Unit Overview
Content Area: English Language Arts
Unit Title: Phonological Awareness
Timeline: Ongoing
Target Course/Grade Level: First Grade
Unit Summary: Phonological Awareness instruction will offer students a strong understanding of the
sounds in spoken language, an essential concept before students can understand written language.
Throughout the year students will receive multiple opportunities to experience oral language.
Phonological awareness is not an innate skill and therefore must be acquired through training and practice.
The path to phonemic awareness is sequential and occurs in five stages. Phonemic instruction prepares
students to learn about their letter symbols in phonics.
Primary interdisciplinary connections: Technology, Speech and Language
21st century themes and skills: Creative Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication and
Collaboration, Life and Career Skills; -flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social
skills, productivity and accountability, leadership and responsibility.
Anchor Standards:
Reading Foundational Anchor Standards are not recognized in the Common Core.
Learning Targets/Activities
Domain: Foundational Skills
Cluster: Phonological Awareness
Standard #
Standards
RF.1.2
Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables and sounds (phonemes)
RF.1.2.a
Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
RF.1.2.b
Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant
blends.
RF.1.2.c
Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken singlesyllable words.
RF.1.2.d
Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds
(phonemes).
Unit Essential Questions
 What makes one word sound different than
another?
 How can I put sounds together to make a word?
 How can I manipulate sounds?
Unit Enduring Understandings
 Phonemic awareness includes the ability to isolate,
blend and manipulate sounds in spoken words.
 Ones understanding of the spoken word is
developed through phonemic awareness.
 Phonemic awareness is a prerequisite and
necessary for phonics work to be effective.
Unit Learning Targets
Students will ...
 Identify and create a series of rhyming words. (RF.1.2.a)
 Identify the word that does not rhyme in a series (oddity task). (RF.1.2.a)
 Identify words with matching initial, medial and final sounds. (RF.1.2.d)
 Blend syllables to make words. (/ta/-/ble/) (RF.1.2.b)
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Blend onset/rimes of words. (/p/-/an/) (RF.1.2.b)
Blend individual phonemes to create words. (/s/-/a/-/t/) (RF.1.2.b)
Segment words into syllables. (RF.1.2.d)
Segment words into onset/rime. (RF.1.2.d)
Segment words into individual phonemes. (RF.1.2.d)
Isolate and produce initial, medial vowel and final sounds in words. (RF.1.2.d)
Add, delete, or substitute initial, medial, final syllables and sounds to create new words. (e.g. cow to
how, cat to can) (RF.1.2)
 Listen and identify the number of syllables in a word. (RF.1.2)
 Distinguish long from short vowels. (RF.1.2.a)
 Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print including that text is read leftto-right, top-to-bottom (directionality), first word, capitalization and ending punctuation. (RF.1.1.a)
Learning Activities
 Sound/picture/objects sorts
 Word building puzzles
 Matching/memory games
 Word ladders
 Literature and rhymes
 Syllable sorts
 Clapping and tapping activities/games
 Sound boxes/chips
 Sorting stamped images
 Poems and songs
 Word families
 Word pairs
 Sound hunts/sound detectives
Evidence of Learning
Formative Assessments
 Student participation
 Anecdotal records
 Teacher observation
 Work station checklist/folders
 Performance tasks: sorting, literacy centers
Summative Assessments
 Phonological Awareness Inventory
RESOURCES/TECHNOLOGY
Teacher Instructional Resources:
 Project Read: Phonology
 Read Aloud/Mentor Texts
 Poems/songs
 Calkins Units of Study/Curricular Plans
 Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about Print by M.J.Adams
 Reading First by Creative Teaching Press
 Phonemic Awareness: Playing with Sounds to Strengthen Beginning Reading Skills by Creative
Teaching Press
 Phonemic Awareness Handbook by Anthony D. Fredericks
 Phonics from A to Z: A Practical Guide by Wiley Blevins
 The Complete Phonemic Awareness Handbook, by Anthony Fredricks
 Phonemic Awareness in Young Children, Marilyn Adams, Barbara Foorman, Ingvar Lundberg, Terri
Beeler
 Florida Center for Reading Research
 Literacy Leaders by Sheila Clark-Edmonds, Yopp & Yopp
Integration of Technology:
 interactive whiteboard (SMARTBoard)
 websites
 computers
 document camera (Elmo)
Technology Resources:
Click the links below to access additional resources used to design this unit:
www.pinterest.com (online pin board)
www.teacherspayteachers.com (open marketplace)
www.havefunteaching.com (worksheets, activities, etc.)
www.abcya.com (free computer games and activities)
www.starfall.com (free systematic & interactive website)
http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Phonic_awareness
http://www.proteacher.com/070171.shtml (list of phonemic awareness activities)
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/summerworkshop/valdes/index.html
http://www.readingresource.net/
http://www.plattscsd.org/oak/smartboard/phonemic.htm (**interactive games)
http://www.readingrockets.org/ (teacher resource)
http://www.earobics.com/ (computer-based intervention program)
http://www.scilearn.com/ (Fast Forword – computer-based intervention program)
Opportunities for Differentiation:
Learning centers/stations (specific to level of phonemic awareness stage)
Flexible grouping
VAKT modeling
Leveling of sorting activities
Teacher Notes:
Phonemic Awareness instruction includes the teaching of: phoneme isolation, phoneme identity, phoneme
categorization, phoneme blending, phoneme segmentation, phoneme deletion, phoneme addition, and
phoneme substitution.
All segmenting and blending activities should include consonant blends, diagraphs and diphthongs of most
one-syllable words.
Science and Social Studies content should be integrated into appropriate ELA lessons.