Transcript Phonemic Awareness

“An Earful
of
Phonemic Awareness”
Sara Newton
Angela Rush
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is
the understanding that
words are made up of
sounds. It is also the
ability to pick out and
manipulate sounds
in spoken words.
The goal of phonemic
awareness is to help
children develop an
“ear” for language-to
hear specific sounds,
identify sound sequence,
and understand the role that
phonemes( the smallest
units of sound in spoken
language) play in word
formation.
Phonemic awareness is not…
• related to print.
(Written words or
letters should not be
the focus of phonemic
awareness activities.)
• the same as phonics.
• an isolated skill.
Why Teach Phonemic Awareness?
Students need to have a
strong understanding of
spoken language before
they can understand
written language.
Jo Fitzpatrick
If children do not have
adequate and rich
language development
to scaffold their reading
and writing, their learning
often stalls or regresses.
Regie Routman
Key Research Findings About
Phonemic Awareness:
• Research has identified phonemic awareness as the most potent
predictor of success in learning to read. It is more highly related to
reading than tests of general intelligence, reading readiness, and
listening comprehension (Stanovich, 1986,1994).
• The lack of phonemic awareness is the most powerful determinant
of the likelihood of failure to learn to read because of its importance
in learning the English alphabetic system or how print represents
spoken words. If children cannot hear and manipulate the sounds in
spoken words, they have an extremely difficult time learning how to
map those sounds to letters and letter patterns - the essence of
decoding. (Adams, 1990).
• It is the most important core and causal factor separating normal
and disabled readers (Adams, 1990).
• It is central in learning to read and spell (Ehri, 1984).
Phonemic Awareness Instruction
Phonemic awareness is
basically oral in nature
and presents itself well
in meaningful, interactive
games and activities.
Phonemic awareness
activities are playful and
provide an engaging way
for children to hear how sounds
are put together to form words.
Most children can develop phonemic
awareness in literacy-rich environmentsthrough activities that involve experimenting
with and enjoying rhymes, poems, chants,
and songs and manipulating sounds of words
(substituting consonants, “clapping” syllables,
using alliteration, repeating classmates’
names), and by engaging in regular talk about
words.
Regie Routman
5 Basic Types
of
Phonemic Awareness Tasks
Task 1: The ability to hear
rhymes and alliteration.
Task 2: The ability to do oddity
tasks.
Task 3: The ability to orally
blend words and split
syllables.
Task 4: The ability to orally segment
words.
Task 5: The ability to do phonemic
manipulation tasks.
Rhymes and Alliteration
If you are a currently a
kindergarten teacher or
have taught kindergarten,
think back to the first
week of school. Did
any students come to your
class already reading? Did
these students also have
knowledge of nursery
rhymes?
Kindergarten teachers
often state that early
readers know a variety of
nursery rhymes. Predictable
rhymes and structured verses
aid in phonemic awareness
development. Rhyming words are
important to reading because they
call children’s attention to the
sounds inside words. Children also
enjoy this ‘tried and true”
literacy form.
Activities to Support the Ability to
Hear Rhyme and Alliteration
Rhyme Hunt
• Children go on “rhyme hunts” inside and outside of the
classroom.
Example: “Let’s find all the objects in our room
that rhyme with sock.”
Possible Answers: clock, block, lock, jock.
*This could be a quick, oral warm-up task prior to Word
Work, Writing, or Shared Reading.
Round Robin Rhyme
• Students sit in a circle.
• The teacher tells the students that the class is going on an
imaginary trip. The teacher states the destination and one
object he/she wishes to take.
Example: “I am going to the beach and I am taking a hat.”
• The next child in the circle must say, “ I am going to the
beach and I am taking a hat and a mat.”
• Continue around the circle until no more rhyming words can
be generated.
Variation: Students must identify words that start with the same
initial letter (hat, hamburger, horse, etc.).
Nursery-Rhyme Rattle
•
•
•
•
Display three pictures on a board. Say the name of
each picture and have the students help you identify
the two rhyming words from the set.
Display a nursery rhyme on chart paper.
Example: “Hickory Dickory Dock”
Pass out noisemakers to students.
Choose a target word and identify it to the students. Tell students to
use their noisemakers when they hear a word in the poem that rhymes
with the target word. Teacher reads the poem to the class.
Example: Teacher states the target word sock. Students repeat the
target word. Students shake their noisemakers when they
hear a word that rhymes with sock.
Hickory, Dickory, Dock
Hickory, Dickory, Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory, Dickory, Dock
Rhyme Around the Rosy
• Organize the students’ chairs in
a circle. Place a stack of picture
cards face down under one
chair.
• Students walk in front of the
chairs in a circle formation
singing the following: “Rhyme
around the rosy, pocket full of
posies, ashes, ashes, we all sit
down.”
• The children sit at the
appropriate point in the song.
The student who sits in the
chair with the deck of picture
cards must select the first card
and state a word that rhymes
with the picture.
