Phonemic Awareness
Workshop
By Tonya Webber
April 2010
Goals for today…
• Define phonemic awareness and it’s
components?
• Understand why phonemic awareness is
important
• Identify the progression of phonemic
awareness skills
• Learn how to teach and model effective
phonemic awareness strategies
• Assessment strategies
• CD
Phonology
• The study of sounds
• Refers to the sound structure of speech, and
to the perception, representation, and
production of speech sounds.
• Phonological aspects include prosodic and
articulatory units.
Phoneme and Phonemic Awareness
Phoneme:
The smallest part of spoken language that
makes a difference in the meaning of words
Phonemic Awareness:
The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the
individual sounds – phonemes – in spoken
words
ALPHABETIC PRINCIPLE
Phonological Awareness
Phonics
• Letter/Sound
Associations
• Decoding
• Encoding
• Recognizing word/sentence
length
• Rhyming
• Syllabication
• Segmenting onset/rime
• Phonemic Awareness
– Isolation sounds
– Identifying sounds
– Categorizing sounds
– Blending sounds
– Segmenting sounds
– Deleting sounds
– Adding sounds
– Substituting sounds
Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is a broad skill
that includes identifying and manipulating
units of oral language – parts such as words,
syllables, and onsets and rimes. Children
who have phonological awareness are able
to identify and make oral rhymes, can clap
out the number of syllables in a word, and
can recognize words with the same initial
sounds like money and mother.
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness refers to the specific ability to
focus on and manipulate individual sounds
(phonemes) in spoken words. Phonemes are the
smallest units comprising spoken language. Phonemes
combine to form syllables and words. The word mat,
for example, has three phonemes, /m/ /a/ /t/. There are
44 phonemes in the English language, including
sounds represented by letter combinations such as
/th/. Acquiring phonemic awareness is important
because it is the foundation for spelling and word
recognition skills. Phonemic awareness is one of the
best predictors of how well children will learn to read
during the first two years of school instruction
How Does Phonemic Awareness Instruction
Help Children Learn to Read and Spell?
• Phonemic awareness is a necessary prerequisite to children’s
ability to use the alphabetic principle in learning to read, write,
and spell.
• Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of
how the sounds of speech in words work, so they can make a
connection between units of sound and symbols (letters).
• Phonemic awareness is the foundation for late “sounding out” (in
phonics).
• Phonemic Awareness training transfers to and improves
children’s reading and spelling.
• The effect on reading continues beyond instruction.
Phonemic Awareness instruction is most effective
when:
• children are taught to manipulate
phonemes with
• letters,
• instruction is focused on one or
two Phonemic
• Awareness skills rather than a
multi-skilled approach;
• specifically, segmenting and
blending phonemes,
• children are taught in small
groups,
• instruction is based on student
needs assessments
• (such as segmenting syllables,
identifying first sounds
• segmenting words into
phonemes, or deleting a
• phoneme to make a new word),
• single sessions last no more
than 30 minutes,
• instruction makes explicit how
children are to apply
• Phonemic Awareness skills in
reading,
• sounds, letters, and letter names
are over-learned so
• children can work with them
automatically to read and
• spell words.
Who is Phonemic Awareness for?
• Preschool
• Kindergarten through second grade
• Basic and below grade level readers
– The good news is that phonemic awareness and phonological
awareness can be developed through a number of activities.
Skills Mastered by…
Age 3
Recitation
of rhymes
Rhyming by pattern
Alliteration
Age 4
Syllable
counting (50% of children by age 4)
Age 5
Syllable
counting (90% of children by age 5)
Age 6
Initial
Age 7
Blending
Age 8
Consonant
consonant matching
Blending 2-3 phonemes
Counting phonemes (70% of children by age 6)
Rhyme identification
Onset-rime division
3 phonemes
Segmentation of 3-4 phonemes (blends)
Phonetic spelling
Phoneme deletion
cluster segmentation
Deletion within clusters
Source: Straight Talk About Reading, Susan L. Hall and Louisa C. Moats, Ed.D
How Can We Focus on
Phonological/Phonemic Awareness?
• Use clapping, tapping, marching, naming, and/or counting games to
help children learn that words can be divided into syllables and that
words can also be divided into sounds (phonemes).
