Phonemic Awareness
Definition

Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to segment and
manipulate the sounds of oral language. It is not the
same as phonics, which involves knowing how written
letters relate to spoken sounds. Activities that develop
phonemic awareness in children provide practice with
rhyme and with beginning sounds and syllables.

Research has shown that a child’s awareness of the
sounds of spoken words is a strong predictor of his or
her later success in learning to read. Teachers of young
children can encourage play with spoken language as
part of a broader literacy program. Nursery rhymes,
riddles, songs, poems, and read-aloud books that
manipulate sounds are all effective vehicles.
International Reading Association
Difficulty of Skill
Sequence

Rhyme (recognition, production)
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Alliteration

Syllable Counting (blending, segmentation, deletion)

Phoneme Isolation (initial, final)
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Phoneme Blending

Phoneme Manipulation (addition, deletion,
substitution, transposition)
Activities

Rhyme

Read or sing nursery rhymes

Take turns saying words that rhyme

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Bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, gnat, pat, rat, that, vat, chat
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They can be real or make-believe words
Questions

Does _____ rhyme with _____?

What rhymes with __________?
Activities

Alliteration

Read aloud Tongue Twisters (Peter Piper)

Create new ones

A name and job (Teresa Teacher)

A simple sentence (Dogs dive.)

A sentence (Donuts dipped in dots is delicious.)
Activities

Syllable counting, blending, segmentation and deletion

A syllable is a push of breath (hand under chin to feel the
mouth open or hand in front of mouth to feel the push of
breath)

Say a word and count the syllables. (jump=1, castle=2,
elephant=3)

Blending: Say sea, wait 1-3 seconds, say shell. What’s the
word? (compound words) Say win, wait 1-3 seconds, say
ter. What’s the word? (multisyllabic word)

Segmentation: Say cupcake. The child tells you the parts.

Deletion: Say cupcake without the cup. Say winter without
the ter.
Activities

Phoneme Isolation

Initial


What is the first sound you hear in __________?
Final

What is the last sound you hear in ___________?
Activities

Phoneme Blending





Read my mind: starts with /p/ ends with /eek/
What am I saying? /p/ /ouch/
Same as above breaking it down into each individual sound. /p/ /ee/
/k/
Same as above breaking off the last sound. /pee/ /k/
Troll talk story that can be used for each of the above activities.

Once upon a time, there was kind, little troll who loved to give people
presents. The only catch was that the troll always wanted people to
know what their present was before giving it to them. The problem was
that the little troll had a very strange way of talking. If he was going to
tell a child that the present was a bike, he would say /b/ /i/ /k/. Not
until the child has guessed what the present was would he be completely
happy. Now I will pretend to be the troll. I will name a surprise for you .
When you figure it out, it will be your turn to be the troll.
Activities

Phoneme Manipulation

Addition: say /est/ add /w/ to the beginning; say/wes/
add /t/ to the end

Deletion: say meat, say meat without the /m/; say
meat, say meat without the /t/; say clap, say clap
without the /c/; say clap, say clap without the /l/.

Substitution: Say hard. Change /h/ to /k/.

Transposition: Sunshine changes to shinesun
Activities

Just plain silly

Reverse words: song a sing of sixpence
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Substitute words: baa baa purple sheep, twinkle twinkle
little car
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Swap word order: humpty dumpty wall on a sat, jack
fell down and crown his broke
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Swap word parts: one two shuckle my shoe, I’m a tittle
leapot, the eensy weensy spider went up the spouter wat

Switch order of events: little miss muffet eating a tuffet
sat on her curds and whey, goldilocks went inside and
knocked on the door, the first little piggy built himself a
house of bricks
Websites

www.readingrockets.org
Click the For Parents on the menu bar.

www.reading.org
Click Parents.

www.readwritethink.org Click Parents and After School
Resources. Search by key word. Type in Phonemic Awareness.

www.starfall.com

www.zelo.com/family/nursery

www.rhymes.org.uk
rhyme.
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www.nurseryrhymes4u.com
Go to the left column. Find Information For.
Includes the origin and history of the
Includes music.
Books

The Book of Pigericks by Arnold Lobel
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The Classic Mother Goose edited by Armand Eisen

Fall (Winter, Spring) Phonemic Awareness Songs and Rhymes-Creative Teaching Press
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Mary Had a Little Jam and Other Silly Rhymes by Bruce Lansky formally titled The New Adventures of Mother Goose

The Random House Book of Mother Goose by Arnold Lobel
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The Real Mother Goose Book of American Rhymes Selected by Debby Slier
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Richard Scarry’s Mother Goose
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Runny Babbit by Shel Silverstein
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Sheep series by Nancy Shaw
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Six Sick Sheep 101 Tongue Twisters by Joanna Cole and Stephanie Calmenson
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Working Out with Phonological Awareness-Thinking Publications
Credits
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The Source for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia by Regina G Richards
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How to Reach and Teach Students with Dyslexia: Practical Strategies and
Activities for Helping Students with Dyslexia by Cynthia M. Stowe
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Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz
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Dyslexia: Definitions and Services powerpoint by Tracie Young

http://dyslexia.mtsu.edu

http://www.region10.org/Dyslexia/Index.html