# data[].attributes.body
What is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the smallest units of sound in spoken language—phonemes. Unlike phonics, which connects sounds to letters, phonemic awareness is entirely oral and auditory. Children with strong phonemic awareness develop a critical foundation for decoding words and fluent reading (Reading Rockets, n.d.).

# data[].attributes.body
Phonemic awareness is a key predictor of early reading success. Children who can break words into individual sounds and blend those sounds into whole words read more accurately and confidently. For example, understanding that the word cat consists of three sounds (/k/ /a/ /t/) helps build decoding skills. Students lacking these skills often struggle with reading development (Hall & Moats, 2002, as cited in IMSE Journal, 2021).

# data[].attributes.body
Effective phonemic awareness instruction is:

Explicit – clearly teaching sound skills

Systematic – following a logical progression

Brief and Frequent – regular short lessons

Key skill areas include:

Rhyme recognition

Phoneme isolation (identifying sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of words)

Sound blending

Segmenting words into sounds

Manipulating phonemes (adding, deleting, substituting sounds)

Teachers start with assessments to know each child’s level, then provide targeted, playful activities like sound games and clapping syllables (95 Percent Group, n.d.).

# data[].attributes.body
Integrating structured, engaging phonemic awareness activities in daily teaching builds a strong foundation, setting students up for confident and successful reading. Learning how to read for each student is important in their lives. It may take a while to learn, but in the end they will be successful in all that they do. Once they have developed a skill it will lead them to success in the future. Students will be able to strive, and have success in all that they do.

# data[].attributes.headline
Description: Rhyme recognition helps students identify words ending with the same sounds, a foundational listening skill for understanding word patterns and similarities.

# data[].attributes.subject
Description: Rhyme recognition helps students identify words ending with the same sounds, a foundational listening skill for understanding word patterns and similarities.

# data[].attributes.headline
Description:  Syllable blending and segmentation support students in understanding larger sound units within words, aiding word recognition and spelling

# data[].attributes.subject
Description:  Syllable blending and segmentation support students in understanding larger sound units within words, aiding word recognition and spelling

# data[].attributes.headline
Description:  Students identify specific phoneme positions in words (beginning, middle, end)  critical for early decoding and spelling.

# data[].attributes.subject
Description:  Students identify specific phoneme positions in words (beginning, middle, end)  critical for early decoding and spelling.

# data[].attributes.headline
Description:  Blending is combining individual sounds to make a whole word, a key step toward fluent reading.

# data[].attributes.subject
Description:  Blending is combining individual sounds to make a whole word, a key step toward fluent reading.

# data[].attributes.headline
Description:  Segmentation is breaking words into their individual phonemes, essential for spelling, writing, and advanced decoding.

# data[].attributes.subject
Description:  Segmentation is breaking words into their individual phonemes, essential for spelling, writing, and advanced decoding.

# data[].attributes.body
-Rhyme sort : provide picture cards and have students group words that rhyme (ex. cat, hat). Use visuals, allow oral responses, and offer choices for nonverbal learners

-Rhyme detective: read aloud a poem and have students raise their hands or signal when they hear rhyming words, supporting auditory and visual learning styles.

-Rhyme production game: say a word and challenge students to come up with as many rhymes as they can(individual or small groups). Use prompts for multilingual learners and those with speech needs.

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.alternative_text
kids playing sorting games with picture rhyming cards

# data[].attributes.body
Clap/Snap the Syllables: Students clap, tap, or snap out syllables in their names or vocabulary. Adapt for motor needs (finger taps, visual counting).

Syllable Hopscotch: Place cards with words on the floor; students jump to mark each syllable. Use images for ELL and visual learners.

Syllable Sorting: Provide words or pictures; students sort into piles by number of syllables (can use color coding or tactile supports).

# data[].attributes.body
Sound Hunt: After saying a word, students isolate and indicate the initial, medial, or final sound using fingers, sound boxes, or tokens.

Mystery Sound: Teacher says a word (“mat”) and asks students to identify the sound at a given position. Use visuals and gestures for nonverbal students.

Picture Match: Students match images to their initial/final sounds using sound mats or flashcards (helpful for ELL, speech needs).

