PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS ORDER OF PRESENTATION
(in order from easier to harder)
RHYME
– We say that words rhyme when the first vowel sound and all of the
sounds after the vowels are the same. For example, “cat” and “hat” rhyme
because they both end in the “at” sound.

Identification of Rhyme – Children begin recognizing that some words
“sound” alike and some words don’t.
EXAMPLE 1
Teacher: “These words all sound alike; ‘rug’, ‘bug’, ‘tug’, ‘mug’, ‘pug’,
‘chug’, ‘dug’.”
Teacher: “These words don’t sound alike: ‘mat’, ‘cup’, ’sit’, ’dot’.”
The goal of Identification is for the child to be able to tell which words in a
list rhyme.
EXAMPLE 2
Teacher: “Which of the following words rhyme? sit, bit, ham”
Student: “’sit’ and ‘bit’.

Production of Nonsense Rhyme – Children begin to produce their own
rhyming words by changing the beginning sound of a word and keeping the
parts of the word that rhymes. These words may be nonsense words.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “These words rhyme: ‘weck’, ‘meck’, ‘teck’, ‘seck’. Can you make
up a word that rhymes with these words?” (NOTE: Teacher might need to
aid the child by giving a beginning sound and allowing the child to use it to
produce a nonsense rhyme)
Student: “beck”

Production of Real Rhyme – Children identify and produce real
recognizable words.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “I’m thinking of a word that is something I like to eat for my
birthday, and it rhymes with ‘make’.”
Student: “cake!”
SENTENCES – To a child, words that make up sentences may run together.
They might not understand where one word ends and another word begins. The
phrase “each other” may sound to them like “ee chuther”.

Counting Words in Sentences - When given a short, simple sentence,
the children will be able to identify each word and tell how many words are in
the sentence.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “Jared, what is your favorite food?”
Student: “Hamburger.”
Teacher: “’Jared likes hamburger.’ Let’s count the words in this sentence.”
(repeat the sentence and count the words). “This sentence has 3 words.”
SYLLABLES – A syllable is a word or part of a word with one vowel sound.
The word “backyard” has two syllables because it has two vowel sounds. The word
“cow” has one syllable because it has one vowel sound. Identifying syllables in a
word is easier than identifying sounds in words.

Syllable Isolation – Children begin to “feel” the rhythm or beats in words
by clapping each syllable of a sentence.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “My name is Miss Leonard.” (As the teacher says the sentence,
she claps on each syllable.) “Children, do it with me.” (Teacher says and
claps the same sentence, and the children say and clap it at the same time)

Syllable Counting – Counting the syllables in words allows the child to
recognize that some words are longer than others.
EXAMPLE 1
Teacher: “Watch and listen as I clap the syllables in the word ‘pizza’.”
(teacher says and claps the word ‘pizza’.)”
Teacher: “How many syllables are in the word ‘pizza’?
Student: “two”
The goal is when provided with 3 pictures, the student is able to identify
which picture is one syllable, which picture is two syllables, and which picture
is three syllables.
EXAMPLE 2
Teacher: “Brittany, which picture on the table has 2 syllables in it?”
Student: “giraffe.”

Syllable Blending - The teacher says a word by slowly giving each syllable
of the word. The child must put the syllables together into a recognizable
word.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “Guess the animal I’m thinking of. ‘Ti – ger’. (Give syllables
separately and slowly.)
Student: “Tiger.” (recognizes it as a word)
(NOTE: Compound words are easier to use when teaching this skill because
each syllable is a recognizable word. ie. ‘backyard’, ‘hotdog’, ‘bookcase’.
The goal is to move to harder words like ‘picnic’, ‘giraffe’, ‘candy’ where each
syllable is not a recognizable word.)

Syllable Segmenting – The teacher gives a word to the child and the
child must say the syllables separately and slowly.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “Say the syllables in the word ‘tiger’.”
Student: “ti – ger”
(NOTE: Compound words are easier to use when teaching this skill because
each syllable is a recognizable word. ie. ‘backyard’, ‘hotdog’, ‘bookcase’.
The goal is to move to harder words like ‘picnic’, ‘giraffe’, ‘candy’ where each
syllable is not a recognizable word.)

