Las Américas ASPIRA Academy
Literacy Resource Page
Phonemic Awareness
What is it?
Phonological awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate words, parts of words, and individual sounds in spoken words. Phonemic awareness is one piece of phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. No print is involved. It is completely out loud. These are great activities to do at home or in the car because they can all be done without any materials.
Why is it important?
Phonemic awareness is sets the foundation for later phonics learning. When a child notices individual sounds in a spoken word, he or she is more prepared for sounding out and blending written words.
What can you do at home?
Word identification - Count the number of words is a spoken sentence. Say the first line of a nursery rhyme (for example, Mary had a little lamb.) Then, using your fingers, count the words together. (Phonological awareness activity)
Beginning Sounds - Play "I'm going on a camping trip..." Start the game by saying, "I'm going on a camping trip, and I'm going to bring a dog and a dandelion. What are you going to bring?" The child should think of something that also starts with the d sound. Remember, this game is all about sounds, not letters! For example, if the sound you chose is "sss", and the child says, "circus," that would be an appropriate answer. (Phonemic awareness activity)
Rhyming - Play a thumbs up-thumbs down game. Start the game by saying, "If the words rhyme, give me a thumbs up. If they do not rhyme, give me a thumbs down." Make sure that your examples are very obvious for young learners, especially when the words do not rhyme. Avoid words that start with the same letter (dog-dinosaur) or fit in the same category (dog-cat). By choosing words that are very different and unrelated (dog-refrigerator), you are helping your child learn to focus in on the rhyme. (Phonological awareness activity)
Segmenting/Blending - Choose a word with three sounds (fan). Say each sound separately. Have your child touch his head when saying the first sound (fff), touch his waist when saying the middle sound (aaa), and touch his toes when saying the last sound (nnn). When your child can do this activity easily without assistance, say one of the sounds separately and ask your child to place hishands on the head, waist, or toes to show if the sound comes at the beginning, middle, or end. (Phonemic awareness activity)
Tongue twisters, nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss books, and other rhyming books are also great ways to develop these skills!
Phonics
What is it?
The alphabetic principle is the understanding that words are made up of letters and letters represent sounds. If a child understands these letter-sound associations, he is on the way to reading and writing words. Phonics is the instructional method that focuses on these letter-sound associations.
Why is it important?
The English language is based on an alphabet, so being able to associate printed letters with sounds in order to sound out (decode) is necessary.
What can you do at home?
Building words - Using magnetic letters, make a three letter word on the refrigerator (cat). Have your child read the word and use it in a sentence. Every day, change one letter to make a new word. Start by changing only the beginning letter (cat, bat, hat, sat, mat, rat, pat). Then change only the ending letter (pat, pal, pad, pan). Finally, change only the middle letter (pan, pen, pin, pun).
Making words - For this game, you will need magnetic letters and three bags. Put half of the consonants into the first bag. Put the vowels into the middle bag, and put the remaining consonants into the last bag. Have your child pull one letter from the first bag. That will be the first letter of their word. Then have him pull from the vowel bag for the second letter of the word and from the other consonant bag for the third letter of the word. Next, the child will read the word and decide if it is a real word or a nonsense word. Take turns, replacing the vowels as needed until there are no more consonants left.
Writing words - Many children love to send and receive notes, and writing is a great way to reinforce phonics skills. Send your child notes in his backpack or place notes on the pillow. Have a relative or friend send a letter or email to your child. Whenever your child receives a note, have him write back. Don't be concerned about spelling. Instead, have your child sound out the words to the best of his ability.
Labeling words - When reading with your child, keep Post-it notes handy. Every so often, have your child choose one object in the picture and write the word on a Post-it. Put the note in the book to read each time you come to that page.
Practicing words with pictures - Choose pictures from a magazine or catalog. Say the name of the picture, have your child say the sound that the picture begins with and the name of that letter.
Hunting for words - Choose a letter and have your child hunt for five items beginning with that letter sound. As each object is found, help your child write the word on a list. For example, if the target sound is "m", the child might find and write mop, mat, Mom, money, and microwave.