Phonemic Awarenes

What is phonemic awareness?
 Phonemic awareness is defined as the awareness of sounds (phonemes) that make up spoken words. 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.

Books:
"I Can't," said the Ant                                Polly Cameron
More Bugs in Boxes                                     David Carter
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom                               Bill Martin, Jr.
Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee                                  Paul Galdone
The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jigs                     Phoebe Gilman
"Buzz," said the Bee                                    Wendy Lewison
Ten Cats Have Hats                                    Jean Marzollo
Down By the Bay                                        Raffi
Dr. Seuss' ABC                                         Dr. Seuss
Fox in Socks
There's a Wocket in my Pocket
Sheep on a Ship                                         Nancy Shaw
Sheep in a Jeep
Falling Up                                                Shel Silverstein
The Hungry Thing                                       Jan Slepian
Silly Sally                                                Audrey Wood
Nursery Rhymes
 

Songs:
Apples and Bananas
Down By the Bay
Willoughby, Wallaby, Woo
PawPaw Patch
Tingalaya

Raffi, Steve and Greg,  Sharon, Lois and Bram and Dr. Jean  have lots of songs to help develop 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 everyday 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.