# data[].attributes.headline
Common Core Standard - Kindergarten Reading

# data[].attributes.subject
Common Core Standard - Kindergarten Reading

# data[].attributes.body
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.A
Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Is Phonemic Awareness? | Reading Lessons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What Is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic awareness is an understanding of phonemes and how they work together to create words. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that can be differentiated in a word.

For instance in the word "cat," the phonemes are the "c" sound, the "short a" sound, and the "t" sound.

Why Do We Need Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic awareness is an important skill to teach kids who are getting ready to learn to read or who are struggling to get the hang of basic reading.

A child who possesses phonemic awareness can segment sounds in words (for example, pronounce just the first sound heard in the word cat) and blend strings of isolated sounds together to form recognizable word forms.

Recent longitudinal studies on reading have demonstrated that the acquisition of phonemic awareness is a beneficial skill to develop before learning to read, and to decode (i.e., sound out a word, blend it together to figure it out) in particular.

If children understand that words can be divided into individual phonemes and that phonemes can be blended into words, they are able to use letter-sound knowledge to read and build words.

To read more about phonemic awareness and how it relates to reading acquisition see Phonemic Awareness and the Teaching of Reading A Position Statement from the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association.
Side Note: Phonemic awareness is not the only approach to teaching reading or the best approach for every child. Some children never develop an understanding of how letters make certain sounds or how those sounds blend together to make whole words. Some children who read, learn through memorization of word shape, order of letters, etc. If phonemic awareness training is not working, we naturally try other approaches.
Below are 5 helpful strategies for teaching phonemic awareness

1-Show printed material to your child and talk about the sounds and structure of the words:

Research suggests that the greatest impact on phonemic awareness is achieved when there is interaction with print, along with paying specific attention to phonemes, sound/word structure. Seeing the words, hearing the sounds, and studying the structure with a coach (parent, teachers, etc.) allows them to make the connection between what they see and hear, a crucial skill for reading. It is also helpful to point to each letter and say each sound.

2 - Play letter games/phoneme substitution games:

Research shows that letter/sound games help develop phonemic awareness. Here are some game ideas:

Take turns thinking of a word. Have the adult and child work together to say each sound in the word. Write down the word (adult or child) and say each sound individually pointing to the letter(s) that make that sound.

Pick a word and take turns switching the first sound in the word to see how it changes the word or switch the last sound to see how it changes the word and sound (e.g., turn cat into bat or pop into pod).

Put letters on index cards (e.g., give your child a, t, and c and ask them to arrange them into cat, and talk about each sound-you can do this with a variety of words-rat, pot, bed, mat, etc.).

Play a rhyming game. Take turns thinking of words that rhyme with cat, dog, big, etc. Look at the words, talk about the structure and what makes them rhyme.

Play the song lyric game by changing a phoneme in a song to see how it changes the meaning of the lyrics. For example, "Pop Goes the Weasel" could be changed to "Hop Goes the Weasel." After changing the lyrics talk about how changing a phoneme gives the song a different meaning.

Related Article: 10 Fun Activities to Teach Your Child Letter Sounds
3 - Use auditory, visual, tactile (touch), and kenisthetic (movement) representations of sounds to teach phonemic awareness:

Many successful training studies include concrete representations of sounds to help children understand how to manipulate sounds in a word (e.g., Ball & Blachman, 1991).

For instance, auditory cues are in play when children are asked to clap the number of syllables they hear in a spoken word. (Let's clap the sounds in cat!)

Or you could use visual/tactile cues like blocks or chips to represent each sound in a word (e.g., writing each sound or letter on each chip and seeing how you could manipulate the chips to change the words or letters). How about making letters out of play-doh and using those letters to create words, switch sounds around, etc.).

Kinesthetic cues are used when children jump as they repeat sounds, say a rhyming word, or say each sound in a word. How about using your body to make letters (give me a C, give me an A, give me a T!).

Model for your child how to clap the sounds or syllables in a word, jump while saying letter sounds, or use play-doh or blocks to manipulate or change words around.

