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Running head: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITIES 1

Professional Development on Phonemic Awareness Activities

Patricia E. Dickens

Towson University

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITIES 2

Professional Development Plan

Teaching Alphabetic Knowledge and Phonemic Awareness Using Hands On Activities

Session One

Objective 1: Participants will be able to identify research based reasons to teach alphabet

letter names to young children.

Objective 2: Participants will be able to demonstrate one activity that can be used to

teach alphabet letter names.

Anticipation guide: To begin session one, participants will use sticky notes to agree or

disagree with the following statements:

1. Understanding of the alphabet requires children to understand four separate yet

interconnected components. Sharing Alphabet Books in Early Childhood

Classrooms, (Jones, 2007).

2. Letter-name knowledge is necessary for children to develop phonological

awareness.

3. The language used in sharing alphabet books with children makes a difference in

learning the alphabet names and sounds.

4. Using music and art can enhance alphabet letter name learning.

5. Hands on activities are the best way to teach alphabet letter names.

6. Hands on activities take too much time to plan and prepare to be useful in my

teaching.


After completing the anticipation guide, a short discussion will be conducted using a

Think-Pair-Share.

Direct (Explicit) Teaching: A review of the research will be covered in a power point

presentation. The information that will be included:

Snow et al. said in 1998 “Knowledge of letter names is a strong predictor of

later reading success” (Jones, 2007, p. 452).

Four components necessary for letter name understanding are: letter shape

knowledge, letter name knowledge, letter sound knowledge, and letter writing

ability (Jones, 2007)

A wide range of experiences is necessary for young children to learn the

alphabet letter names and sounds. (Jones, 2007)

During the power point presentation, I will have the participants use a minute reflection

to evaluate what they have learned so far.

After viewing the video, reflect on your knowledge of letter sounds. Do you see

any changes you should make when you model the letter sounds? Discuss your

response with a neighbor.

Modeling:

During this part of the Professional Development, I will demonstrate activities

that can be used to introduce and review letter names. I will read an alphabet book and

include some suggestions for talking about the letters during pauses in the reading. Next


I will demonstrate making letters from sand paper and making letter rubbings and

introduce individualized alphabet books children can make using an internet website to

collect pictures for the book. We will conclude this part of the session by brainstorming

a list of other activities that can be used to provide hands on activities to teach alphabet

letter names.

Coaching:

After explicit instruction, we will have a collaborative session in which groups

plan a lesson together to teach a letter of the alphabet that will incorporate hands on

activities. The groups will become “critical friends” groups in which the groups will

present lessons to the whole group and then have, questions asked to clarify, feedback for

suggestions to improve the lesson, response from the small group and then an opportunity

to debrief how the group reacts to the process. I will introduce an observation checklist

the participant can use when they observe each other’s lessons. From this process, I hope

that participants will take the lessons back to their classrooms to actually try.

Independent:

After the coaching part of the presentation, I will invite the participants to make

the materials necessary to carry out one of the activities they planned in order to teach a

lesson independently using what they learned from the session. They can also discuss a

minute reflection telling two activities they would most like to try in their classroom.

During the next month, I would like to have participants invite me to observe a

lesson in which they use some of the techniques we talked about in the session. I would


use an observation checklist and after the lesson, we would talk about the lesson and

reflect on how the lesson improved the learning for the students involved.

At the conclusion of this session, I will give the participants an evaluation form to complete to

assess their reaction to the entire session.

Sessions Two and Three: (this session may have to be divided into two)

Objective 1: Participants will be able to define phonological awareness.

Objective 2: Participants will be able to tell how phonological awareness is different

from phonics.

Pre-assessment:

The participants will play a Jeopardy type game with answers and questions about

phonological awareness. I can use this to adjust my session if necessary to make the explicit

teaching more of a review.

Direct (Explicit) Teaching:

After playing the Jeopardy game, I will review the information that appears to be familiar

to the participants and introduce any material that is less familiar or unknown to them.