Phonemic Awareness Riddle
of the Day
• Place a riddle on a board each day or week. Explain to students that
two rhyming words will answer the riddle. Let students try to
discover the answer.
Examples: What do you call a chubby kitty? (fat cat)
What do you call a crying father? (sad dad)
What do you call a rabbit that tells jokes? (funny bunny)
What do you call a dog out in the rain? (wet pet)
What do you call a book with recipes? (cookbook)
What do you call a space for a broom? (broom room)
Activities to Support
the Ability to do Oddity Tasks
Simon Says Sounds
Give each student a baggie of pictures.
•
Students display their pictures on
their desk or table.
•
The teacher uses such commands
as “Simon says touch the picture
that starts like horse;” “Simon says
place the picture that starts like cat
on your knee;” “Place your thumb
on the picture that starts like dog.”
Clap!
The teacher says two words.
If the two words share a
sound (i.e. initial sound,
ending sound, medial sound),
the students clap their hands.
If the two words do not share
a sound, everyone must be
quiet.
No Zoo for You!
• Place three animal picture cards in a
pocket chart, including two that share
a common phoneme (e.g. bear, bird,
and goat).
• Have the class say each animal name
together. Without offering any clues,
invite a volunteer to remove the
picture that does not belong and say,
No zoo for you!”
• Repeat the same pattern with other
picture cards, having children use
deduction to determine which
animals “enter the zoo” and which
do not.
• Repeat with new sound matches and/
or categories.
Sing a Song of Sounds
•
Have the children sing the following song to the tune of “If You’re
happy and You Know It.”
If your names begins with /m/, stand up,
If your name begins with /m/, stand up,
If your name begins with/m/, stand up and take a bow,
If your name begins with /m/, stand up.
•
Repeat with different phonemes and movements such as clapping,
touching your toes, etc.
Variations: Have children use picture cards with the song.
Example: If your picture begins with /s/,
stand up.
Find Your Match
•Make picture cards in the shape of socks
(sock shape is optional).
•Punch holes in the top corners of each card and
string yarn through them to create a necklace for
each child.
•Have children find their match by finding the
classmate whose picture card begins with the same
sound, ends with the same sound, or rhymes.
•Play music to make the activity more engaging and
playful.
Do You Know?
•Sing the song “Do You know” to the tune of
“Muffin Man.”
Do you know two words that start with /b/,
Start with /b/,
Start with /b/?
Oh, do you know two words that start with /b/?
At the beginning, they sound just alike.
(Take student suggestions.)
Bear and boy are two words that start with /b/,
Start with /b/-Start with /b/.
Bear and boy are two words that start with /b/.
At the beginning, they sound just alike.
Picky Puppet
• Distribute two picture cards evenly among children.
• Using a classroom puppet or sock puppet, explain to the
children that this puppet is a “sound puppet” who likes
only things whose names begin with a sound it chooses.
• Let students go on picture card hunts with the puppet.
Example: Dylan puts the puppet on his hand. Teacher
tells Dylan that Picky Puppet only likes words
today that begin with /l/.
Activities to Support the Ability to
Orally Blend Words and Split
Syllables
Get Your Blenders Out!
Suggestions for Instruction
• There are three levels of oral blending:
Level 1) blend words syllable by syllable
Level 2) blend words by onset and rhyme
Level 3) blend words phoneme by phoneme
• Modeling for your students how to blend sounds into words.
“Listen to me as I say a word very slowly, sound by
sound. Then I’ll say the word a bit faster. Finally, I say the
word as it is normally said.”
• It is easier for most students if you begin with short CVC words that start
with continuous consonants such as m, s ,l ,f , r.
*For more intensive learners, you can even start with just VC or CV
words.
• In order to decrease confusion for students, you need to be cognizant of
how you articulate each phoneme.
Animal Names
• Make a deck of picture cards containing familiar animals.
• The teacher selects a card without revealing the picture to
the students.
• The teacher will pronounce the name of the picture with
isolated sounds. (/c/-/a/-/t/)
• The students will need to blend the sounds to guess the
name of the picture. The teacher shows the picture to
affirm the responses of the students.
*Since animals are often characters in books, this could be
an initial activity to introduce a new book or story.
“Arm Blenders”
• In order to blend words, tell students that they
are going to use their arms as blenders.
• Model using the word baseball. Close both
hands to make fists. Extend one arm out to the
right and say base. Extend the other arm out to
the left and say ball. Pull both arms together and
say baseball.
• You can do this activity with compound words
and words with two syllables.
Read My Mind
• Say the following in a chant:
“I’m thinking of a word.
It ends with /ack/.
It starts with /b/.
The word is ______.
• Continue the chant with other
onsets and rimes.
*This activity is a quick
brain break or energizer.
I’m Thinking of a Word
Sing to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus.”
The teacher sings,
“I’m thinking of a word named /m/ /a/ /n/,/m/ /a/ /n/, /m/ /a/ /n/.
I’m thinking of a word named /m//a//n/.