# data[].attributes.body
“Say It Slow, Say It Fast”: Teacher pronounces sounds slowly (/c/ /a/ /t/), student blends and says words quickly. Use repetition and peer models.

Slider Tools: Use slinkies or manipulatives for students to physically “slide” sounds together, supporting tactile and kinesthetic learners.

Simon Says Blend: Teacher gives phonemes as directions (“/s/ /i/ /t/”), students blend and act the word (“sit”). Adapt tasks for students with movement needs.

# data[].attributes.body
Dough Smash: Students smash a ball of playdough for each sound in a word. Allows for tactile engagement, good for sensory learners.

Elkonin (Sound) Boxes: Each box gets a token as the student says a sound in the word (“dog” = three boxes/tokens). Adapt for vision or fine motor needs with larger visuals.

Chip Push-Ups: Push a chip for each sound spoken in the word, then swipe them together when blending. Use colored chips or digital tokens for accessibility.

# data[].attributes.body
Use visuals, gestures, and flexible groupings

# data[].attributes.body
Inclusive Support: Multiple (audio, kinesthetic), options for movement or manipulation.

# data[].attributes.body
Use tactile supports, visuals, and partner work.

# data[].attributes.body
Provide audio and visual supports, manipulatives for motor challenges.

# data[].attributes.body
Tactile, visual, and digital versions available.

# data[].attributes.body
Explore engaging rhyming games and sorting activities that support early phonemic awareness development. These resources include visual cards and interactive games suitable for diverse learners.

# data[].attributes.body
Students reliably identify, and produce rhyming words orally

# data[].attributes.body
Students can correctly blend words into syllables.

# data[].attributes.body
Students correctly pinpoint sounds in all indicated positions.

# data[].attributes.body
Students accurately blend 3-4 phoneme words independently.

# data[].attributes.body
Students segment 3-4 phoneme words fluently and accurately.

# data[].attributes.body
Move to syllable awareness and begin simple sound isolation

# data[].attributes.body
Teach phoneme isolation (initial, medial, and final sounds)

# data[].attributes.body
Move to blending isolated sounds into whole words.

# data[].attributes.body
Introduce segmentation as the next skill.

# data[].attributes.body
Start using skills to begin spelling and reading words in print.

# data[].attributes.body
www.readingrockets.org

95percentgroup.com

Ehri et al., 2001 (as referenced in Minosse, 2020): Direct instruction in blending and segmenting is crucial for decoding and reading skills.

Anthony & Lonigan, 2004: Rhyme sensitivity is highly predictive for other phonological skills.

Goswami, 2021: Sequence of phonological awareness development is universal; segmentation and isolation precede more advanced manipulation.

Additional: For segmentation/blending research and diversity in instruction, see Minosse (2020), and future-ed's meta-analysis on letters and sounds.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Nearly a decade ago, Congress tasked the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the U.S. Department of Education with developing a National Reading Panel that would evaluate all existing research to find the best practices in teaching children how to read.

This landmark study was released in April of 2000 and highlighted for educators and parents what has become known as "the big 5" in reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency.
To read the original study: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/nrp/Pages/smallbook.aspx
The National Reading Panel describes phonemes as, "the smallest units constituting spoken language." In all, English has anywhere from 41 to 44 phonemes (the number depends on which classification system is used). Phonemes combine to form syllables and words. The Panel included phonemic awareness because many studies over the years have identified it and letter knowledge as the best predictors of how well children will learn to read during their first two years in school.

"...learning to read is hard for nearly all children and extremely hard for some."

-Alvin Liberman, speech perception pioneer

It's worth noting that phonemic awareness is not to be confused with 'phonological awareness.' Phonological awareness is an umbrella term that includes phonemic awareness, as well as a number of other abilities including being able to distinguish rhyming words and to divide sentences into words.

As Dr. Louisa Moats and Susan Hall explain in their 2002 book, Parenting a Struggling Reader, "Phonemic awareness is not the only skill you need [to learn how to read], but you must have it in order to develop decoding and word recognition skills. It's like needing to know the finger positions for all the notes on a musical instrument before you learn to read music and play new pieces."

Typically, people with dyslexia have weak phonemic awareness, meaning they have difficulty hearing the fine distinctions among individual sounds. And they aren't the only ones: it's estimated that without direct instructional support nearly 25 percent of middle-class first graders also struggle with this skill.