Teachers must understand the importance of phonological awareness to reading success. I

will also explain the sequential order that these skills should be taught. Finally, I will model

some activities that can be used to teach these skills. In an online article by David J. Chard

and Shirley V. Dickson, phonological awareness is defined as follows:


Phonological awareness is the understanding of different ways that oral language can be divided into smaller components and manipulated. Spoken language can be broken down in many different ways, including sentences into words and words into syllables (e. g., in the word simple, /sim/ and /ple/), onset and rime (e. g., in the word broom, /br/ and /oom/), and individual phonemes (e.g., in the word hamper, /h/, /a/, /m/, /p/, /er/). Manipulating sounds includes deleting, adding, or substituting syllables or sounds (e.g., say can; say it without the /k/; say can with /m/ instead of /k/). Being phonologically aware means having a general understanding at all of these levels. (V.Dickson, 1999)

I plan to use an umbrella and raindrop cut-outs to explain the relationship of Phonological

Awareness and the sequence from the less complex to more complex skills that need to be

taught. I will also review that research has shown that direct teaching of these skills are

important for all young children and for some, who are identified at risk, more intensive

instruction is needed. This instruction must be age appropriate and engage the learners.

At the conclusion of the direct instruction, I will have the participants complete a minute

reflection about three things that they either learned or had reaffirmed during the presentation

so far. We will have a short sharing session including how they think this research can affect

the learning of their students.


Modeling:

I will model the following activities that can be used to teach phonological awareness

for each stage of the process.

1. Rhyming-I will use participants to demonstrate how dramatization of nursery

rhymes is an age appropriate and engaging way to teach phonological

awareness to young children. Another activity would be to read excerpt from

the book The Hungry Thing which can be used to help children produce

rhyming words. Following the reading of the book, several activities can be

used to scaffold the students to independently substitute beginning sounds.

(Yopp, 2000)

2. Sentence Segmentation-the activities I will use for this goal will include

clapping the words in sentences and building “living sentences” with word

cards and participants.

3. Syllable Segmentation-Using colored pieces of paper to represent syllables in

student’s names after clapping the syllables in each name. Later the students

can use colored pieces of paper to glue on their own drawing paper for the

syllables in their names and then draw self portraits. A sorting activity can

follow in which the students get up and gather in groups by the number of

syllables in their names. After sorting, the students can practice pronouncing

each other’s names and telling how many syllables in each name. A book that

can be used as follow-up is Tingo Tango Mango Tree by Marcia Vaughan.

(Yopp, 2000)


4. Onset-Rime Blending/Segmentation-The following activities can be used to

teach blending onset and rimes. Mail a package activity, Pat Pat Clap game,

and Make a Word. I will model each of these activities. (Yopp, 2000)

5. Blending and Segmenting Individual Phonemes-I will read the book Cock-a

doodle-moo by Bernard Most. This book can be used to introduce phoneme

manipulation. Follow-up activities can be to have children name other

animals and tell how they might sound if they were trying to replace the

rooster. The mix freeze group game can also be played with beginning

sounds. Each child would say the sound that their names begin with and get

together in a group with students whose names begin with the same sound. A

center activity called the Bag Game involves using picture cards and

connecting cubes to represent sounds. (Yopp, 2000)

Coaching:

During this part of the session, I will provide materials for the participants to

make the parts for at least one of the activities modeled and in small groups practice the

activities. Following the make and take, participants will complete the minute reflection

about how effective this type of activity is in a PD session.

Independent:

To assess how effective this part of the PD plan is I will ask the participants to

keep a list of the dates and type of hands on activity they used in their classrooms. At the

beginning of the next session, participants will bring their lists with them and spend a short time


discussing what activities they found most useful and if they saw any affect on the learning of

their students.

Session Four

Objective 1: Participants will be able to explain what the speech language approach to

early reading success is.

Objective 2: Participants will be able to tell how phonemic awareness skills are needed

to make the transition to phonics instruction.

Review of last session: This session will begin with a discussion of how the activities

learned in the last session were actually used in the classroom and a short evaluation of the

effectiveness.

