According to Reading Rockets (2021), phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate sounds in spoken words. Before students learn to read the printed word, they need an awareness of how sounds work together to make words. Phonemic awareness is taught orally and should take about 10-15 minutes a day. It is mostly taught in kindergarten and first grade, but can benefit students in second grade also.
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Phonemic awareness is not the same as phonics. Phonics involves learning the relationship between sounds and written symbols (letters or groups of letters).
Phonemic awareness improves students' ability to read and spell words as well as comprehend what they read.
I have been using a phonemic awareness program by Heggerty.org for several years now, and as a result I have seen major improvements in students' reading success. The program teaches students to:
- listen for rhyming words
- beginning, middle and ending sounds in a word
- adding and deleting syllables
- blend sounds to make a word
- substitute sounds to make a new word
Beginning readers can learn about phonemic awareness with these videos:
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR-c0FXR9sA&t=42s Jack Hartmann's "Party in the Jungle"
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFo-8OQpGMo&t=66s Phonemic Awareness with Clapping Clara
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T52TCrQ2M4 Jack Hartmann's Make a Rhyme, Make a Move
There are many other resources available for teachers and parents. Visit readingrockets.org for more information.
Does your child's reading program include phonemic awareness? If your child is struggling to read, you may need to ask your child's teacher if they are missing phonemic awareness skills.
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