PHONEMIC AWARENESS By: Miranda Bird

WHAT? Phonemic Awareness is the ability to detect, identify, and manipulate phonemes in spoken words. Phonemic awareness is not the same as phonics. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken language can be broken into phonemes. Phonics- is the understanding of the relationship between phonemes and graphemes, the letters that represent the sounds in written language.

WHAT? Phonological awareness can be broken into 4 developmental levels: 1- Word 2- Syllable 3- Onset-rime (intrasyllable) 4- Phoneme- the smallest unit of spoken language that makes a difference in a word’s meaning.

Phonological Awareness- The Umbrella Term Word Awareness Syllable Awareness Onset-Rime awareness Phoneme Awareness

WHAT? Effective Phonemic Awareness Instruction Instruction should be in small groups. Instruction should be no longer than 20 hrs. over the school year. Lesson should target one skill at a time. Lesson should be engaging and phonemes pronounced correctly. Should be explicit with clear explanations. Systematic from easy to difficult. For example: isolating initial phonemes in words rather than in final or medial phonemes.

WHAT? Blendable Sounds Stop Sounds-a sound that can be pronounced for only an instant. /b/ /d/ /g/ /h/ /j/ /k/ /p/ /t/ Continuous Sounds –sound that can be pronounced for several seconds without distortion. /f/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /r/ /s/ /v/ /w/ /y/ /z/ /a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/

WHY? Acquiring phonemic awareness is a means rather than an end. Phonemic awareness is not acquired for its own sake but rather for its value in helping children understand and use the alphabetic system to read and write. –National Reading Panel,2000

WHEN? Amount of Instruction Kindergarten- about 10 to 15 minutes per day. 1st grade- about 10 minutes per day, 3 or 4 times per week, for about 10 weeks.

WHEN? When to Assess and Intervene: Begin phonemic awareness assessment in Mid-Kindergarten and continue to assess it throughout the early elementary grades as needed. Types of Assessment include- Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) or Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI).

HOW? Rhyming- “The Hungry Thing” The recognition of rhyme may be the entry point to phonemic awareness. This lesson teaches the ability to recognize words that rhyme and focus on single syllable words with digraphs and blends. For example: “The Hungry Thing” says he wants to eat “Pilk”. The students will recognize that “Pilk” rhymes with “milk”.

How? Example of Phonological Medley: putting dog and house together to make doghouse. Phonological Medley is “the most fundamental level of phonological awareness is the word level. At the word level, two-syllable compound words provide a good starting point for skill instruction in blending, segmentation, and deletion.” –Lane and Pullen 2004 Word part blending, segmentation, and deletion helps students with an in-depth knowledge of compound words.

Yummy, Yummy Segmenting Words Chant Class Chants: Yummy, yummy, rub your tummy. What’s a treat you like to eat? (students rub their tummies) Student Chants: I like pop- corn. (Student supplies a food name, clapping the word parts as they are said.) Class Chants: [Student’s name] likes pop-corn. (Class repeats food name, clapping the word parts.

HOW? Syllable Segmentation and Blending Salad Toss- teaches the ability to segment syllables and usually precedes the ability to segment phonemes. Students can blend syllables to form a whole word. Students can segment and count the syllables in a 3-syllable word. For example the word pep-per is a two syllable word. While cu-cum-ber is a three syllable word.

HOW? ONSET-RIME BLENDING Critter Sitter teaches the students the onset-rime principle. The Critter Sitter says /k/…/at/ to teach the students the beginning and end of a word. The students can blend onset and rime to produce a one-syllable word.

HOW? Phoneme Isolation- Bridge Game Phoneme isolation requires students to recognize individual sounds in words. The teacher says the first sound /mmm/ in mouse that way students can isolate the initial sound in a one-syllable word. The teacher says the last sound /sss/ in mouse that way the students can isolate the final sound in a one-syllable word.

HOW? Phoneme Identity-Phoneme identification requires students to recognize the common sound in different words. Sound Match-The teacher holds up a book and asks what is the 1st sound or last sound. The students are able to identify initial and final sounds in the word. The teacher asks which word has the same first or last sound as book. The students are able to match the same sound in different words. The students then name an object whose name has the same 1st or last sound as ball. The students are able to generate words with same initial or final sound.

HOW? Phoneme Categorization- Odd one out game helps students recognize the odd phoneme or sound in a set of 3 or 4 words. For example: The 2 start with /b/ and the other starts with /m/.

HOW? Phoneme Blending- Simon Says game. Leader: Simon says, “Shake your /l/ /e/ /g/.” The phoneme blending requires students to listen to a sequence of separately spoken sounds and then combine them to form whole words.

HOW? Phoneme Segmentation and Blending- Say- It-Move –It game helps the students to break a word into its separate sounds. First sound in egg /eee/ Second sound in egg /g/ The students say the word then move the button down.

HOW? Phoneme Segmentation and Blending using Elkonin Sound Boxes. Students can segment spoken words into sounds. S U N

Conclusion “Phonemic Awareness instruction improves phonics skills and phonics instruction improves phonemic awareness: the relationship is reciprocal.” ~Lane and Pullen 2004