Anticipation guide: Participants will begin this session by filling out an anticipation

guide after being given the objective and hearing the title of an article and reading each statement

from the article. They will complete the reflection part of the guide and have a discussion about

it at the end of the session.

Direct (Explicit) Teaching: This portion of the PD session will be conducted using a

power point presentation which would include the rationale for the method of instruction, how

phonemic awareness and phonics are related, and points to reflect and discuss what is being

taught.

Modeling:

Activities to be modeled will include ways to introduce the picture sound symbols

for some of the consonant sounds, how to make visuals to use with the picture sound symbols


and how to make and tell the stories for each of the sounds. This portion of the session will also

include the connection between what we have been doing so far only using the auditory mode

and now we will add the visual (alphabet letters) which is phonics.

Coaching:

Participants will break up into groups of two to make up stories for several other

letters of the alphabet and then each group will share their stories. After the presentations,

they will complete a minute reflection about whether they think they will be able to use this

activity in their classrooms and if they can think of any adaptations they might need to make

in order to meet the needs of their students. A think/pair/share will follow the reflection.

Independent:

I will ask the participants to observe one another teaching a lesson involving this

approach especially with small groups of students who need a more intensive approach to

learning phonemic awareness. An observation checklist will be provided and after the

observation, the lesson can be discussed in a critical friends group. To conclude this session, I

will have the participants complete an evaluation form to assess the effectiveness of the session.

Session Five

Objective: Participants will be able to explain hands on activities that can be used to

teach phonemic awareness.

Pre-assessment: To begin this session, I will have the participants brainstorm activities

they have tried so far and new ones they have found. We will also discuss what they would like

to learn about next.


Direct (Explicit) Teaching:

I will explain the research for two new activities to use with students who are at risk in

first sound fluency based on DIBELS and one type of authentic assessment that can be used with

all students to assess phonics ability.

1. The stop and go phonemic awareness game. (Jill Howard Allor, 2006) (Calfee,

2004)

2. Tile Test: A hands-on approach for assessing phonics in the early grades,

(Norman, Calfee, 2004).

3. Using Scaffolding to Teach Phonemic Awareness in Preschool and Kindergarten.

(Ukrainetz, 2009)

I will also give participants a handout which will include additional activities I have used

in the classroom that the students enjoy.

1. Picture puzzles to use in teaching beginning, middle, and ending sounds.

2. Elkonin box picture cards

3. Snail talk

4. The name game used to practice phoneme substitution

Modeling:

I will model the materials needed for the Stop and Go game and have one of the

participants role play with me how a student would be tutored using the game. Next I

will demonstrate how students can be taught how to isolate beginning sounds using

scaffolding. Finally I will model the Tile Test with the help of one of the participants.


Coaching:

Coaching will be done on an individual basis as participants want me to come in

and model a phonemic awareness session and/or observe one of their lessons. Feedback

sessions will be planned after each session to discuss the lesson.

Independent: Study group sessions will be planned to discuss effectiveness of the

activities used in their classrooms.

Implementation: The portion of this plan I would like to implement during this course

is session 1 and session 2. I think session one needs to be presented since it has a lot of

the background of the purpose of the PD. Based on discussion with the other

kindergarten teachers, session two would be most helpful to them.

Research Support of Practice

Research Studies on the Topic

There is a great deal of research that supports the explicit teaching of phonemic

awareness to young children and that alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness skills

are the best predictors of later reading success. One study is by Hallie Kay Yopp and Ruth

Helen Yopp. In this article the authors acknowledge the importance of phonemic awareness and

explain just what the meaning of the term is. They say that phonemic awareness is “the

awareness that the speech stream consists of a sequence of sounds-specifically phonemes, the

smallest unit of sound that makes a difference in communication” (Yopp, 2000). The Yopps

give definitions of all the terms they use in the article. They then make suggestions for teaching


phonemic awareness that is developmentally appropriate. These activities include songs, chants,

and word-sound games. Other researchers mentioned in this article added word play, nursery of

Dr. Seuss rhymes, and exposure to storybooks. Yopp “argued that phonemic awareness

instruction for young children should be playful and engaging interactive and social, and should

stimulate curiosity and experimentation with language” (Yopp, 2000). Two other points that are

explained in the article said that not only should the instruction be playful but also deliberate and

purposeful and it must be only a part of a broader balanced literacy program. (Yopp, 2000) The

article concludes with a list and description of many activities that are developmentally

appropriate and include storybooks, songs, chants and games that can be used with young

children. All of these activities have been found to be effective in teaching young children. This

research supports my thinking that teaching the alphabet letter names and sounds through more

hands on activities and developmentally appropriate lessons.

