoken words. Before children learn to read print, they need to become more aware of how the sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of speech sounds, or phonemes (the smallest parts of sound in a spoken word that make a difference in a word's meaning).
Good Phonological/Phonemic Awareness means that the child can:
Good Phonological/Phonemic Awareness means that the child can:
- blend sounds in words
- complete phoneme substitution activities
- count syllables
- rhyme
- spell by sound
- demonstrate understanding of individual sounds in words by using “chips” to represent each sound heard
- play word and sound games
What can we do at home?
Word identification - Count the number of words in a spoken sentence. Say the first line of a nursery rhyme (for example, Mary had a little lamb.) Then, using your fingers, count the words together.
Beginning Sounds - Play "I'm going on a camping trip..." Start the game by saying, "I'm going on a camping trip, and I'm going to bring a dog and a dandelion. What are you going to bring?" The child should think of something that also starts with the d sound. Remember, this game is all about sounds, not letters! For example, if the sound you chose is "sss", and the child says, "circus," that would be an appropriate answer.
Rhyming - Play a thumbs up-thumbs down game. Start the game by saying, "If the words rhyme, give me a thumbs up. If they do not rhyme, give me a thumbs down." Make sure that your examples are very obvious for young learners, especially when the words do not rhyme. Avoid words that start with the same letter (dog-dinosaur) or fit in the same category (dog-cat). By choosing words that are very different and unrelated (dog-refrigerator), you are helping your child learn to focus in on the rhyme.
Segmenting/Blending - Choose a word with three sounds (fan). Say each sound separately. Have your child touch his head when saying the first sound (fff), touch his waist when saying the middle sound (aaa), and touch his toes when saying the last sound (nnn). When your child can do this activity easily without assistance, say one of the sounds separately and ask your child to place his hands on the head, waist, or toes to show if the sound comes at the beginning, middle, or end.
Beginning Sounds - Play "I'm going on a camping trip..." Start the game by saying, "I'm going on a camping trip, and I'm going to bring a dog and a dandelion. What are you going to bring?" The child should think of something that also starts with the d sound. Remember, this game is all about sounds, not letters! For example, if the sound you chose is "sss", and the child says, "circus," that would be an appropriate answer.
Rhyming - Play a thumbs up-thumbs down game. Start the game by saying, "If the words rhyme, give me a thumbs up. If they do not rhyme, give me a thumbs down." Make sure that your examples are very obvious for young learners, especially when the words do not rhyme. Avoid words that start with the same letter (dog-dinosaur) or fit in the same category (dog-cat). By choosing words that are very different and unrelated (dog-refrigerator), you are helping your child learn to focus in on the rhyme.
Segmenting/Blending - Choose a word with three sounds (fan). Say each sound separately. Have your child touch his head when saying the first sound (fff), touch his waist when saying the middle sound (aaa), and touch his toes when saying the last sound (nnn). When your child can do this activity easily without assistance, say one of the sounds separately and ask your child to place his hands on the head, waist, or toes to show if the sound comes at the beginning, middle, or end.