4 - Provide Early Writing Activities:

Research also indicates that early writing activities are helpful for developing phonemic awareness. Let your child guess how to spell words. If they are correct, talk about why. If they are incorrect, provide guidance on what letters need to be changed and why.

If they can't write letters yet, have them tell you what letters they think would make up a word, or use play-doh, magnetic letters, blocks or the computer to make words. Show your child how to take your thoughts and put them on paper. Use simple sentences like "I am hungry" or "I love cats!" I also love using dry erase boards for writing practice!

5 - Practice at Home Before School Starts (if you didn't do this it is okay-just start practicing now):

Research shows that children who are frequently exposed to print and phonemic awareness activities at home prior to starting school have higher levels of phonemic awareness.

Parents can model phonemic awareness by reading aloud to their children, talking about the spelling, structure, and sounds in a word; showing their child how to write a word while saying the sounds; or leading games that incorporate letter and language play. Give your children opportunities to practice early reading skills by talking, singing, rhyming, and playing guessing games.

We also know that many kids love tablets and do well with fun, interactive computerized games! A great app to practice phonemic awareness is Kindergarten Reading,Tracing, and Spelling-Learn to Read First Words School Adventure!

What Is the Difference Between Phonemic Awareness and Phonics?

Phonemic awareness is an understanding of spoken language. Children who are phonemically aware can hear the word (b - a - t) said in three separate sounds and tell you it is bat.

They can tell you all the sounds in the spoken word dog. They can tell you that, if you take the last sound off cart, you would have car.

Phonics, on the other hand, is knowing the relation between specific, printed letters (including combinations of letters) and specific, spoken sounds.

You are asking children to show their phonics knowledge when you ask them which letter makes the first sound in bat or dog or the last sound in car or cart.
Keep Your Cool
Remember to always stay calm when working with a child or student, even if you think they should be getting something that they are not getting. If you get frustrated with them, they may start to feel anxious, angry, inferior, stupid, etc. which will lead to a less productive learning session.

Keep practice sessions short (5 to 10 minutes for younger children or children who get easily frustrated and 10 to 15 minutes for older children or children who can work for longer periods without frustration), unless the child is eager to keep going.

For suggestions on ways to encourage children to complete tasks or activities they do not want to do, read 3 Ways to Use Timers to Encourage Homework and Chore Completion and How to Use Schedules to Improve Children's Behavior.
Video Presentation
Do you teach phonemic awareness? What strategies do you like to use?

Thank you for visiting educationandbehavior.com. We are a free resource for parents/caregivers, educators, and counselors.

You may also wish to review the following reading programs, geared towards younger students, and developed from research-based practices:
You might also like these articles: Recommended Tools for Teaching Phonemic Awareness

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teach Phonemic Awareness (An Early Reading Skill) to Your Child with These 5 Fun Strategies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What Is Phonemic Awareness? Phonemic awareness is an understanding of phonemes and how they work together to create words. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that can be differentiated in a word. For instance in the word "cat," the phonemes are the "c" sound, the "short a" sound, and the "t" sound.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Show That Everything Has a Name

Make sure that children understand that everything in the classroom has a name, and that they understand what these things do. A

good activity is to create labels for everything in the classroom. This will help students to associate the written word with an object, and encourage them to vocalize what it is they are wanting. If you avoid referring to things as "this" or "that," then the students will begin to as well. This can lead to different activities for different age groups and reading levels.

Younger students will appreciate the alphabet in their classroom, as it increases familiarity and can also be used as a teaching tool. Capital letters work best, as they are easier for students to recognize. Pictures that students create can also be labeled, or students can work on a scrapbook activity. This can also lead to small field trips where any written words are pointed out. For example, the word stop across a stop sign.

Older students can incorporate this into other activities. For example, in planning to prepare something in the kitchen, students can work to create a grocery list and then read the products to find what they are looking for at the grocery store.