Another research article presented a very interesting idea. This article reiterated the

research that phonological decoding is essential to reading. It is written by two speech-language

pathologists, Adele Gerber and Evelyn R. Klein. The authors explain that some of the teachers

of their clients noticed that children receiving articulation therapy excelled in phonics. When

these teachers told the authors this fact, they developed a program called “Beginning Reading

Through Speech” in a format appropriate for use in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. The

article describes in detail some of the techniques that are in this program and provides the visuals

that can be used to teach the speech language approach. One statement made in the article is that

“If you want to make a difference, make it different” (Klein, 2004). I think so many times we try

to teach a struggling student phonemic awareness by simply repeating the same procedure two


times or more a day (a “double dose”) instead of looking for a different way to teach the concept.

This is one of the techniques I would like to include in my PD plan.

Tile Test: A hands-on approach for assessing phonics in the early grades, an article by

Kimberly Norman and Robert Calfee, expands the phonemic awareness teaching to include not

only knowledge of the English orthography but also students need to understand it so they can

apply it to reading. The authors have designed an assessment tool that is easy to create, learn to

use and takes only about fifteen minutes to administer. The Tile test can be used to evaluate

early readers’ and writers’ understanding of letters, sounds, words, and sentences. There is a

website, www.education.ucr.edu/read_plus which makes available the assessment materials.

This is a hands on approach to assessment and is developmentally appropriate for young

children. (Calfee, 2004)

The next article I would like to use in my PD plan is one by Barbara Bradley and Jennifer

Jones. It is Sharing alphabet books in early childhood classrooms. (Jones, 2007) I was

particularly interested in this article because in my needs assessment before starting my project,

the preschool teachers indicated a need to find a way to help their students who had trouble

learning the alphabet letter names. This article addressed the topic of using alphabet books to

teach letter names. The authors agreed that these books can help students learn the letter names

and sounds if the teacher sets out with a purpose in mind when selecting the book and specific

questioning occurs before, during and after the reading. The article includes a list of alphabet

books and the features of the text and how they can be used in teaching the alphabet. Some of

the activities and book talk techniques could be helpful to the pre-k teachers at my school and

will be included in my PD plan.

http://www.education.ucr.edu/read_plus


Other articles I found that support my premise that young children need hands on

activities in order to learn phonemic awareness and become competent readers are:

Using Scaffolding to teach phonemic awareness in preschool and kindergarten by Lea

McGee and Teresa Ukrainetz. (Ukrainetz, 2009) I have used this technique in my classes

and found it very effective. I would like to include this in my project.

Phonemes in use: Multiple activities for a critical process by Patrick Manyak. This

author recognizes the critical role of phonemic awareness in the development of

beginning reading and in his article describes five different activities that can be used for

young students. He states that “ these activities all involve segmenting and blending

phonemes within the context of reading and writing words, but each one does so in a

slightly different way”. (Manyak, 2008)

The stop and go phonemic awareness game: providing modeling, practice and feedback

by Jill Allor, Kristin Gansle, and R. Kenton Denny. This article shows how the DIBELS

assessment can be used and the information obtained from it to implement a game to

teach phonemic awareness. (Jill Howard Allor, 2006)

Drama rhymes: an instructional strategy by Betty Roush is an interesting article about

acting out nursery rhymes. The author explains why it is important for young children to

learn nursery rhymes and details a way to dramatize them in order for the children to get

more benefit in phonemic awareness than simply listening to the rhymes or quickly

acting them out. (Roush, 2005)