• Use language play, a variety of texts, and/or physical activities to
introduce children to the similarities and differences in sounds of words
to show that language has meaning, message, and form. Use:
– nursery rhymes
– alliteration
– poetry
– tongue twisters
– patterned books
– singing
– dancing
– finger play
– alphabet/word games
8 areas to focus on with teaching Phonemic Awareness
INSTRUCTION
???
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Instruction
Types of
instruction
• Isolation
• Identify
• Categorization
• Blending
• Segmentation
• Deletion
• Addition
• Substitution
What does it look
like?
1. How to
2. Let’s do
3. You do
Types of
instruction
how to-let’s do-you do
ISOLATION
Isolation-how to
Children recognize
individual sounds in a word.
How To:
Teacher: What is the first sound in van?
Children: The first sound in van is /v/.
Isolation-Let’s do
Let’s Do: What is the first sound in:
• Tire
• Pail
• Goat
• Clock
• Star
• Fish
What is the last sound in:
Isolation-you do
You Do: I spy something in the room that
starts like:
• Purple
• Water
• Teacher
• Cat
Then you can give students an activity sheet
to complete
Isolation Activities
•
•
Children are given a word, picture, or object and asked to tell what sound
occurs at the beginning, middle, or end of the word. Sound Snacks (A Tasty
Game): Place two paper cups on a table next to a bowl of peanuts, M & M's,
raisins, cheerios, or whatever snack you want to have. Label one cup "B" for
beginning and the other "E" for ending. As the child to identify the beginning or
ending consonants in words you name by placing one piece of snack in the
correct cup. Eg. "Where is the /t/ sound in wet?" (End), "Where is the /b/ sound
in bed?" (Beginning). Children may eat the snack if they put it in the correct cup.
Some words like pop, treat, tent, Mom will allow the children to put a treat in
both cups and eat more than one treat at a time.
Show the children a picture (dog) and asking the children to identify the correct
word out of three: "Is this a /mmmm/-og, a /d/d/d/-og, or a /sssss/-og?" A
variation is to ask if the word has a particular sound: "Is there a /d/ in dog? This
can be switched to "Which sound does dog start with- /d/, /sh/, or /l/? This
sequence encourages the children to try out the three onsets with the rime to
see which one is correct.
how to-let’s do
IDENTIFY
Identify-how to
Children recognize the same sounds in
different words
How To:
Teacher: What sound is the same in
fix, fall, and fun?
Children: The first sound /f/ is the same.
Identify-let’s do
Let’s Do: Which sound is the same in…?
• sat
• run
• bike
sister
rice
bake
sorry
river
birth
Identify Activities
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sound repetition activities (iteration) help children begin working toward full segmentation
by isolating the first sound in a word. Eg. K-K-K- Katie. Popular songs may be modified by
the teacher to include iterations, e.g Pop Goes the Weasel – last line could be p-p-p-pPop goes the weasel!
Use any popular melody and sing it using that sound as the lyrics. (eg. London Bridge
sung as /b/-/b/-/b/-/b/...
Learn an alliterative tongue twister featuring the phoneme. (Peter Piper)
Use a puppet to isolate the initial phoneme in the alliterative words. (bear says blue
berries and black berries in the bushes... brown, black...)
Stretch the phoneme to explore its articulation, using an elastic band or a stretchable
action figure as a visual demonstration.
Isolate the phoneme in the final (or medial for vowels) position of other example words.
Practice sound-to-word matching for the target phoneme, first as a yes/no game (e.g. "Do
you hear /n/ in next?"), and then as a forced choice (e.g. "Do you hear /n/ in old or new?)
Listen for the sound in stories, poems, or songs.
Find objects in the room that have that sound.
Use different voices to produce the sound (e.g. baby, troll, queen, tyrannosaurus...)
Categorize or sort pictures based on beginning or ending sounds.
how to-let’s do
CATEGORIZATION
Categorization-how to
Children recognize the word in a set of three
or four words that has the “odd” sound.
How To:
Teacher: Which word doesn’t belong?
bus, bun, rig
Children: Rig does not belong. It doesn’t
begin with /b/.
Categorization-Let’s do
Find the word with the sound that does not
match.
Let’s do
• Shake
ice
shave
• Milk
butter
bug
• Candle
cookie
gutter
Categorization activities
•
•
•
•
Categorizing phonemes can begin by providing children with words beginning with
different phoneme sounds.
