I am looking for some help. Recently I attended an Open House at my daughter’s school. The kindergarten teacher mentioned the skills that children would be working on during the year. She didn’t get into specifics in each area. One thing that she mentioned was, “phonemic awareness.” I am not sure what that is or how I can help my daughter. If you have any suggestions, I would appreciate the help.
To put it simply, phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds (or phonemes) in spoken language as they relate to written language. It is not to be confused with phonics which is a code to sound out written words. I like to describe phonemic awareness in young children as their ability to hear, use, and understand the rhyme and rhythm in our speech.
Phonemic awareness improves children’s ability to read, spell and comprehend what is read. I’ve noticed a decline in the phonemic awareness of many children entering school over the past few years. One reason may be that many parents have gotten away from reading nursery rhymes to their children. As a result, children often come to school not knowing any rhymes at all. Repetitive poems and simple rhymes such as those found in Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes are helpful in teaching phonemic awareness.
Parents should start teaching phonemic awareness when their child is a toddler so that they will have the pre-reading skills they need when they begin school. Practicing phonemic awareness should be a fun and easy activity. Here are a few simple games that parents can play with their child whenever they might have a few free minutes. As most activities do not require a paper and pencil, you can practice (play) them anywhere, even in the car.
PHONEMIC AWARENESS activities include:
1) RHYMING
Recognizing rhymes in books and poems – Read a rhyming book or poem and have the child pick out the rhyming words at the end of each line.
Saying rhymes – Example: “Which two words rhyme: The silly fox sat on the box?”
Recognizing rhymes – Example: “Do these words rhyme: down/dip; down/clown?”
Generating rhymes – Example: “Can you think of a word that rhymes with frog?”
As many other games in this piece, the above are great car games that the whole family can join in on.
2) SEGMENTING SYLLABLES
Say aloud and clap the syllables in words – Example: “How many syllables are in the words: cat; cupcake; elephant; television; etc.?
3) BEGINNING SOUND SUBSTITUTION
Change the first sound of the word to make a new word – Examples:
Ask: “What would I do to change the word cat to mat?”
“What would I do to change the word cook to shook [harder]?”
“Can you think of a word that rhymes with sock, but starts with an /l/?”
4) TEACHING SOUNDS IN ISOLATION
Identify individual sounds in words – Examples:
“What sound do you hear at the beginning of the word hen?”
“What sound do you hear in the middle if the word pig?”
“What is the ending sound of lion?”
“What sound do all of these words begin with: duck; dog; damp?”
“What do these words end with: sock; quack; kick?”
Identify words from individual sounds – Examples:
Slowly stretch out the sounds in the word: c / a / t. Then ask, “What word am I saying?”
Slowly stretch out the sounds in the word: j / u / m / p. Then ask, “What word am I saying?”
When your daughter has mastered easier concepts, make your games a little harder, move onto higher level skills. Examples: “Can you say cat without the /C/ ?’ “Can you say brook without the /Br/ ?
By practicing these simple activities with your daughter, you will be helping her master phonemic awareness, an important skill in learning to read!
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