The effects of an adapted interactive writing intervention on kindergarten children’s

phonological awareness, spelling, and early reading development by Sharon Craig

introduces another approach to teaching phonemic awareness. The author explains how


interactive writing can be more effectively used to teach young children phonemic

awareness skills. (Craig, 2003)

Do students with and without lexical retrieval weaknesses respond differently to

instruction by Allor, Fuchs and Mathes is another article I found when doing my

research. I was especially interested in this article because I did not know what “lexical

retrieval” was. “Lexical retrieval is the retrieval of phonological codes from long-term

memory”. (Jill Howard Allor D. F., 2001) After reading the article I think I became

aware of a problem some of my students may have in learning to isolate beginning,

middle or ending sounds in words. I would like to do more research in this area to bring

into my project because it may be that there are ways to improve lexical retrieval before

or during teaching phonics that would do more to help our struggling learners then simply

giving them a double dose of the same thing.

Effects of phonemic awareness instruction on the encoding skills of children with severe

speech impairment by Blischak, Shah, Lombardino, and Chiarella. The authors

concluded that interventions in phonemic awareness were effective in increasing reading

and spelling ability of children with varying disabilities. (D.M. Blischak, 2004) I chose

this article specifically because of a child in my class with an ssi and wanted to see if

there were some techniques I could use in the classroom that would help him get off to a

better start in reading.

The research I chose for this project is all connected to phonological awareness and alphabetic

knowledge. Each one supports my belief that the most important thing I can teach my

kindergarten students is phonemic awareness. This is only a part of literacy teaching in my class

but my understanding of the research is that if children do not get this skill in the early years in


school it will affect the child’s ability to read the rest of his life. Right now I feel I end up just

giving a struggling reader more of the same and see the need to vary the presentation and use

more hands on activities to reach these students and see them succeed in reading.

Reading Theory Supporting the Teaching Phonemic Awareness

Each of the articles in my list above mentions research that supports the current belief

that phonological awareness in young children and in particular the ability to manipulate

individual phonemes (segmenting and blending) is the best predictor of later reading success.

Learning to read is an extremely complicated process and in my LETRS training the phrase

frequently used was “we are not hard wired to read” (Moats, 2005). We use an alphabetic

system of reading and writing and students must first master this system to be able to read. In

Chall’s Stages of Reading Development, alphabetic decoding is the second stage of reading

development. (Moats, 2005, p. 31). “Children who are better at playing with rhymes, syllables,

and speech sounds often learn to read more quickly because these skills enable them to learn the

alphabetic principle and to learn phonics” (Moats L. H., 2010). Research also supports the fact

that this training must be done at an early age. The National Reading Panel in its report stresses

the importance of phonemic awareness training in a child’s success in learning to read. The

report identified five factors that, when taught properly, provide the greatest chance of success in

learning to read. These factors are supported by empirical research. These factors are; phonemic

awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. (Padak, 2009). From the

research I have reviewed phonological awareness is an essential part of learning to read. Since it

is so important, teachers must be careful to provide the best instruction possible to assist their

students in acquiring this skill so they can achieve reading success. Therefore, my PD project is

focused on helping teachers find ways to improve phonological awareness training. All of the


sources I consulted did emphasize that phonological awareness is only part of a balanced literacy

program and should not be considered the total reading program.

Relationship Between Instruction and Student Achievement

The research articles, textbook chapters, LETRS modules, and the NPR report all cited

that phonological awareness training in the first two years of school resulted in improved reading

ability later in the student’s education. Measurement of reading achievement was done in

various ways. Some of the assessments used included the DIBELS assessment, the TOPA,

PPVT-R, RAN, Curriculum-Based Measurements, the Tile Test, and other informal reading

assessments. This success rate also supports the fact that phonological awareness training is well

worth the time spent each day in the classroom. The time spent is also important to note. All of

the research supports the fact that is does not take a great deal of time to do this training.

Lessons are most effective when kept brief, about fifteen to twenty minutes a day, and can be

done with a whole group or if intensive intervention is needed the training can be done on an

individual or small group basis.