Dropping the First Syllable – When given a two syllable word, the child
will be able to drop the first syllable and give the syllable that is left.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “Say ‘sunshine’.”
Student: “Sunshine.”
Teacher: “Now say it again but don’t say ‘sun’.”
Student: “Shine.”
(NOTE: Compound words are easier to use when first teaching this skill
because each syllable is a recognizable word. ie. ‘backyard’, ‘hotdog’,
‘bookcase’.)
The goal is to move to harder words like ‘picnic’, ‘giraffe’, ‘candy’ where each
syllable is not a recognizable word.)

Dropping the Last Syllable – When given a two syllable word, the child
will be able to drop the last syllable and give the syllable that is left.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “Say ‘sunshine’.”
Student: “Sunshine.”
Teacher: “Now say it again but don’t say ‘shine’.”
Student: “Sun.”
(NOTE: Compound words are easier to use when first teaching this skill
because each syllable is a recognizable word. ie. ‘backyard’, ‘hotdog’,
‘bookcase’.)
The goal is to move to harder words like ‘picnic’, ‘giraffe’, ‘candy’ where each
syllable is not a recognizable word.)

Moving Syllables Around – (This skill is not required for children under
Kindergarten age) When given the syllables of a word, the child will be able
to move the syllables around to make real or nonsense words.
EXAMPLE 1
Teacher: “Can you guess the word I’m thinking of by the following mixed-up
syllables? ‘phunt’, ‘uh’, ‘el’.”
Student: “Elephant.”
EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
2
“Say the syllables in ‘tiger’.”
“’Ti’ - ‘ger’.”
“Say the syllables in ‘giraffe’.”
“’Gir – ‘affe’.”
“Now switch the last syllables to make new words.”
“’Gir-ger’ and ‘ti-affe’.
ONSET RIME – “Onset” refers to the beginning consonant sound in a word.
(ie. the word “bug” has /b/ as its onset.) “Rime” refers to the rest of the word from
the vowel sound to the end (ie. the word “bug” has “ug” as its rime.) The child will
begin to separate the onset of a word from its rime and change the onset to create
new rhyming words.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “Say ‘bat’. “’Bat’ has ‘at’ in it. Let’s change the /b/ in ‘bat’ to /s/
to make a new ‘at’ word. Say the word.”
Student: “Sat.”
Teacher: “Good! ‘Bat’ and ‘sat’ rhyme.”
ALLITERATION- The child will become aware of the repetition of initial
consonant sounds in a string of words. These words may be found close to each
other as in a poem or story. This is the beginning awareness of initial consonant
sounds in words.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “I’m going to say a sentence. Many of the words you will hear in
this sentence begin with the /m/ sound. Every time I say a word with the
/m/ sound, I want you to raise your hand.”
Teacher: “My mother married a mad movie star.”
Student: (Students will raise their hands on ‘my’, ‘mother’, ‘married’, ‘mad’,
and ‘movie’.)
PHONEMIC AWARENESS
– A ‘phoneme’ is the smallest unit of sound
that is heard in a word. It does not refer to the number of LETTERS used to spell a
word, but it does refer to the SOUNDS heard in the word. For example, the word
“bat” has 3 phonemes: /b/ /a/ /t/. Likewise, the word “lock” has 3 phonemes: /l/
/o/ /k/.

Phoneme Isolation – The child will begin to recognize that words are
made up of individual sounds. Begin by “stretching” or drawing out the
pronunciation of a simple word. This will allow the child to see and hear
when the sounds change in the word as he slowly says the word.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “Watch and listen as I stretch the word ‘bug’.”
Teacher: “/bbbbbbbuuuuuuuggggg/. Now let’s stretch the word ‘bug’
together.”
Teacher and student:”/bbbbbbuuuuuuggggg/”. Now the teacher can begin to
help the student hear each individual phoneme in the word “bug”.

