Phonological Awareness

What is it?

Phonological awareness: “The ability to recognize and manipulate the sound properties of spoken words, such as syllables, initial sounds, rhyming parts, and phonemes.”

-David Kilpatrick

What does that mean?

The student is able to hear and manipulate words, parts of words, and identify and create rhymes.

Rhyme: words that sound the same at the end- “hat” and “mat”

Alliteration: involves words sharing the same initial sound- “Annie Apple and the ants.”

Sentence Segmentation: the breaking down of a sentence into individual words “I am happy.” “I * am * happy.” 3 words

Syllable: a word, or a part of a word with one vowel sound

Onset and Rimes: onset-any consonant sound(s) that come before the vowel-

cat /c/: NOTE- /*/ the two lines with a letter in the middle indicates a letter sound, not the letter name

rime-a syllable includes the vowel and any consonants that follow it -cat /at/

Phonemes, segmenting and blending: segmenting-the breaking apart of sounds within a word- cat = /c/ /a/ /t/

Blending-the combining of sounds into a word- /c/ /a/ /t/ = cat

What can we do at home?

Rhyming-words that sound the same at the end

• Odd Word Out Let the child(ren) know that they will be listening for the “odd word out” in groups of words that rhyme (e.g. man, can, fan, pan, book).

• Rhyming Riddles Come up with simple riddles or poems and go over them with the child(ren). Next, let the child(ren) fill in the rhyming word after you start the riddles or poem (e.g. “The black cat is very ____ (fat)” or “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a big ____ (fall)”. )

• I Spy Play a game of I Spy using items around the room that rhyme (e.g. “I spy something that rhymes with four…” “door!”).  It is alright for children to make up non-words that rhyme since their vocabularies are still developing and they are correctly completing the phonological awareness task regardless (e.g. “I spy something that rhymes with lacket”… “Jacket!”).

• Telephone Play a game of “Telephone.” Whisper a 5–7 word sentence in the person’s ear to your right and have that person whisper in the ear of the person to his/her right. Continue until each member of the dinner table has a chance to listen and whisper. The last person to hear the sentence says it aloud. Create sentences that contain words that rhyme or words that all begin with the same sound.

Rhyming dominoes:  Using painters tape, cover the backside of a domino or cut strips of construction paper to the back of dominoes.  If you don’t have dominoes you can do this by just cutting out the rectangles of paper.  Draw a line in the middle of the rectangle and write different rhyming words on each side.  To play the game students take turns matching rhyming word to rhyming word to create a long chain of rhyming words.  Alternate games can be played with sight words, lower and upper case letters, numbers-dots, shapes, etc.

Block Rhyming:  Use an erasable marker, painters tape, or tape strips of paper onto blocks like Duplo or Legos label with rhyming words.  Students take turns stacking the rhyming blocks on top of each other to create a rhyming tower.  Alternate games can be played with sight words, lower and upper case letters, numbers-dots, shapes, etc.

• Rhyming Hunt: Go for a walk outside or around your house.  The adult will call out a word that rhymes with something they see-for example the adult calls out the word  free and the student will hunt for a rhyming word they see “tree.” Adults can also pre-print the rhyming hunt sheet and the student will hunt for a record of the rhyming words on their walk. Rhyming hunt sheet is attached in the packet.

• Rhyming Memory: Print rhyming memory cards included in the packet.  Cut them apart and place them face down on a flat surface.  Students take turns turning two cards over at a time trying to make a match.  If the student finds a rhyme or a match they keep the match.  If the two words do not rhyme, turn them back over and the next student tries to make a match.  The student with the most matches wins.

Sample Rhyming Words:

Nursery Rhymes:

Read nursery rhymes with your student.  Ask your student to repeat the nursery rhyme line by line and identify the rhymes.  Have your student act out the nursery rhyme.  

Rhyming Memory:

Going on a rhyming hunt!

Go for a walk around your neighborhood or house and see if you can find rhyming words.  Record them in the boxes.

Segmenting Sentences, Syllables, and Words

Segmenting sentences- number of words in a sentence I * am * happy. (3 words)

Segmenting syllables-number of parts in a word “bas-ket-ball” (3 syllables)

Segmenting words-number of sounds in a word /c/ /a/ /t/ (3 sounds)

Activities for all three skills

• Clap It Out Have the child practice clapping out words in a sentence, syllables, or sounds in a word with you.

•  Say “We’re going to count the number of words in the sentence It is raining.”  Let’s find out how many words there are (clap once for each word).  I heard 3 words. Clap with me, “It is raining.”
• Say “We’re going to count the syllables in the word “umbrella”.  Let’s find out how many syllables are in that word.  Um…bre…lla.  (clap once for each syllable).  I heard 3 syllables.  Clap with me: “um…bre…lla”.
• Say “We’re going to count the number of sounds in the word “dog”.  Let’s find out how many sounds are in that word.  /d/ /o/ /g/.  (clap once for each sound).  I heard 3 sounds.  Clap with me: “/d/ /o/ /g/”.
• Repeat the activity by jumping, stomping, drumming or shaking instruments
• Repeat the activity by asking students to stretch their arm out and tap their body in order from nose, shoulder, arm, elbow, wrist, to fingers depending on how many words, syllables, or sounds they hear (e.g. three taps for /p/ /a/ /n/).

