Phonemic Awareness and Phonics 1.0.1

“Phonemic Awareness- or the sensitivity to, or explicit awareness of, sound structure in words- is  a key component to predicting reading success!  -Blachman, 1991

Do you ever wonder what your little ones are really capable of?  I mean they can do so much and the progress they make is tremendous.  However, for those little ones that just can’t yet is the skill attainable for their age? 
By the age of 4  a student should be able to produce and enjoy rhyme & alliteration. 
By the age of 5  a student should be able recognize a word within a word list that does not rhyme of the odd one out (dog, frog, cat).  The student should also be able to recognize phonemic changes in words and hear syllables within words.
By the age of 5 1/2 a student should be able to distinguish and remember separate phonemes within a series, blend onset and rimes (what’s this word, c-at), and segment initial sounds (say the first sound you hear in sock).
By the age of 6  a student should be able to complete syllable deletion (rhino, now say it without /rhi/), compound word deletion (starfish, now say it without star), onset-rime blending, and phoneme segmentation.
By the age of 6 1/2  a student should be able to complete phoneme segmentation up to 3-4 phonemes (say slowly and hear all of the sounds c-a-t), and complete phoneme substitution (cat, change the first sound to /p/, what’s the new word). 
By the age of 7  a student should be able to complete sound deletion in the initial and final position (Say cat.  Now say it without the /c/).
By the age of 8 a student should be able to complete sound deletion in the initial position and including blends (Say think.  Now say it without the /th/).
By the age of 9 a student should be able to complete sound deletion in the medial and final position and including blends (Say snail.  Now say it without the /n/).
When teaching phonemic awareness use concrete objects like fingers, chips, blocks, snap cubes, Slinky’s, maracas, etc.  Think multi-sensory and add movement!! 

Head, Tummy, Toes- in this movement activity students touch their heads for the first sound, tummy for the middle sound, and toes for the final sound.  Obviously this could be changed up for words with more than 3 sounds, but three sounds works best.  The teacher first models what this looks like and then the students try.  Once the students have attained this concept you can add a challenge by asking this, “where is the /o/ sound in dog? – The tummy!  This makes the activity a lot of fun and keeps it interesting!

Class Line-up Fun- call students to line up by blending their name, J-ack.  When Jack gets in line the class blends the two parts to say the name as a whole.

 Segment Cheer Song- Listen to my cheer.  Then shout the sounds you hear. Cat! Cat! Cat!  Let’s take apart the word cat! Give me the beginning sound, /c/.  Give me the middle sound, /a/.  Give me the ending sound, /t/.  That’s it!  /c/ /a/ /t/, Cat! Cat! Cat! 
Sound Switch Fun- Pick a sound you will manipulate a list of words with.  For example if I pick the sound /f/ the class will manipulate the following words by replacing the sound /f/ in the beginning sound spot.  Example word list (sit, sunny, dish, ban)
Phonological Awareness is the ability to recognize the sounds of spoken language and is auditory. Phonological awareness tasks can be done with eyes closed or in the dark!  Listen to these sounds /d/ /o/ /g/.  What was my word?  Dog.  Phonological awareness is the building blocks for the alphabetic principle and lay the foundation for phonics!
Phonics is an instrucstional approach that linke the sounds of spoken language to printed letters! Phonics involves print and sound.  Write the word dog on the board.  Have children say each sound with you, /d/ /o/ /g/.  Phonics is key for beginning the process of reading and writing!
Click the picture to visit the site!
Yes, I saved the best for last!  This site, Florida Center for Reading Research is in one word- awesome!  I would actually go as far to say it’s- ‘da bomb!’  Haha!!  It has so many awesome resources.  They are very simple to understand because there are explicit instructions provided.  Everything you need is right there simply print it and go!  I meant to take a picture of some of the ones I’ve used in my room but I forgot.  Here is one that I start the first of the year with:
You can click the 2 pictures above to go straight to the site.  I’ve linked it straight to the Kindergaren Common Core aligned site.  However, click {here} to pick your grade level.
Let me know what you think about the site… last Summer I was slightly addicted …can’t say I didn’t warn you! 🙂  Have a blessed day!

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12 Comments

  1. I love, love, love the FCRR. I've used their games for several years now. They are great for a parent volunteer to do with a small group. I love the fact that they've aligned to common core. Didn't know they had done that. Thanks for sharing!

  2. WOW Tara,
    Can't thank you enough for sharing this! I have just started exploring the site but know that I am going to LOVE it!
    Teaching phonics and phonemic awareness is so much fun and this site will make it even more fun for me and for the students!
    Many thanks,
    Teresa

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