Phoneme Identification – The child will begin to identify the individual
phonemes in words. (NOTE: Lessons should focus on only doing beginning
sounds until mastered, then move to ending sounds until mastered, and then
move to the middle sounds.)
EXAMPLE 1
Teacher: “What’s the beginning sound in the word ‘cat’?”
Student: “/k/”.
EXAMPLE 2
Teacher: “What’s the ending sound in the word ‘cut’?”
Student: “/t/”.
EXAMPLE 3
Teacher: “What’s the middle sound in the word ‘lip’?”
Student: “/i/”.

Phoneme Categorization – The child recognizes words with the same
sounds or sorts the words according to their sounds. . (NOTE: Lessons
should focus on only doing beginning sounds until mastered, then move to
ending sounds until mastered, and then move to the middle sounds.)
EXAMPLE 1
Teacher: “Which of the following words have the same beginning sounds?
‘cat’, ‘cup’, ‘mad’.”
Student: “’Cat’ and ‘cup’.”
EXAMPLE 2
Teacher: “Which word does not belong? ‘bug’, ‘cat’, ‘sit’.”
Student: “Bug.” (ending sounds are different)
EXAMPLE 3
Students are given a variety of pictures and asked to sort the pictures
according to the middle sounds.

Phoneme Blending – The teacher says a word by slowly giving each
phoneme in the word. The child must put the phonemes together into a
recognizable word.
EXAMPLE
Teacher: “Guess the animal I’m thinking of: /k/ /a/ /t/.” (Give phonemes
separately and slowly.)
Student: “Cat.” (recognizes it as a word)

Phoneme Segmenting - The teacher gives a word to the child and the
child must break the word into its individual phonemes separately and slowly.
EXAMPLE 1
Teacher: “Say the sounds in the word ‘cup’.”
Student: “/K/ /u/ /p/.”
EXAMPLE 2
Teacher: “How many sounds are in the word ‘bat’?”
Student: “/b/ /a/ /t/ …..3.”

Phoneme Deletion – The child will be able to drop a designated sound
from a word and give the remaining part of the word. (NOTE: Lessons
should focus on beginning sounds until mastered, then move to ending
sounds until mastered. NEVER delete the vowel sounds.)
EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
1
“Say ‘rake’.”
“Rake.”
“Now say it again but don’t say /r/.”
“Ake.”
Difficulty may be increased by giving words that have beginning blends.
Have the child delete the beginning sound of the words and move to having
him delete the second sound of the blend.
EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
2
“Say ‘flip’.”
“Flip.”
“Now say it again but don’t say /f/.”
“Lip.”
EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
3
“Say ‘flip’.”
“Flip.”
“Now say it again but don’t say /l/.”
“Fip.”
Difficulty may be increased again by giving words that have ending blends.
Have the child delete the ending sound of the word and move to having him
delete the second to the last sound.
EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
4
“Say ‘sand’.”
“Sand.”
“Now say it again but don’t say /d/.”
“San.”
EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
5
“Say ‘sand’.”
“Sand.”
“Now say it again but don’t say /n/.”
“Sad.”

Phoneme Addition – The child will begin to make new words by adding a
phoneme to an existing word. Begin by adding it to the beginning of the
word, and eventually move to adding it to the end of the word.

EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
1
“Say ‘at’.”
“At.”
“Now say it again and add /b/ to the beginning.”
“Bat.”
EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
2
“Say ‘ram’.”
“Ram.”
“Now say it again and add /p/ to the end.”
“Ramp.”
Phoneme Substitution – The child will make new words by substituting
or changing only one sound in the word to produce a new word. (NOTE:
Lessons should focus on beginning sounds until mastered, then move to
ending sounds until mastered, and then move to the middle sounds.)
EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
1
“Say ‘bat’.”
“Bat.”
“Now say it again but change the /b/ to /k/.”
“Cat.”
EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
2
“Say ‘bat’.”
“Bat.”
“Now say it again but change the /t/ to /m/.”
“Bam.”
EXAMPLE
Teacher:
Student:
Teacher:
Student:
3
“Say ‘bat’.”
“Bat.”
“Now say it again but change the /a/ to /i/.”
“Bit.”