The ability to hear and work with the sound structures of the spoken language, making it a primarily auditory skill. This includes mastering skills such as syllable counting, rhyming, onset-rime, and segmenting words into sounds. Under the umbrella of phonological awareness, there is phonemic awareness. Under this section there are crucial skill such as blending, segmenting, isolation, addition, deletion, and substitution (Anthony & Francis, 2005).

Importance of Skill:

The importance of this skill is it teaches children how to hear and work the sound structures of the spoken language. Having these skills are crucial for children to understand the alphabet and letter sounds, along with decoding words (Anthony & Francis, 2005).

Example of the Skill in Action:

Phonological awareness is shown when students listen to and work with the sounds of spoken words. For example, when a teacher says, “Let’s clap the parts of the word banana,” and students clap three times while saying ba-na-na, they show they can hear and separate syllables. Similarly, recognizing rhyming words like cat and hat or blending sounds like /s/ /u/ /n/ to say “sun” demonstrates phonological awareness. These activities build a strong foundation for reading and spelling by helping students understand how sounds form words.

What it looks like when achieved: Students track text from left to right and top to bottom, turn pages in order, point to individual words while reading, and recognize spaces between words (Shanahan, 2023).

 Milestone 2:Children understand that print carries meaning, not the pictures.

What it looks like when achieved: Students point to or talk about the printed words during shared reading, explain what the words say, or focus on the text when asked questions about the story (Shanahan, 2023).

Milestone 2 expected age/grade: By kindergarten, most children understand that the words on a page carry meaning, not just the pictures

Support from research: Research shows that many preschoolers, ages three to five, begin to understand important print ideas. They may know some letters, recognize the front and back of a book, and understand that the words are read, not the pictures. Children learn these skills faster if they are read to often by parents or teachers (Typical Reading Development, 2025).

Strategy 2:For English Learners or students with a small vocabulary, use pictures, gestures, and read-alouds again and again. This helps them understand the words and follow along (Michigan's Mission: Literacy, 2025).

How it supports students with dyslexia or other learning differences: Use activities that involve more than one sense, like pointing to words while saying sounds, clapping for each word, or tracing letters in sand. These help students with dyslexia connect sounds, letters, and words. You can also use audio directions or stories and highlight key parts to make reading easier (International Dyslexia Association, 2025).

Explanation of why strategies are effective: These strategies work because they let all students access and practice reading in ways that fit their needs. They help students see, hear, and understand words, follow reading direction, and know that words carry meaning. This builds confidence and skills for reading.

Shanahan, T. (2025). Is print awareness part of the science of reading?. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-on-literacy/print-awareness-part-science-reading

Typical reading development. Reading Rockets. (2025). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/how-children-learn-read/typical-reading-development

Concepts of print assessment. Reading Rockets (2025). https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/assessment-and-evaluation/articles/concepts-print-assessment#examples-of-assessment-questions

Michigan’s Mission: Literacy. (2025). Concepts of print: Ideas for teachers. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/print-awareness/articles/concepts-print-ideas-teachers

International Dyslexia Association. (2025). Accommodating students with dyslexia in all classroom settings. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/dyslexia/articles/accommodating-students-dyslexia-all-classroom-settings

Phonemic Awareness: Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the smallest sounds in spoken words, which are called phonemes. It’s part of phonological awareness, which includes rhyming, blending, and segmenting (Reading Rockets, n.d.). It involves listening and working with sounds orally, serving as a foundation for connecting sounds to letters later in reading (Early Literacy CI5823, n.d.).

Importance of the skill: Phonemic awareness is critical for early reading because it helps children connect spoken sounds to written letters. “Children who cannot hear and work with the phonemes of spoken words will have a difficult time learning how to relate these phonemes to letters when they see them in written words” (Reading Rockets, n.d., para. 3). Strong phonemic awareness supports reading fluency, spelling, and comprehension.

Example of the skill in action: During a kindergarten lesson, the teacher says the sounds /d/–/o/–/g/ and asks, “What word is this?” The student replies “dog,” showing blending skills. Such activities help children “manipulate sounds through rhyming, blending, segmenting, and substituting” (95 Percent Group, n.d.).

Importance of the skill: Recognizing letter names is a crucial first step in learning to read. When children can easily name letters, they are better prepared to connect those letters to sounds and start sounding out words. This early confidence also helps build interest and excitement about reading and writing.

Example of the skill in action: Let's say the teacher shows a card with a lowercase b and asks, What letter is this? After a student replies, the teacher can ask the group to find the letter b in a short sentence on the board. Students will be able to name and spot the letter each time they see it in their books or around the classroom.

Word Awareness – The child understands that sentences are made up of individual words.
Example: The student can count or tap the number of words in a simple sentence like “The dog ran.” (Gunning, 2024)

Milestone 2:

Rhyme Awareness – The child recognizes and produces rhyming words.
Example: The student smiles and says “hat” when asked what rhymes with “cat.” (Gunning, 2024)

Milestone 3:

Syllable Awareness – The child can hear and separate words into syllables or “beats.”
Example: The student claps three times while saying ba-na-na (Gunning, 2024).