What is my word?”
The students sing back,
“Are you thinking of the word called man, man, man.,
Man,man, man, man, man, man?
Are you thinking of the word called man, man, man?
The teacher sings,
“Yes, man is my word.”
Sound Clues
• Create riddles for your class to solve using sound clues.
The teacher reads the riddle aloud, pronouncing the answer
sound by sound. Ask the children to blend the sounds
together to solve the riddle. The riddles can relate to a
theme or unit of study.
Examples:
You can see me at night, when I shine bright. I am the
/m/ /oo/ /n/.
Put me in the water and watch me float. Now you know I
am a /b/ /o/ /t/.
Sing a Rhyme with Onset and Rime
Sing to the tune of “If your Happy and You Know It.”
If you’re happy and you know it ,say my name: /c/ /ake/.
If you’re happy and you know it ,say my name: /c/ /ake/.
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it.
If you’re happy and you know it, say my name.
Children say in unison “cake.”
Activities to Support the Ability to
Orally Segment Words
Graphing Sounds
• Each child receives a picture card. The
student must orally segment the phonemes
in the word to determine the total number of
phonemes.
• The class creates a graph of the results.
*This activity could be a whole group activity,
small group activity, or an individual
activity.
Tap and Sweep
• Say single-syllable words one at a time. Have students tap
on their desktop with their fists as they say each phoneme.
They should move their fists in left to right progression.
• After segmenting the phonemes in a word, have students
go back to the first tap position and sweep their fists on
their desktops from left to right, blending the sounds
together to say the word.
Variation: Students can extend their fingers to count off
each phoneme. Then they can use a sweeping-hand
motion as they blend the sounds together.
Jump to the Sounds
• Show a picture of an object to the class.
• Have the students say the phonemes that
comprise the object’s name.
• Have the students jump for each phoneme
of the word.
* You could ask the PE teacher do this
activity with jump ropes.
Sound Baseball
• Draw a baseball diamond on poster board and
stick Velcro on each base. Make team markers by
sticking Velcro to laminated baseball hats. A
collection of picture cards is also needed.
• Divide the class into two teams.
• A team scores a “hit” or an “out” when a player
correctly segments each phoneme in a word.
• Attach baseball caps to the bases to show
progress.
Echoes
• The teacher assesses students’ prior knowledge of echoes.
• After sufficient modeling and practice, the teacher divides
the class into two groups. The groups should sit at opposite
sides of the classroom.
• The teacher shows a picture card to one group. This
group will say the segmented word. The other group will
echo the blended word in response.
Sound Tree
• Each student needs a tree pattern and
several leaves.
• The teacher says a word. The students must
place a leaf on the tree for every phoneme
they hear. Students should say the
phonemes as they place leaves on their
trees.
Can You Say?
• Sing the following song to the tune of “Happy
Birthday”:
Can You Say?
Can you say the first sound?
Can you say the first sound?
It’s the first sound in _______.
Can you say the first sound?
Variation: Isolate ending sounds and medial sounds.
Activities to Support the Ability to do
Phonemic Manipulation Tasks
Initial Sound Switch
• The teacher models changing the initial sounds in words to
make new words. (cat to bat).
• After modeling, the teacher says the following:
“You are going to make new words by replacing the first
sound in each word I say with /s/.”
• Words to use include: hit, rat, bun,mad, bend,
and funny.
Variations: Use different initial sounds.
Students can substitute final sounds and medial
sounds.
Consonant Riddles
• The teacher says a word, and the students must
think of a word that rhymes with the word and
starts with a given sound.
Example: What rhymes with mat and starts
with /s/.
What rhymes with sand and starts with
/h/.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Word
• Sing the following song to the tune of “Twinkle, twinkle,
Little Star”:
Twinkle, twinkle, little word,
What’s the new word to be heard?
If I take off the first sound,
What new word will now be found?
Take the /c/ right off of cold.
Now the new word sounds like old.
Sound Deletion
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“Say pancake without pan.”
“Say robot without ro.”
“Say top without /t/.”
“Say mop without /p/.”
“Say stake without /s/.”
“Say past without /t/.”
“Say brake without /r/.”
Professional References
Bishop, A., Bishop, S. (2001). Teaching phonics, phonemeic awareness, and
word recognition. Westminister, CA: Teacher Created Materials.
Blevins, W. (1997). Phonemic awareness activities. Jefferson, New York
NY: Scholastic Professional Books.
Fitzpatrick, J. (1997). Phonemic awareness: playing with sounds to strengthen
beginning reading skills. Cypress, CA: Creative Teaching Press, Inc.
Lane, H., Pullen, P. (2004). Phonolgical awareness assessment and instruction.
Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Routman, R. (2003). Reading essentials: the specifics you need to teach reading
well. Portsmouth, NH.:Heinemann.
Zgonc, Y. (2000). Sounds in action: phonological awareness activities and
assessments. Peterborough, NH: Crystal Springs Books.