But how did researchers and educators come to understand the importance of phonemic awareness?

You have to go back to the mid-1950s and the Haskins Laboratory, founded by Caryl Haskins, a scientist who created pioneering work in the study of ant biology. (More on Haskins, here: http://www.haskins.yale.edu/history/haskinsbio.pdf) Based in New York City and later at Yale University, the Haskins Lab was home to researchers working across disciplines on a variety of issues, including the needs of World War II veterans.

Among their projects was the development of prosthetic devices for the blind. The team at Haskins included a young researcher, Alvin Lieberman. Trained as a psychologist, Liberman had devoted much of his time to studying the growing field of speech perception. As part of the Haskins' Lab work, Liberman and his team set about creating a reading machine for the blind that could scan and read back texts automatically.

According to Dr. Marilyn Jager Adams, author of the 1997 book, "Phonemic Awareness in Young Children," (Available from IMSE, here: https://www.orton-gillingham.com/products/901/) Lieberman made a profound discovery in trying to create his reading machine. He reasoned, "Well, if people could understand text by reading it phoneme by phoneme, or understand oral language phoneme by phoneme, then they ought to be able to understand written text if you just spelled it to them. If that were so, then learning to read ought to be easy. Yet, as we all know, learning to read is hard for nearly all children and extremely hard for some."

Liberman and his team came to understand that, "...phonemes are not [distinct] audible signals. Using their equipment they showed how phon emes are blended together and co-articulated in spoken language."

In his landmark 1967 paper, "Perception of the Speech Code," Liberman outlines how a word like 'cats,' when spoken appears to be one sound, but is a group of distinct sounds blended together. Add in differences in the ways in which words are pronounced-the /s/ in 'cats' can sound, instead like a /z/, but the listener, in decoding what's being said, understands that 'cats' are 'cats,' despite those variances in pronunciation-and it becomes easy to see how learners can get tripped up trying to understand how words are constructed when every sound is not distinctly pronounced.

To read Liberman's paper: http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0069.pdf

As the forward of Dr. Adams' 1997 book puts it, "Before children can make any sense of the alphabetic principle, they must understand that those sounds that are paired with the letters are one and the same as the sounds of speech. ...research shows that the very notion that spoken language is made up of sequences of these little sounds does not come naturally or easily to human beings."

Liberman went on to develop the motor theory of speech perception and headed the Haskins Lab at Yale from 1975 to 1986. His work remains highly cited and influential today.

Indeed, educators in the classroom benefited from years of research based on and inspired by Liberman and his team's findings. By the late 1990s, the National Reading Panel (NRP) found more than 1,900 citations in reading studies devoted to phonemic awareness. Upon further review, 52 studies fit the NRP methodology criteria and the results were clear: children who received direct instruction in phonemic awareness showed improvement in reading and spelling.

"Phonemic awareness is not the only skill you need [to learn how to read], but you must have it in order to develop decoding and word recognition skills."

-Dr. Louisa Moats and Susan Hall

Today, states like Virginia, Wisconsin, Iowa and Delaware all provide phonemic awareness testing for early readers to help more quickly assess and ultimately remediate children who struggle to recognize phonemes.

In Wisconsin, for instance, teachers use the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening system (PALS) to assess and monitor students' progress from Pre-K through second grade. Schools are required to provide parents and legal guardians with each student's results and to provide remedial reading instruction if a student is struggling.
To learn more about Wisconsin's PALS program: http://dpi.wi.gov/assessment/pals
PALS provides teachers and parents with testing benchmarks for students at three levels:

In Pre-K, students are expected to be able to write their names and have knowledge of the alphabet

In Kindergarten, students need to be able to recognize words in isolation and understand letter sounds

By second grade, students are tested on their oral reading abilities and spelling

For more information about phonemic awareness research, benchmarks by age, as well as tips and activities, head over to Reading Rockets: http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101/phonemic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Keys to Reading: Phonemic Awareness - IMSE - Journal

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nearly a decade ago, Congress tasked the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the U.S. Department of Education with developing a National Reading Panel that would evaluate all existing research to find the best practices in teaching children how to read.