This can be done completely orally or pictures can be used. Students will be asked to put
each picture/word in a group based upon beginning sounds or ending sounds.
Place pictures in appropriate columns according to their sound.
Have students create a collage of pictures that have the same beginning, middle or end
sound
how to-types-let’ do
BLENDING
Blending-how to
Children listen to a sequence of separately
spoken phonemes, and then combine the
phonemes to form a word. Then they write
and read the word.
How To:
Teacher: What word is /b/ /i/ /g/?
Children: /b/ /i/ /g/ is big.
Types of Blending
Continuous Blending
Sound by Sound Blending
Vowel-First Blending
Blending-let’s do
Let’s Do: What word is /_/ /_/ /_/?
• /h/ /ou/ /s/
• /p/ /i/ /t/
• /f/ /o/ /k/ /s/
Blending Activities
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Blending requires children to manipulate individual sounds by combining them to form a word. Given a
series of isolated sounds (e.g. /b/-/a/-/t/), children blend them together (e.g., bat)
Guessing Game: Yopp (1992b) "What am I thinking of?" This game encourages children to blend orally
spoken sounds together. The teacher tells the children a category and then speaks in a segmented
fashion the sounds of a particular item in that category. For eg. category of clothing – sounds may be /h//a/-/t/ Children’s attempts to blend the sounds together are applauded and the game continues.
Eventually, children become the leaders and take turns providing their peers with segmented words for
blending. Categories may include theme words as an extension of integrated literacy experiences.
Use picture cards with pictures turned away until children have guessed the picture
Use a grab bag, peeking inside and saying, "I see a toy /d/-/u/-/k/ in here. Who knows what I see?"
Use the lyrics to "If You’re Happy" substituting the words "If you think you know this word, shout it out!"
Pronounce the sounds individually (the slow way) in a word and ask the child to say the word the fast
way. Listen: f-oo-t-b-a-ll is the slow way and football is the fast way. Now your turn. Here is the slow way,
can you say it the fast way?
Blend onsets and rimes: model blending an initial sound onto a word by using a jingle, "It starts with /l/
and it ends with /ight/, put it together and it says light." When they have the idea, the children supply the
final word. An element of excitement can be created by using children's names for this activity and
asking each child to recognize and say his/her own name when it is presented, "It starts with /b/ and it
ends with etsy, put it together and it says Betsy."
Have a puppet who speaks "funny" by saying words syllable by syllable, or phoneme by phoneme for the
children to figure out. The puppet can have children guess, /f/-/i/-/sh/ ... I said fish! or tri-cer-a-tops ... I
said triceratops!
how to-levels-let’s do
SEGMENTATION
Segmentation-how to
Children break a word into its separate
sounds, saying each sound as they
tap out or count it.
Then they write and read the sounds.
How To:
Teacher: How many sounds are in grab?
Children: /g/ /r/ /a/ /b/. Four sounds.
Segmentation Levels
• Counting words in a sentence
• Counting syllables in words
• Compound words
• Counting phonemes in words
Segmentation-let’s do
Let’s Do: How many sounds are in ___?
• Cake
• Lock
• Hen
• Flag
Segmentation Activities
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pronounce a word and tell the children that this is the fast way to say the word, and give an example of
the slow way. For example, football (fast way) and f-oo-t-b-a-ll (slow way). Give the children another
word eg. bed and ask if they can say it the slow way (b-e-d).
One idea is to display a picture of a train composed of an engine, passenger car, and a caboose.
Three connecting boxes can be drawn under each component. Explain that words have beginning,
middle, and end sounds just like the train has a beginning, middle and end. Demonstrate by slowly
articulating a CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) word (e.g. /p/-/i/-/g/) and pointing to the box
corresponding to the position of each sound in the word.
Use interlocking blocks as a visual demonstration of segmentation.
Children’s Names: Draw out the first sound and exaggerate so as to draw attention to the sound, e.g.
C-C-C-Catherine, or Llllllllllllll-inda. Students may even begin to guess which child you are calling by
the initial sound.
Use Twinkle, Twinkle melody replacing with the following words: Listen, listen, to my word. Tell me all
the sounds you heard: race. (slowly) /r/ is one sound, /a/ is two, /s/ is last in race, it’s true. (ask how
many?)