Encourage Daily Reading

It's very important for children to be interested in reading, but this is often difficult when children's reading levels and interest levels differ. A high-low reading list is a very good resource to help find books that students will be interested in. Reading magazines and newspapers are also great as they have many short articles, but make students feel grown-up. Reading aloud is a great thing to do, though students will usually come across words they don't know. A few tips for dealing with this are:

Encourage them to sound the word out completely, rather than guessing after the first letter or syllable.

Have them read the entire sentence with the unknown word omitted. Then ask them what word would fit in the blank.

Once they have figured out the correct word, have them read the entire sentence again so they finish without struggling.

If students have particular trouble with sounding words out and resort to guessing, a good activity is to write a list of nonsense words, and have them sound them out. This teaches students to sound the entire word out, without guessing.

Focus on Comprehension

Comprehension is a major part of reading, and is an important thing to develop in remedial readers. It is usually easier to start with a TV show or sports program before introducing comprehension exercises to short stories. Comprehension should include how to summarize, predict, context and monitor. Summarizing can be done by asking students to retell a story in just a few sentences, predicting can be started by asking the student what they think might happen next. Context is especially useful for students who often find words they don't know. Teaching students how to use context clues (words and pictures) is a great skill. Monitoring stops the problem of reading a whole story and not knowing what happened. Students can learn to stop reading and check to make sure they understand what they just read. If not, it is a good time to re-read the sentence or passage.

Fun and Games

There are quite a few good websites that have free remedial reading activities. The only caution is that some of these games are designed for younger children, so it is important to encourage students who won't feel offended to use these resources.

Starfall is an excellent website. Their games progress from pre-reading, learning to read, enjoying to read, and becoming confident in reading ability. There is also a teacher's section which includes supplementary printable materials.

Scholastic has an incredibly comprehensive game section, and even has games extending further into language arts, math, science and social studies. They have games for all age levels, include pre-k to grade 12. I found that these games were designed for a wide range of abilities and ages, which is great!

PBS Kids has some great games for younger children. Their games progress from learning about letters, to learning about synonyms. All directions are spoken out loud.

FreeReading.net is a great resource for reading intervention for pre k to grade 6. The website has a number activities, as well as resources for teachers. Read more about FreeReading.net right here on Bright Hub Education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Four Remedial Reading Strategies for Elementary Students: Creative Ideas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Make sure that children understand that everything in the classroom has a name, and that they understand what these things do. A good activity is to create labels for everything in the classroom. This will help students to associate the written word with an object, and encourage them to vocalize what it is they are wanting.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Phonological Instruction for Older Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The phonological awareness strand of a well-designed reading or language lesson for older students includes brief, direct practice of specific skills such as syllabication or phoneme segmentation, often as a warm-up exercise before reading, spelling, or vocabulary instruction begins. In addition, these teaching activities and adjustments can be helpful:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Phonological Awareness Activities for Pre-K and Preschool - PreKinders

# data[].attributes.headline
Phonemic Awareness Article for Educators

# data[].attributes.subject
Phonemic Awareness Article for Educators

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Question:

What remedial reading methods work best for students with learning disabilities?

Answer:

There are many reading programs available to help struggling readers. Reading programs should address the individual needs of each child. Effective programs target the learning areas needing attention, and also present information in a way that is the most beneficial to the child's learning preference.

There is no perfect method for teaching reading, and no one method works for everyone. However, there are several research-based programs that can help struggling readers. The following articles highlight some of these programs:

On Reading Rockets, there are several articles that address reading programs and their benefits for young children:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What remedial reading methods work best for students with learning disabilities?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What remedial reading methods work best for students with learning disabilities? There are many reading programs available to help struggling readers. Reading programs should address the individual needs of each child. Effective programs target the learning areas needing attention, and also present information in a way that is the most beneficial to the child's learning preference.

# data[].attributes.body
These activities are the precursors to written activities about phonemic awareness.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Learning to read can be quite an overwhelming task for small children. In fact, if you think about it, it's astounding that children are even capable of learning to read in such a short amount of time. However, before they begin to read print, they must have an adequate foundational understanding of how sounds in words work. That is where phonemic awareness comes into play.

