What is Phonemic Awareness? Definition, Activities, & Tips For Building Phonemic Awareness In Struggling Readers
What is phonemic awareness?
Phonemic awareness is a type of knowledge related to the sounds in our spoken language. If your child understands that our spoken language is made of individual sounds, can blend those sounds to create words, can add or delete individual sounds (called phonemes) to make new words, or break a given word down into its phonetic parts (ex: cat breaks down into /c/-/a/-/t/), they are demonstrating phonemic awareness.
There are roughly 44 spoken sounds in the English language. While there are only 26 letters in the English alphabet, there are more individual phonemes because we have sounds that are created by combining sounds or letters together in various ways to make those unique, distinct sounds. For example, /sh/ is a phoneme, but is not considered a unique letter. It is a sound made up of two distinct letters working together to create a single sound.
This is why it’s actually so much more important to focus on teaching kids the letter sounds before worrying about the letter names. We always think we should teach our children to name the letters or sing the alphabet song, but truthfully that really doesn’t help them read. This is because naming letters doesn’t develop their phonemic awareness or their phonics skills. Think of phonemic awareness as the parts of reading that you can do with your eyes closed. This is because these types of concepts are generally mastered through listening, not seeing.
Phonemic awareness activities are great to play as games in the car or while you need a quick game to occupy some time, especially when technology isn't readily available as a distraction. They are perfect for power outages because you can play them in the dark! You don’t need pencils, paper, or books, because it’s all about listening.
So, what are some super easy phonemic awareness activities?
Rhyming
Singing nursery rhymes
Clapping out the number of sounds in a word (for kids in need of movement change claps to hops, kicking a ball, or steps)
Blending the beginning sound and ending chunk of a word (this is called onset and rime). An example is /c/-/at/... cat!
Playing "I Spy" based on beginning, middle, or ending sounds,
There are so many more! Anything that involves listening and working with sounds can be turned into a fun game or challenge. Especially for struggling readers, it is best if the activity can be done in quick little spurts to bolster phonemic awareness skills for our kids, while still keeping it light and engaging.
Remember, no matter what the cause of your child’s struggle is, you can get to the bottom of it, and your child can meet with success when the right interventions are in place! Your child is lucky to have you working toward solutions for their struggles, and with intention and dedication, they will get back on the right track before you know it!
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