Research on Professional Development Supporting this Project

The professional development I am most familiar with is the LETRS training. This

training developed by Louisa C. Moats, devotes four of the modules she wrote almost entirely to

the teaching of phonological awareness. Houghton Mifflin, the curriculum our county uses to

teach reading, has incorporated a daily lesson for kindergarten in phonological awareness and

provides new teachers with in-service training on each part of the balanced literacy approach

they promote. When I researched Professional Development in Phonological Awareness online,


there were multiple listings supporting the necessity for effective phonological awareness

training either in an informal individualized approach or to whole groups of teachers.

Reflection: before, during and after professional development

Before: A pre-assessment will be given to the participants to determine what is already known

about phonemic awareness. This will be done in a cooperative learning game called Numbered

Heads Together. Groups of four will be chosen and then the groups will be given a question

about phonemic awareness or a word to define. After having a chance to discuss the question in

the groups, one member of each group will stand and answer the question. The other members

of the class will indicate with thumbs up or down if the answer is correct. In addition each

participant will be given a note card on which to share any phonemic awareness activities they

have successfully used in their classrooms. These ideas will be discussed at a later time.

During the PD: I will give the participants opportunities to do minute reflections of how they

think the sessions are going, what they can take away from the sessions and use right away in the

classroom and what questions are still unanswered. I will also observe the participants to see if

discussion is going well or needs to be redirected.

After: In the evaluation of the session, I would like to know if the participants can see an impact

of their classroom practice and student achievement as a result of the session. My assessment

form will be designed to assess that goal. I would also like to make some observations in the

other classrooms to see if the strategies taught are included. In addition I plan to reflect on my

own teaching to see if I am implementing these strategies.


Development of materials

The PowerPoint I will use will be introduced at the beginning of the session and included in the

explicit teaching and modeling of the theme of the session.


Reference Page

Calfee, K. A. (2004). Tile Test:A hands-on approach for assessing phonics in the early grades. The Reading

Teacher , 42-52.

Craig, S. A. (2003). The effects of an adapted interactive writing intervention on kindergarten children's

phonological awareness, spelling, and early reading development. Reading Research Quarterly ,

438-440.

D.M. Blischak, S. S. (2004). Effects of phonemic awareness instruction on the encoding skills of children

with severe speech impairment. Disability and Rehabilitation , 1295-1304.

Jill Howard Allor, D. F. (2001). Do Students With and Without Lexical Retrieval Weaknesses Respond

Differently to Instruction? Journal of Learning Disabilities , 264-275.

Jill Howard Allor, K. A. (2006). The Stop and Go Phonemic Awareness Game: Providing Modeling,

Practice, and Feedback. Preventing School Failure , 23-30.

Jones, B. A. (2007). Sharing alphabet books in early childhood classrooms. The Reading Teacher , 452-

463.

Klein, A. G. (2004). A Speech-Language Approach to Early Reading Success. Teaching Exceptional

Children , 8-14.

Manyak, P. C. (2008). Phonemes in Use: Multiple Activities for a Critical Process. The Reading Teacher ,

659-662.

Moats, L. C. (2005). Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling Module 1 The Challenge of

Learning to Read. Longmont, CO: SOPRIS WEST EDUCATIONAL SERVICES.


Moats, L. H. (2010). LETRS for Early Childhood Educators. Longmont, CO.: Cambium LEARNING Sopris

West.

Padak, T. V. (2009). From Phonics to Fluency Effective Teaching of Decoding and Reading Fluency in the

Elementary School. Boston: Pearson.

Roush, B. E. (2005). Drama rhymes: An instructional strategy. The Reading Teacher , 584-587.

Ukrainetz, L. M. (2009). Using Scaffolding to Teach Phonemic Awareness in Preschool and Kindergarten.

The Reading Teacher , 599-603.

V.Dickson, D. J. (1999). Phonological Awareness: Instruction and Assessment Guidelines. ldonline .

Yopp, H. K. (2000). Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom. The Reading Teacher

, 130-143.

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