Object sorting: Find objects, toys, trinkets in your house and ask the student to sort them by number of syllables in the word or number of sounds in the word.  Sorting mats can be made by writing the numbers 1-5 on pieces of paper.  Students place the objects on the appropriate number.

Syllable Cheat Sheet

Move it Move it: Give your child 3-5 blocks, beads, bingo chips or similar items. Say a word and have your child move an object for each sound they hear in the word.  

• Alternate activity uses playdough or pieces of rolled up tape to push or tap for each sound they hear.  
• Place beads on a pipe cleaner or piece of thick yarn and move a bead for each sound they hear.  
• Use the sound boxes and move an object into the box for each sound they hear.  Choose the number of boxes based on the number of sounds in the word.  A sample of boxes and list of words are included.
• Get up and move-use chalk or tape to create boxes on the floor and ask your student to skip, step, or hop into a box for each sound they hear.  

• All of these activities can also be used above with sentence segmentation-counting words in a sentence and counting the number of syllables in a word.

Phoneme/Sound Segmentation Cheat Sheet

Words with 2 phonemes/sounds

Words with 3 phonemes/sounds

Words with 4 phonemes/sounds

Read Aloud

What is it?

“Read-aloud is an instructional practice where teachers, parents, and caregivers read texts aloud to children. The reader incorporates variations in pitch, tone, pace, volume, pauses, eye contact, questions, and comments to produce a fluent and enjoyable delivery.”

-Reading  Rockets

-schenkgr4.blogspot.com

What does that mean?

Reading daily a high quality and engaging book for at least 20 minutes to/with your student leads to an increase in::

●     Language development

●     Brain development

●     An understanding of the outside world

●     Positive family relationships

How can I help at home?

• Read the pictures: Ask your child to “read” the story or retell the story by looking at the pictures.
• Discuss the characters and setting: Before reading the book discuss the characters (people, animals, objects that perform the actions in the book) and the setting (the location(s) where the story takes place).
• Tracking print: When reading a book where the print is large, point word by word as you read. This will help the child learn that reading goes from left to right and understand that the word he or she says is the word he or she sees.
• Sequencing and Retell: Ask your student to retell the story in order-Beginning, Middle, End.  Use sticky notes to illustrate the beginning middle and end of the story.
• Question: Stop and ask your child questions as you read. Ask about what has happened so far.  Ask what they think will happen. How does an event make the character feel?  How does an event make you or child feel?
• Reading Nook: Designate or create a comfy space for reading in your home for you and your child(ren).
• Public Libraries: Visit the local public library, explore, and sign up for a library card
• Bookstores: Visit local bookstore for story hour-Barnes and Noble, Bookmarks
• Free Little Libraries: Trade books in neighborhood “Free Little Libraries”
• Read the environment: Read street and store signs.  Read labels at the store. Read recipes and instructions.  Read different types of materials-magazines, newspapers, flyers, catalogs, comics, poetry.

From: https://thecolorfulapple.com/2019/05/reading-strategies-for-parents/

Letter Name/Sounds and Sight Words

What is it?

Letter Naming Fluency: The ability for a student to automatically recognize and name the shape or symbol that is a letter, no matter the size or font.

Letter Sound Fluency: The beginning ability for students to decode, recognize, and produce each sound(s) associated with an individual letter.

Sight Word/High Frequency Word Recognition: Commonly used words that children can automatically recognize by sight. They can recognize these words in print without having to use any decoding strategies.  Often these words do not follow regular spelling patterns and cannot be decoded.

What does that mean?

Letter Naming Fluency: Your child(ren) can quickly identify a letter by its name no matter the font or the size.

Letter Sound Fluency: You child(ren) can quickly produce the sound(s) associated with a given letter.

Sight Word Recognition: You child(ren) can automatically recognize a word in text or isolation.  Often these words are not decodable and do not follow regular spelling patterns.

 How can I help at home?

• Orally tell the student a letter name, sound, sight word, or build a word.  The student will write the letter in or with any of the following materials:

• Sand or salt write (place sand or salt in a small box to contain it)
• Shaving cream write
• Playdough
• Chalk
• Letter cards (included in packet)
• Magnetic letters (place on refrigerator or baking sheet)

• Letter name/sound hunt-Orally tell the student a letter name, sound, or sight word.  The student will find and identify in their environment ( on boxes, signs, flyers, street signs). Alternate activity-search in magazines and cut out the letter or word.  Create a collage of each one.

• I Spy- Orally say “I spy something that begins with the letter or the sound ___.”  The student will find an object or word that begins with the letter or sound.

• Word find-identify the sight word on the flash card and find/read within a sentence (district word list included).

• Sandpaper Tracing-cut out letter shapes from sandpaper and trace them with your finger.  Place a piece of paper over the sandpaper letter and rub a crayon over the letter.

• Letter name/sound memory: Create a memory game of letters-one card upper case and one lower case.  Students find the matches and produce the sound when they make a match.

• Stuffed animal sort: Sort stuffed animals or toys by their beginning sound into groups, ex: cow, cat, crab

• Letter or Sound Sort: Sort pictures into bags labeled with their corresponding sound.

• Letter Name, Sound, or Sight Word Scavenger Hunt: Hide sight word flash cards around the house.  Give your student clues to find the words.

Memory/Matching Game Board Template