What is phonemic awareness?

In easy-to-understand terms, phonemic awareness is the ability to identify, think about, and manipulate sounds in spoken speech. This is NOT the same as phonics. Phonemic awareness is actually a critical skill that is a precursor to reading letters. That's why phonemic awareness instruction should NEVER involve print. If you find yourself working with letters or printed words, then you have skipped a step and crossed the line into phonics. This is a very important point. Research tells us that it's essential to focus on phonemic awareness in the classroom before reading can begin. We want to ensure that children have a solid understanding of the sounds of speech before we start phonics instruction.

Nowadays, we are facing an added difficulty, though. In today's early-childhood classrooms, teachers are feeling an ever-increasing pressure to get their students reading. It is easy to lose sight of the developmental process and try to skip steps in order to get our kids reading books as soon as possible. There is just one problem: skipping steps is not going to work. Children's progress in reading will be limited if they haven't learned to think about the sounds in words.

As early childhood teachers, we need to remember that we can't skip past phonemic awareness skills. We can't just barge ahead in the hope that all of our students have arrived in our classroom complete with the full-blown skills of thinking about and manipulating sounds in their minds. On the other hand, we also can't afford to spend a lot of time doing phonemic-awareness instruction. I am happy to tell you the good news that we don't have to! Phonemic awareness instruction can and should be done in small pockets of time throughout the school day. In fact, oral language and phonemic awareness can often be taught and reinforced in as little as five to ten minutes per day.

Here are five quick, easy, and fun phonemic awareness activities that are perfect for the beginning of the school year in any early childhood classroom. Yes, you heard me correctly - that word was F-U-N. I know fun has become an undesirable notion in many schools today. But I assure you that these activities will be fun and that your students really will learn about our amazing language! I have also included activities that require little or no preparation - things you can do on the fly! Although these activities don't cover the full range of phonemic awareness skills needed to produce great readers, they are still fantastic activities to begin any school year!

Listening

The ability to listen closely is a key ingredient of phonemic awareness. This is the part of instruction that is skipped most often, because teachers assume that young children know how to listen. They may not! Furthermore, if they don't, they're not ignoring you. It's just that they don't understand what "listen closely" means. They have to be taught.

The Listening Game.

One of the first phonemic-awareness activities I do with my students, even as soon as the first day, is to bring their attention to noises. After lunch, we come back to the classroom and all the children lie quietly on the floor. It's not naptime, but it's a great time to unwind, which is important for young children. As we lie there quietly for five to ten minutes, we listen for sounds. We all stay perfectly still and quiet. We become "sound spotters." We don't use our eyes - we use our ears. There are always sounds and weird noises you can hear in a school building. We may hear the air conditioner, doors closing, teachers talking, stomachs growling. The possibilities are endless! Your part is to talk about the sounds you and the children hear. Use a little teacher enthusiasm and exaggeration to get the kids interested in this activity. The key phrase is, "Who can spot a sound with their ears?"

"Moo-Moo," Where Are You?

I love playing this game with my class. The kids have a ball, too. In fact, they simply think we are playing.

How to play: All the children sit in a circle. One child lies down in the middle of the circle and covers his or her eyes. The teacher chooses another child to go somewhere in the room and pretend to be a cow by making a "moo-moo" sound. The child in the middle of the circle - with eyes still covered - points in the direction of the animal sound. This game is great because it gets children to listen closely for sounds and for where the sounds are coming from. It also prepares their ears to listen more closely to sounds in words. When the child in the middle correctly identifies the sound and direction, he or she gets to go next and make a different animal sound.

Rhyming

Rhyming is such a great phonemic awareness activity! Most children easily grasp the concept of rhyme. Some need a little help, though. Using word-play with rhyming helps children notice that sounds in our language have meaning and follow certain patterns. Again, this is a precursor skill to seeing sound patterns reproduced in print - as a phonemic awareness practice, it is purely auditory.