Concrete Objects: Elkonin boxes have been used in Reading Recovery to help low achieving readers
focus on the sounds in words (Clay, 1985). A series of connected boxes are drawn across the page.
The number of boxes corresponds to the number of sounds in a target word. The word chick is
represented by three boxes. As the teacher slowly says the word, she/he models moving an object,
such as a chip, into each box (l-r) as each sound is articulated. Ultimately, the moving of chips into the
boxes is replaced by writing of letters in the boxes (chick: /ch/-/i/-/ck/).
how to-let’s do
DELETION
Deletion-how to
Children recognize the word that remains
when a phoneme is removed from
another word.
How To:
Teacher: What is smile without the /s/?
Children: Smile without the /s/ is mile
Deletion-let’s do
Let’s Do: What is ___ without the /_/?
• Ball without /b/
• Fly without /f/
• Rent without /r/
• Eight without /t/
Deletion Activities
•
•
•
•
•
•
What sound do you hear in meat that is missing in eat?
I can make a new word from flat by taking out the /l/ sound? Can you guess
what it is?
I can take the /k/ sound out of monkey and make a new word. Can you tell me
what it is?
I can change the last sound of a word to make a new word: take the /p/ off the
end of map and put a /d/ sound instead. Can any one tell me what the new
word is?
Play a game of "sound take-away". The teacher models how to orally segment
a word into the "target" sound plus everything else and then takes the sound
away. A modified jingle can be used: "Chair. It starts with /ch/ and it ends with
air; take the first sound away and it says air." The jingle can be used until the
children can delete sounds with a simple prompt: "Say ball without the /b/".
Children who have difficulty with deleting sounds might benefit from visual
clues. By placing two colored blocks side-by-side, the teacher can designate
one as representing the target sound and the other as representing the
remainder of the word: "I'm going to use these blocks to say moon. This (red
block) says moo and this yellow block says /n/. The child is then asked what the
first block said when the second block is removed.
how to-let’s do
ADDITION
Addition-how to
Children make a new word by adding a
phoneme to an existing word.
How To:
Teacher: What word do you have if you add
/s/ to the beginning of park?
Children: Spark.
Addition-let’s do
Let’s Do: What word do you have if you add /_/ to the
beginning of ____?
• /s/
to the beginning of mile
• /c/
to the beginning of law
• /g/
to the beginning of lad
• /t/
to the end of pass
how to-let’s do
SUBSTITUTION
Children substitute one phoneme for another
to make a new word.
How To:
Teacher: The word is bug. Change /g/ to /n/.
What’s the new word?
Children: Bun.
Substitution-let’s do
Let’s Do: The word is ___. Change /_/ to /_/. What’s
the new word?
• Tight
• Bag
• Lid
/t/
/b/
/d/
• Cot /o/
to
/m/
to
/w/
to
/p/
go
/a/
Assessment
How do I assess???
Assessment
• Usually 1:1
• Recommended to assess by mid
kindergarten year
• Focus on assessing blending and
segmenting
• Use information to make data driven
decisions for instruction
*I added some printables for Phonemic Awareness assessments*
Summary
• Phoneme awareness is necessary, but not
sufficient.
• Phoneme awareness can be directly taught.
• Phoneme awareness does not require extensive
teaching time.
• Phoneme awareness should be assessed in
kindergarten.
• Focus majority of instruction on blending and
segmenting sounds
How well did I do???
Please fill out the survey. You do
not need your name on it.
references
Griffin, S. (2009). Phonemic Awareness Activities. Retrieved Mar. 14, 2010, from Readingresource.net,
Columbus, OH. Web site: http://www.readingresource.net/phonemicawarenessactivities.html.
-This site gives pictures and activities to help develop phonemic awareness. There are many printables and
resources to use in the classroom. The pictures really help give a visual of the activities.
Jones, & Brooks, . (2006). Phonemic Awareness Activities. Retrieved Mar. 14, 2010, from Mrs. Jones
Room, Lakeview Elementary, PA. Web site http://www.mrsjonesroom.com/brooks/phonics.html
-Lots of phonemic awareness activities for parents and teachers to help students who are struggling with
this reading strategy. These activities are very easy and functional to use anywhere!
Murray, B. (2009). The Reading Genie. Retrieved Mar. 14, 2010, from Reading Education in the
Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Auburn University, Auburn University. Web site:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/.
