What is phonemic awareness?
Phonemic awareness is defined as the awareness of sounds (phonemes) that make up spoken sounds. for example a child who is aware of sounds that make up spoken words would be able to hear the word "can" in these ways: it has one syllable, it consists of the initial sound /c/ and the rime /an/; it is made up of three phonemes (sounds) /c/ /a/ /n/.
 

Why is phonemic awareness important in early reading instruction?
Research in the past decade has shown that phonemic awareness is a potent predictor of success in learning to read. Once children have some degree of phonemic awareness and letter knowledge they can begin to decode the letter/sound correspondences that make up our written language.
 

What are the five components of phonemic awareness?
• Rhyming
• Matching sounds (alliteration, ending, beginning sounds)
• Segmenting Sounds in Words
• Blending sounds to make words
• Substituting Phonemes
 

Rhyming
Rhyming is the ability to hear two words that end the same way. Listening to and saying nursery rhymes or repetitive rhyming refrains helps students hear the rhyme. At later stages, they should be able to produce the rhyming word.
 

Matching Sounds (Alliteration)
Students are able to listen for words that have the same beginning sound.
 

Segmenting Sounds in Words
This occurs when children are able to separate the sounds they hear by phonemes (mom into m/o/m), syllables (ro-bin) or onsets and rimes (like into l/ike). Children who are able to segment sounds can begin to learn to write the letters they hear.
 

Blending Sounds to Make Words
Blending requires that students put speech sounds together to make a word.
 

Substituting Phonemes
Students are able to change one phoneme to another to make a new word.
 

What materials can be used to facilitate phonemic awareness in young children?
There is a wide range of materials you can use, but nursery rhymes have long been accepted in the early childhood classroom. Nursery rhymes are short, fun-filled, dramatic, pleasing to the ear and easy to remember. They give the teacher endless opportunities to develop all levels of phonemic awareness.

Alliteration: the repetition of initial sounds in words.

Blend: to say the sounds in a word in a fluid way so the word is recognized and
        spoken as it is heard in every day speech.

Manipulate: to add or delete a particular phoneme or phonemes in a spoken word

Onset: the initial consonant or consonants in a word (for example the c in can)

Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound in a spoken word.

Phonemic Awareness: awareness of the sounds (phonemes) that make up spoken
        words.

Rime: the remainder of a one-syllable word when the onset is removed (for
        example, the an in can).

Segment: to pull apart phonemes in a spoken word.
 
 

Level: Early Emergent

Teaching Point: rhyming words

Essential Question: What is a rhyming word?

Materials:
• Nursery Rhyme chart of Hey Diddle Diddle
• Hey Diddle Diddle song
• Pictures of objects that rhyme with cat/dog/moon
• Pictures that do not rhyme with cat/dog/moon
• Pencil/paper/crayons

Activating Strategies:
• Introduce Hey Diddle Diddle chart to students. Read the poem by exaggerating the rhyming words in the poem.
• Play song “Hey Diddle Diddle” and have students sing along.

Cognitive Teaching Strategies:
• Read the poem with children line by line with students repeating each line in unison.
• After students are familiar with poem, have them read the poem in whispers and the rhyming words in a loud voice.
• Each day emphasize one word to find rhyming words for. For example, have students tell you what words rhyme with moon. Repeat with dog and cat.

Summarizing Strategies:
• Have rhyming pictures cards for students to sort in several ways. Students can match pairs or pick one rhyming word and have students sort those pictures that rhyme and those that do not.
• Draw pictures of two objects that rhyme, ex. cat/hat

Level: Early Emergent
Teaching Point: Beginning Sounds
Essential Question: What is a beginning sound?

Materials:
  • Jack and Jill poem chart and song
  • Pictures of objects that begin with sounds from    poem
 • Columned worksheet

Activating Strategies:

• Begin by reading poem to students; then have them recite the poem in unison line by line repeating as you read first.
• Sing the song Jack and Jill

Summarizing Strategies:
Provide students with columned worksheet and have them sort pictures of beginning sounds and place in the appropriate column.

Beginning Sounds Mat
Beginning Sounds Pictures

Materials:
Little Miss Muffet poem chart
Pictures of objects that have same ending sounds

Activating Strategies:
Read poem to students, have students read line by line in unison

Cognitive Teaching Strategies:
1. Tell students that they are going to listen for ending sounds in the poem. Explain that ending sounds are the sounds they hear at the very end of a word and give examples.
2. Read through poem again and have them listen for targeted sounds.

Summarizing Strategies:
Provide students with columned worksheet and have them sort pictures of ending sounds and place in the appropriate column.

Level: Early Emergent
Teaching Point: Blending Sounds
Essential Question: How can you blend sounds to make a
    word?

Materials:
This Little Pig poem chart
This Little Pig glove finger puppets

Activating Strategies:
Introduce poem with glove puppet
Read poem with students.

Cognitive Teaching Strategies:
After students are familiar with poem play “Put it Together”.
Say the word pig in parts and have students say the word as a whole.
This little /p/ /i/ /g/ went to market
This little /p/ /i/ /g/ stayed home…
Use the same poem and substitute other cvc animals: dog, cat, rat, cow. Have students say the words as a whole.

Summarizing Strategies:
Use other nursery rhymes familiar to students,  say key cvc words in parts and have students say the words as a whole.

Level: Early Emergent
Teaching Point: Phonemic Manipulation
Essential Question: Why is it important to be able to change beginning or ending
        sounds in a word?

Materials:
• Humpty Dumpty poem chart
• Humpty Dumpty song
• Humpty Dumpty cutouts
• Scissors, crayons, pencil

Activating Strategies:
Introduce poem
Discuss picture with students
Repeat poem/reading a line and students repeating
Sing song

Cognitive Teaching Strategies:
After students are familiar with poem, place a laminated sentence strip on board with the words
 ___umpty ___umpty written on it. Substitute the beginning sounds of your first and last name and place on the sentence strip. Give several examples.

Summarizing Strategies:
Have students make their own Humpty Dumpty picture and substitute the beginning sounds of their names on a sentence strip.