The absolute best way to introduce rhyming to your students is by reading lots of fun rhyming books, poems, and songs. Act silly and have fun! The more fun you have with the rhymes, the more the kids will notice the rhymes and enjoy the activities. Exaggerate the silliness of the rhyme. The poem "Down By the Bay" and the book "Silly Sally" are perfect examples of how rhyme can be super fun!

In My Box

This game is great to use after your students have at least some understanding of how rhyming works. That means you have already read lots of rhyming books, poems, and songs and played with those rhyming words.

How to play: Get a small box and place some pictures in it with pairs of familiar words that rhyme (like box/socks, cat/hat, or chair/bear). Use enough pictures so that everyone in your class has a turn. Sit in a circle with your students. Start with a child you know is strong in rhyming. Hold the box and choose a picture. If the picture shows a cat, say "In my box, there's a cat". Call on him or her to come up with a rhyming word. The child might say, "In my box, there's a hat" (or some other rhyming word). After he or she answers with a rhyming word, hand him or her the box. Now he or she gets to choose a card and continue the play.

Syllables

Working with and noticing syllables within words is important, because it makes students aware of how words can be split up into smaller parts, according to their sounds. Our ultimate goal is to work on individual phonemes (vowels or consonants), but children must first learn the concept of "parts of words." It's easier for young children to start with larger parts of words and then work their way down to the smaller, discrete individual sounds of phonemes. We are building a bridge from hearing words to hearing phonemes.

Bippity Boppity Bumble Bee

This is such a fun game. You get the kids clapping out names, first. As they get used to the game, you can start using other words with more syllables.

How to play: Sit in a circle with your students. I have a little stuffed bee that the kids love to hold. You could also use a printable bumble bee. The teacher begins the chant and walks around to a child:

Teacher: "Bippity Boppity Bumble Bee, Will You Say Your Name For Me?"

The child responds, "Jennifer."

Teacher: " Let's all say it." And the class says her name out loud, while clapping once for each syllable.

Teacher: "Let's all whisper it." And the class whispers her name, while quiet-clapping the syllables again, once per syllable.

Teacher and class: "Bippity Boppity Bumble Bee, Thank You For Saying Your Name For Me!"

Repeat with another student and his/her name. As students become familiar with the game, you can allow students to take on the "teacher" role.

Old MacDonald

Here is another great game that you can use to give the students practice in listening to syllables and putting them together into words. It follows the pattern of the song, Old MacDonald. By the time I use this activity with my class, we have read and sung Old MacDonald hundreds of times, so the song is well-known to the students.

How to play: The teacher begins by telling the students they are going to learn a new game - it's a different version of Old MacDonald, and it's kind of a silly version. The teacher begins singing, "Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a /ti/ /ger/, E-I-E-I-O". Of course, the kids think the introduction of the tiger is wildly funny, but notice what they have actually done: Without being told, they have mentally combined the syllables /ti/ and /ger/ to realize what the animal was! It's huge! Then I show the children a picture of a tiger and they feel proud that they figured out the animal - and they think it's too funny! Again it's lots of fun, and they really think we are just playing a game.

The most important thing to keep in mind as an early childhood teacher is that phonemic awareness can be such a fun time! It shouldn't be long drawn-out lessons. All you need is five-to-ten-minute pockets of time each day. Phonemic awareness activities are also great to use during transition times throughout the day. I often use the ten minutes before lunch, and sometimes during group restroom breaks, to practice and reinforce listening and oral language skills. And the payoff is big! If you give phonemic awareness the attention it deserves, your students will be richly rewarded when it's time for them to start reading!

So now you know some of my secrets - the teaching games I use myself! I've had success with them, so I'm sure that if you make them your own, not only will you have fun with them in your classroom, but your students, too, will have an easier time with reading and go further faster!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Quick, Easy, and Fun Phonemic Awareness Activities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learning to read can be quite an overwhelming task for small children. In fact, if you think about it, it's astounding that children are even capable of learning to read in such a short amount of time. However, before they begin to read print, they must have an adequate foundational understanding of how sounds in words work.