Milestone 4:

Onset and Rime Awareness – The child can identify the first sound (onset) and the rest of the word (rime).
Example: The student knows that in dog, /d/ is the first sound and /og/ is the ending (Gunning, 2024).

Milestone 5:

Phonemic Awareness – The child can hear, blend, and change individual sounds (phonemes) in words.
Example: The student blends /s/ /u/ /n/ to say “sun” or changes /m/ in “mat” to /s/ to make “sat.” (Gunning, 2024)

What it looks like when achieved: The child can listen to /c/–/a/–/t/ and say “cat.” According to the Early Literacy CI5823 resource, “Blending and segmenting are the first key indicators that a child is developing phonemic awareness” (Early Literacy CI5823, n.d., para. 4).

Milestone 2: Manipulating phonemes by adding, deleting, or substituting sounds.

What it looks like when achieved: The child can remove the /s/ in “sat” to make “at” or replace /m/ with /r/ in “man” to make “ran.” This level of manipulation demonstrates mastery of advanced phonemic awareness (Reading Rockets, n.d.).

What it looks like when achieved: A child points to a letter, such as “M,” and correctly says its name. They may also recognize the same letter in different places, like in a book or on a classroom label (Basics: Alphabet Knowledge, n.d.).

Milestone 2: The second observable skill is when a student begins to match letters to their beginning sounds. This shows growth in phonemic awareness and understanding of letter-sound relationships.

What it looks like when achieved: A child can say the sound that a letter makes, such as “S and says "S", or match the letter “B” with a picture of a ball (National Center on Improving Literacy, 2020).

2. Rhyme Awareness (Ages 4–5½)
Students can identify, match, and create rhyming words independently (Moats & Tolman, 2009).

3. Syllable Awareness (Ages 5–6)
Students can accurately clap, count, and manipulate syllables in words of varying lengths (Moats & Tolman, 2009).

4. Onset and Rime Awareness (Ages 5½–6)
Students can hear and combine beginning sounds with the rest of the word or identify the first sound in a spoken word (Moats & Tolman, 2009).

5. Phonemic Awareness (Ages 5½–9)
Students can isolate, blend, segment, substitute, and delete individual sounds within words—showing full phonemic control, which directly supports decoding and spelling (Moats & Tolman, 2009).

Milestone 2 expected age/grade: By the end of kindergarten, students are expected to name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Support from research: Research shows that most children develop strong letter-naming skills between ages 4 and 6, which helps build a foundation for learning to read (\Alphabet Knowledge, n.d.). The Arizona standards match this timeline, expecting complete mastery by the end of kindergarten to prepare students for first-grade reading instruction (Arizona Department of Education, 2021).

Milestone 2 expected age/grade: Strengthens in kindergarten–first grade (ages 5–7).

Support from research:

According to research, children “develop phonological and phonemic awareness skills during the preschool years and refine them in kindergarten and first grade” (Early Literacy CI5823, n.d.).

How it measures progress:
During the activity, the child looks at a page of mixed uppercase and lowercase letters and names as many as possible in one minute. The teacher counts how many letters are correct and notes any errors. Comparing scores over time helps teachers see if the child is improving in speed and accuracy (Sedita, 2024).

The Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST) measures how well students can hear and manipulate the sounds in spoken language. It helps teachers identify strengths and weaknesses in skills like rhyming, blending, and segmenting to guide early reading instruction and intervention (Kilpatrick, 2024).

How it measures progress:

The PAST test measures progress by tracking how accurately and quickly a student can perform phonological tasks over time. As students move from needing support to completing items independently. Such as blending, segmenting, and manipulating sounds. Their scores show growth in phonological awareness and readiness for reading instruction.

How it measures progress: Students are asked to say the individual sounds in spoken words, such as breaking “ship” into /sh/–/i/–/p/. The number of correctly segmented phonemes indicates progress toward mastery (Reading Rockets, n.d.).

Step-by-step description of implementation:

• Teacher models blending sounds (/b/–/a/–/t/ → “bat”).

• Students use counters or motions to mark each sound.

• Guided and independent blending/segmenting practice.

• Add deletion or substitution tasks for challenge.

How it supports learning/mastery:

Multisensory activities make practice “fun and engaging” (95 Percent Group, n.d.). Explicit, structured instruction supports reading growth (Ritchey & Goeke, 2006).

Step-by-step description of implementation:To teach this skill, the teacher introduces only a few letters at a time, starting with ones that are meaningful to students, such as the first letter in their name. The teacher models how to say each letter’s name while pointing to its shape. Students then practice by tracing the letters with their fingers or saying the letter aloud. Next, students engage in fun, hands-on activities such as matching uppercase and lowercase letters or locating letters in classroom signs and books. Finally, students review independently using alphabet cards, magnetic letters, or digital games for extra practice.

