Phonemic AwarenessWorkshopBy 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

Phonics• Letter/Sound

Associations• Decoding• Encoding

Phonological Awareness• 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 InstructionHelp 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 effectivewhen:

• 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 rhymesRhyming 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 consonant matchingBlending 2-3 phonemesCounting phonemes (70% of children by age 6)Rhyme identificationOnset-rime division

Age 7 Blending 3 phonemesSegmentation of 3-4 phonemes (blends)Phonetic spelling Phoneme deletion

Age 8 Consonant cluster segmentationDeletion within clusters

Source: Straight Talk About Reading, Susan L. Hall and Louisa C. Moats, Ed.D

How Can We Focus onPhonological/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

INSTRUCTION

8 areas to focus on with teaching Phonemic Awareness

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE???

Instruction

Types of instruction• Isolation• Identify• Categorization• Blending• Segmentation• Deletion• Addition• Substitution

What does it look like?1. How to2. Let’s do3. You do

Types of instruction

ISOLATION how to-let’s do-you do

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.

IDENTIFY how to-let’s do

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 sister sorry• run rice river• bike bake 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-p-Pop 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.

CATEGORIZATIONhow to-let’s do

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, rigChildren: 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

BLENDINGhow to-types-let’ do

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!

SEGMENTATIONhow to-levels-let’s do

Segmentation-how to

Children break a word into its separatesounds, 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/).

DELETIONhow to-let’s do

Deletion-how to

Children recognize the word that remains

when a phoneme is removed fromanother 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.

ADDITIONhow to-let’s do

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

SUBSTITUTIONhow to-let’s do

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 /t/ to /m/

• Bag /b/ to /w/

• Lid /d/ to /p/

• Cot /o/ 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.

referencesGriffin, 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.