Building the Foundation of Reading:  Phonemic Awareness

 (Grades K-2)

Phonemic awareness is the aiblity to distinguish the structure, phonologically, of words and sounds that make up our language.  It is the beginning of a continuum of skills in learning to read.  Phonemic awareness is understanding that speech is a series of individual sounds and that these sounds may be manipulated to help in the decoding of words.  Phonemic awareness differs from phonics in that phonics uses letter sounds and rules in decoding.  Success in the area of phonemic awareness has been shown to be a good predictor of reading success in school.  Children who develop strong phonemic awareness skills at an early age are more likely to become fluent readers and better spellers than children who do not.

Here are some activities for supporting phonemic awareness at home:

* Identify whether words rhyme (hat, mat; sun, bug)

* Provide a word that rhymes with another (“Tell me a word that rhymes with sun.”)

* Read books and poems that focus on the rhythm of language and rhyme.  Books such as, “Hop on Pop” or “Sheep in a Jeep” help children pay attention to sounds in words.

* Play word games such as “Guess My Word.”  “I am thinking of a word that rhymes with _____________.”  Can you guess my word?

Written by your phonemic awareness team,

Angela Consigli, Former Speech and Language Pathologist

Holly White, Special Educator

Hayley Doucette, Former Speech/Language Pathology Assistant