# data[].attributes.headline
Phonemic Awareness for Students with Dyslexia

# data[].attributes.subject
Phonemic Awareness for Students with Dyslexia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Research has shown that phonemic awareness is the single strongest indicator of a child's success at learning to read. But, how do you teach it? I'm showing you step by step!

One of the first steps in learning to read is developing a strong awareness of phonemes in language - phonemic awareness. Interestingly, many dyslexics struggle with this, making weak phonemic awareness one of the classic signs of dyslexia in young children. Teaching phonemic awareness skills to our young kids, dyslexic or not, will give them a head start and a strong foundation as they learn to read.

What is Phonemic Awareness

Phonemes are the individual units of sound that make up words. For example, the word "sat" is made up of three phonemes: /s/ /a/ /t/. Phonemic awareness is not only the recognition that words are made up of small sound units, it is also the ability to break down, manipulate and blend phonemes. For example, being able to remove the /s/ and replace it with /m/ to make the word "mat". Young readers need to be able to apply his or her understanding of phonemes in order to begin to read.

Importance of Phonemic Awareness

Research has shown that phonemic awareness is the single strongest indicator for a child's success at learning to read. Strong phonemic awareness, when used to segment and blend words helps children increase their abilities to decode and understand what they are reading.

Phonemic awareness allows young readers to build another important element of reading: phonics. Phonics (the relationship between letters and sounds) builds upon phonemic awareness. When a child understands and can manipulate sounds verbally, they are ready to transfer this knowledge to printed words.

Assessing Phonemic Awareness

You can determine the level of phonemic awareness you child has by:
1) having your child create a list of rhyming words beginning with a "starter" word,
2) asking your child to segment a word into its beginning, middle and end sounds
3) having your child count the number of syllables in a word

If your child can perform these three tasks confidently, they are ready for phonics instruction. If your child struggles with any of these tasks, some simple instruction in phonemic awareness will be helpful.
See this post at Reading Rockets for an Informal Phonemic Awareness Assessment.

Tips for Teaching Phonemic Awareness

Make these teaching times like a game. Maintain a playful attitude.

Do a little bit each day. You will be surprised at how much can be mastered in 10 minutes a day.

Stop when your child is getting frustrated and try to end on a positive note.

If your child has signs of dyslexia, mastering phonemic awareness may take quite a lot of practice.

Taking a year to practice is not out of the ordinary.

Repeat sounds and words as many times as your child needs to hear them.

Look for creative ways to play with sounds throughout the day.

How to Teach Phonemic Awareness

Rhymes

One of the easiest ways to teach early phonemic awareness is to work with rhyming words. All of these exercises can be played as a game to make learning fun. Stop when your child shows signs of distress and pick it up again another day. You would be amazed at how much can be accomplished in a few minutes every day.

There are three stages of difficulty in working with rhyme:
Hearing Rhyme
Reading books with rhyming language. For example, "Jack and Jill went up the hill." Point out 'Jill' and 'hill'. "We have fun in the sun." Point out 'fun' and 'sun'.
Differentiating Rhyme
Say three words where one word does not rhyme. For example: mat, sat, car. Mat and sat end the same way: at. But car doesn't end the same, so it doesn't belong.
Producing Rhyme
Simply say a word such as: sit. Ask your child to tell you a word that rhymes. You can also make up short sentences such as, "I have a cat who is very ____." Ask you child to finish the sentence with a word that rhymes.

Isolating and Categorizing Sounds

As your child becomes more familiar with sounds, they can begin to identify individual sounds in words. The first step is to be able to recognize beginning sounds, then ending sounds and the middle sounds. After they learn to isolate sounds, they can move on to naming words that begin or end with a specific sound.

The following examples use beginning sounds, but can also be used with ending sounds and when ready, middle sounds, which are a little more tricky.
Recognizing Sounds
Say three words that begin with the same sound, such as: m-m-man, m-m-mouse, m-m-moon Ask your child to tell you what sound the words begin with.
Differentiating Sounds
Say three words where two words begin with the same sound and one word begins with a different sound, such as: r-r-rat, r-r-rain, m-m-man. Ask your child to tell you the word that does not begin the same. If they struggle repeat the words, stressing the initial sound.
Generating Sounds
Say a sound and ask your child to say a word that begins with this sound. A fun game to play to practice this skill is I Spy. "I spy something that begins with the sound /f/." Your child looks around to find something that begins with /f/ like fan, fridge, or friend.