-A professor from Auburn University created this page to help teachers with reading tips and strategies.
There are a lot of printables reading teachers and classroom teachers to use during small group time.
Roy, M. (2010). Phonemic Awareness Strategies. Retrieved Mar. 14, 2010, from Charlotte-Mecklenburg
County Schools, Charlotte, NC. Web site: http://pages.cms.k12.nc.us/melissaroy/phonemic.html.
-This website is fantastic A teacher from Charlotte has created this site with tons of reading tips and
strategies. There are tips, strategies, and printables available to anyone for free.
references
Trehearne, M. (2004). Chapter two: Phonological Awareness. In B. Rafoth (Ed.), Comprehensive Literacy
Resource for Kindergarten Teachers (pp. 1-39). ETA/Cuisenaire.
www.etacuisenaire.com/pdf/kindergarten/chapter_2.pdf
-This is an excerpt from a recourse book. This whole chapter talks about phonemic awareness. This
chapter talks about what is phonemic awareness, resources, activities, assessment, and the role in the
classroom.
Valdes, K. (2006). Phonemic Awareness Summer Workshop PowerPoint. Retrieved Mar. 14, 2010, from
US Department of Education, Washington, DC. Web site:
www.state.nj.us/education/ece/pd/lal/l4/guide.pdf
-This is a PowerPoint for summer workshop on Phonemic Awareness. I found this extremely helpful when
trying to organize my own presentation. The presentation talks about each step to take on Phonemic
Awareness and ways to teach it.
(2008). Phonological Awareness. Retrieved Mar. 14, 2010, from Nevada Reading First, University of
Nevada Las Vegas. Web site:
http://www.nevadareading.org/resourcecenter/literacycomponents/phonologicalawareness.html.
-Nevada Reading First website gives research and strategies to use in the classroom for Phonemic
Awareness. There are printable activity cards you can use with small groups. There are also tools and
strategies to use for assessment on phonemic awareness.
references
(2007). Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Teacher's Guide. Retrieved Mar. 29, 2010, from New Jersey
State Department of Education, New Jersey. Web site:
http://search.state.nj.us/query.html?qp=&qt=phonemic+awareness&x=0&y=0.
-New Jersey state department of education has many resources on their website that discuss phonemic
awareness. I used the handouts and activities page as well as the PowerPoint Workshop for guidance.
(2006). Levels of Phonemic Awareness. Retrieved Mar. 14, 2010, from The Los Angeles County of Education,
Los Angeles, CA. Web site:
http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/patti/k1/teacher/assessment/levels.html.
-This site talks about the levels of phonemic awareness. There are 7 stages if phonemic awareness. Each
stage gives a specific age in which the child should have mastered the skills.
(2002). Reading Links Project: Phonemic Awareness. Retrieved Mar. 30, 2010, from Reading Links,
Olympia, Washington. Web site:
http://www.linkslearning.org/reading_links/readingmanuals/PhonemicAwarenessPARTICIPANT.pdf.
-This is a great resource on phonemic awareness. It covers each section of phonemic awareness and gives
activities for each. There are skills and strategies for teachers to use in the classroom. There are
questionnaires to test teachers knowledge of phonemic awareness.
references
(2005). Phonemic Awareness. Retrieved Mar. 14, 2010, from Office of Curriculum, Instruction and
Student Support, Hawaii. Web site: http://spedlit.k12.hi.us/phonemic.htm.
-Hawaii department of education gives different components of phonemic awareness. There are eight
components of phonemic awareness states this site.
(2004). Teaching Tips: Phonemic Awareness. Retrieved Mar. 14, 2010, from National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, University of Missouri. Web site:
http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001851.shtml.
-Great for teaching tips on phonemic awareness. There are worksheets, printables, assessments, games,
and practice tips for teaching phonemic awareness.
(1998). PHONEMIC AWARENESS And The Teaching Of Reading A Position Statement from The Board
of Directors Of The International Reading Association. Retrieved Mar. 29, 2010, from International
Reading Association, Newark, DE. Web site:
http://www.reading.org/downloads/positions/ps1025_phonemic.pdf.
-This is a brochure about Phonemic Awareness from the International Reading Association. You will read
about what is Phonemic awareness, and why do we study it, how is it taught. There are some selected
readings that would be a great resource.