Phonemic Awareness

 


Reading is the basic tool in the living of a good life.
by Mortimer J. Adler

 

                                                                                                      

What in the world is
phonemic awareness?

Phonemic awareness  is the ability to HEAR the individual phonemes that make up a word. It does not involve the written word, ONLY the sounds that  you HEAR in a word.       
 

     Important Note    
 

                        Oh my! What are phonemes?                        

It's really quite simple! Phonemes are the individual sounds that you hear in a word. Think of the word sat. In this word you hear the sound that the s makes, the sound that the a makes, and the sound that the t makes. Say it and stretch it:  sssssaaaaattttt. You can break this word into each individual phoneme (sound):   /s/   /a/   /t/. The word sat has 3 phonemes! Plain and simple, phonemes are speech sounds, not letters!

 

          Let's give it a try!
Take a look at the words to the right.

Say each word out loud.

  Tap each sound that you hear.

  Click on the word to check your answer!

Have fun!

       lap                 each

       fun                 odd

       hand              night

       ship               laugh

       stump            ray

 

Why is this so important?

Research shows that teaching phonemic awareness to young children is an important part of learning to read and a strong predictor of reading success. It is imperative that children understand that words are made up of speech sounds. This helps them in spelling and decoding (sounding out) unknown words.

                      Phonemic Awareness Activities!                      


Strategies for Teaching
Phonemic Awareness


Simple activities that can be done to develop phonemic awareness.

 
How Now Brown Cow:
Phoneme Awareness Activities
for Collaborative Classrooms


Phoneme awareness training activities that can be used with young children.


Phonemic Awareness Worksheets

This site takes you to 56 phonics and phonemic awareness worksheets designed to improve memorization of important consonant and vowel sounds.


Reading Workshop-Phonemic Awareness

Activities designed to help children become aware of the sounds of language. Interactive and immediate feedback. Try these with your child!


Jim's Crankophone

This game provides practice with auditory discrimination of medial vowels.


Songs for Teaching

A collection of songs
that build phonemic awareness .  


Kids Lab

Interactive page where the child says the name of the picture, then chooses all of the pictures that have the designated number of syllables given in the directions.

Practice with Syllables

This interactive game gives the child practice clapping out syllables. Immediate feedback when an answer is given.

Games that Build Phonemic Awareness

Word play with sounds is a great way to build phonemic awareness. Here are some simple ideas that can be done in the car, at the dinner table, or in the bathtub.


Clifford's Sound Match Game

Clifford, the big red dog, is a favorite of children. Play this game of listening to the sound and matching to a picture.


Phonemic Awareness Activities

Simple activities that can be done to develop phonemic awareness and phonics.

 
                Articles about Phonemic Awareness                
Phonemic Awareness What Does It Mean?

This article details the
stages of phonological awareness.

     Oswego City School District's Test Prep Center   

The links below will provide you with teacher-developed online lessons, practice pages, interactive games, and teacher resources aligned to the New York State Core Curriculum!

 PreK-K Elementary Test Prep Center

 Grade 1 Elementary Test Prep Center

 Grade 2 Elementary Test Prep Center

 Grade 3 Elementary Test Prep Center

 Grade 4 Elementary Test Prep Center
 

            Visit Beginning Reading to learn more!            

                                                                                                     

 
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Marie L. Smith
Red Creek Central School District
M. W. Cuyler Elementary School
Last updated on 5-6-07

 

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