Blending and Segmenting Syllables and Sounds

Once your child has a good grasp of isolating individual sounds, he or she can move on to blending and segmenting sounds in a word.

Segmenting is breaking words into their syllables and words into their individual sounds. Segmenting can also be practiced with separating a sentence into its individual words.

Blending is the opposite of segmenting. Rather than separating a word into its individual sounds, it involves combining individual sounds to say a whole word.

Confused? Read through the exercises below for directions on how to teach these phonemic awareness skills
Blending Syllables
Say the individual sounds of a word, such as: croc/o/dile. Pause briefly between each syllable. Ask your child what the word is.
Blending Beginning Sound and Ending Sound
Say two parts of a word, such as: /d/ /uck/. Ask your child to say the whole word.
Blending Phonemes
Separate a word into all of its individual phonemes, such as /r/ /a/ /n/. Ask your child to say it fast and say the whole word. Remember, make a game out of it. Have fun. Occasionally ask your child to ask you a blending question and you try to answer.

Segmenting Words in a Sentence

Say a short sentence. Ask your child to say the sentence and clap for each word he or she hears. For example, "I see a black cat." Your child should clap 5 times. Try modeling what you want your child to do first so they understand clearly what they are being asked to do.
Segmenting Syllables
Model clapping out the syllables in a word. For example, ap/ple. Pause briefly between syllables. Then have your child clap the same word with you. Move on to saying words and asking your child to clap the syllables on his or her own.
Segmenting Beginning and Ending Sounds
Say a word, such as: hand. Model for your child breaking the word into its first and ending sounds like this: /h/ /and/. Keep asking words until the skill is mastered and can be completed with ease.
Segmenting Phonemes
Say a word for your child, such as: fish. Break it into each of its phonemes: /f/ /i/ /sh/. There are 3 sounds in fish. Keep practicing having your child break simple words into each of its phonemes and tell you how many sounds he or she heard.

Resources for Teaching Phonemic Awareness

If teaching your child phonemic awareness skills is overwhelming to you, there is an excellent resource that we have used with success.
All About Reading - Pre Level 1
This, the first level of the All About Reading curriculum, is full of quick, fun, ready-made phonemic awareness activities. We ran through this program last year with our then 5-year old son who exhibits many of the early signs of dyslexia. He can have trouble with focus and also has a low tolerance for things that are difficult for him ; he's a bit of a perfectionist. He loved this program. The multi-sensory activities provided were just what he needed. Having every word scripted and all of the supplies that I, as his teacher, needed to teach him was a huge time saver for me. I highly recommend this research-based, multi-sensory early reading program for providing the amount of practice dyslexic kids need to make phonemic awareness a solid skill.

Phonological Awareness Growing Bundle from The Literacy Nest (via TPT)

We've been enjoying this huge bundle of phonological awareness games from Emily at the Literacy Nest. Emily is an experienced Orton-Gillingham tutor and makes some fantastic products based on her extensive experience working with dyslexic kids.

Phonemic Awareness by Literacy Resources An excellent open and go curriculum.

Have you taught your kids Phonemic Awareness?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Teach Phonemic Awareness | Homeschooling with Dyslexia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Research has shown that phonemic awareness is the single strongest indicator of a child's success at learning to read. But, how do you teach it? I'm showing you step by step! One of the first steps in learning to read is developing a strong awareness of phonemes in language - phonemic awareness.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 44 Phonemes Flashcards: Sounds of English - To Support ESL Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
44 Phonemes Flashcards:This listing is for a set of flashcards featuring the 44 sounds of the English language and the corresponding graphemes (letters). If you would like to purchase a physical version, please visit my Etsy Shop: HereThese flashcards specifically keep in mind American English pron...