How it supports learning/mastery: This step-by-step approach helps children connect each letter’s name, shape, and sound, which builds a strong foundation for reading. Repeating and practicing letters in different ways makes learning stick, while playful activities keep students motivated. Research shows that teaching letter names through clear, structured lessons improves early reading and spelling skills (Reading Rockets, The Alphabetic Principle, n.d.; Sedita, 2024).

In this foundational phonological awareness skill, children learn to recognize, count, and separate words within a sentence (word awareness).

Step-by-step description of implementation:
The teacher introduces word awareness by reading a short, repetitive book and pointing to each word while moving left to right, saying, “I am reading the words, not the pictures.” The teacher models how each spoken word matches one written word. Next, students practice by clapping for each word in a simple sentence or using counters to mark each word as it’s spoken. They then identify and count words in signs, labels, and short sentence strips around the classroom. Over time, students begin to count and track words independently during shared reading, reinforcing print direction and sentence structure understanding (Scott & Nagy, 2004; McArdle, 2024).

How it supports learning/ mastery:

This strategy supports mastery by helping children understand that sentences are made of separate words. Pointing to each word builds one-to-one correspondence between spoken and printed words, while clapping or using counters reinforces this concept through movement. Using books, labels, and sentence strips helps students apply the skill in real contexts, strengthening their awareness of word boundaries and laying the foundation for reading and writing success (Scott & Nagy, 2004).

Strategy 1. Multi-Sensory Sound Activities

Incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic elements to enhance students’ awareness of sounds in language. For instance, students can clap, tap, or use counters to represent each syllable or sound in a word as they say it aloud. English learners benefit from visual aids like picture cards and repeated practice to link sounds with meaning, while students with dyslexia benefit from hands-on, movement-based activities that strengthen the brain’s connections between sounds and printed symbols (IDEAL Consulting Services, Inc., 2014).

Strategy 2. Explicit and Repetitive Modeling with Visual Supports

Deliver clear and structured instruction through consistent modeling and repetition. When introducing skills like rhyming or blending, the teacher can slowly articulate each sound, demonstrate mouth movements, and use color-coded word cards to emphasize sound patterns (e.g., “cat,” “bat,” “hat”). English learners benefit from visual and oral modeling that strengthens pronunciation and vocabulary understanding, while students with dyslexia gain from the systematic and repeated practice that enhances memory, decoding, and confidence in sound recognition (IDEAL Consulting Services, Inc., 2014).

How it supports students with dyslexia or other learning differences:

These strategies help students with dyslexia and other learning differences by providing explicit, structured, and multisensory instruction that connects sounds and language. Using visuals, movement, and repetition activates multiple learning pathways, improving recognition and memory. Modeling and guided practice reduce cognitive overload, while visual cues and repeated exposure support English learners in developing both phonological and language skills—making abstract patterns concrete and building lasting reading confidence. (IDEAL Consulting Services, Inc., 2014).

Explanation of why strategies are important:

These strategies are vital because they make literacy learning inclusive and effective for all students, especially those with dyslexia or learning English. Multisensory and explicit instruction helps students see, hear, and experience sounds, improving understanding and memory. Repetition and modeling build confidence and mastery, while visual supports and clear pronunciation help connect spoken and written language—laying the foundation for strong reading and spelling skills.

Strategy 2: For English Learners (ELs), provide clear modeling and repetition using familiar vocabulary. According to the 95 Percent Group (n.d.), “Repetition and consistent routines help all students—especially ELs—build confidence and recognize sound patterns.”

Support for students with dyslexia or other learning differences: Students with dyslexia benefit from Orton–Gillingham–based, multisensory phonemic instruction, which integrates seeing, saying, and moving with sounds (Ritchey & Goeke, 2006).

Why these strategies are effective: Using multisensory, explicit methods ensures that all learners—especially those with reading challenges—can access, practice, and master phonemic awareness. It builds strong auditory–visual connections that are critical for decoding and spelling (Ritchey & Goeke, 2006).

Strategy 2: For students who learn best through hands-on activities, use multisensory tasks like tracing letters in sand, forming them with clay, or air writing while saying the letter name. These fun, active lessons keep students engaged and help them remember letters by using sight, sound, and movement (Sedita, 2024).

How it supports students with dyslexia or other learning differences: Students with dyslexia benefit from direct, multisensory instruction. Let them see the letter, say its name, and trace it at the same time. This helps them make stronger connections between what they see, hear, and feel, supporting their understanding of letters and sounds (Reading Universe, Students with Dyslexia and Other Learning Disabilities, n.d.).

Explanation of why strategies are effective: These approaches work because they teach through multiple senses, seeing, hearing, and touching. This makes learning more meaningful and helps all students, including ELs and those with learning differences, build confidence and master letter naming.

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