The best predictor of reading difficulty in kindergarten or first grade is the inability to segment words and syllables into constituent sound units (phonemic awareness).
Lyon, G.R. (1995)
As many of you know, I am a literacy mentor in addition to being a classroom teacher. As a mentor, I often coach other teachers regarding their literacy instruction, and two topics come up repeatedly during these coaching sessions: phonics and phonemic awareness.
Phonemic awareness, as well as phonological awareness, are key components of a child’s ability to read. This is why phonics and phonemic awareness are critical to the science of reading. Over the next few blog posts, I will dive into the wonderful world of decoding, and it all starts with phonemic awareness.
The ability to recognize and manipulate the smallest sounds, or phonemes, is key to later being able to identify specific phonics skills while decoding. Phonemic awareness is perhaps the most difficult part of phonological awareness, but more on that later on.
First, you may be wondering…what is the difference between phonemic awareness and phonological awareness? If you are, you are not alone!
In this post, we will uncover the key differences between phonemic awareness and phonological awareness, as well as discuss some quick, easy ways to address both during your whole group and small group instruction.
What is phonological awareness?
Phonemic awareness is often used interchangeably with phonological awareness, but they are not the same. Phonological awareness is an “umbrella term” and includes rhyming, alliteration, syllables, onset, rime, and phonemic awareness. It is the ability to break words down into parts, which can mean syllables or phonemes. It can also mean breaking up sentences into individual words. Allow me to briefly explain each part of phonological awareness, and please note that they are roughly listed in the order I would address them.
- Rhyming: Whether using songs or picture books, introducing rhyming words in early literacy education is key to a child’s future reading success. After phonics instruction has begun, I recommend using word lists (coming soon) and highlighting the letters that produce the rhyme. This will help students with substitution when building phonemic awareness.
- Onset: Onset refers to the beginning sound of a word. For example, /k/ is the first sound in cat. This provides a solid foundation for phonemic awareness.
- Alliteration: Alliteration is creating a phrase or sentence using the same sound at the beginning of each word. For example, The courageous cat crept. I would recommend using picture books with alliteration as a way to introduce this skill. After phonics instruction has begun, I would encourage students to create their own alliterations. This would be a fun way to introduce poetry too!
- Rime: Rime, not to be confused with rhyme, is directly tied to rhyming words and word lists. It is referring to the letters that follow the initial sound of a word. For example, in the word cat, the rime is /a/ /t/. Lessons using word lists and rhyming words will help target rime.
- Phonemic awareness: Phonemic awareness means to be aware that words are made up of small sounds called phonemes, such as /k/, /a/, and /t/ in cat.
- Syllables: Separating words into syllables has been a vital part of literacy instruction for many years. Backpack has two syllables, whereas refrigerator has five. Clapping is a common method to practice breaking apart words into syllables. It is important to note that at this stage of literacy instruction, students are learning how to separate words into syllables based on sound; they are not writing the syllable parts.
What is phonemic awareness?
Phonemic awareness is by far the most important part of phonological awareness and is a strong predictor of a child’s literacy level. In other words, strong phonemic awareness often results in the ability to decode, which in turn helps create literate individuals.
When building phonemic awareness, especially during early education (Pre-K and Kindergarten), it is helpful to start with the simplest skills and gradually introduce more complex ones. The activities listed below are in the order they should be practiced.
- Isolation: This skill refers to identifying various phonemes in individual words. Either during a warm-up or a small group lesson, students should practice identifying the beginning, middle, and ending sounds. This skill goes hand in hand with alliteration, onset, and rime.
- Blending: Blending would be an awesome warm-up to any lesson or even as a call-and-response. I usually start by saying the phonemes, such as /k/ /a/ /t/, and students would respond by blending the word. Again, I would encourage you to have some kind of motion to represent blending, such as a fluid motion down the arm or a smooth, horizontal motion.
- Segmentation: In my class, we call this “chopping up the word”. This could be combined with blending during a warm-up or call-and-response. In this case, I start by saying a word, such as cat. Students then respond by saying /k/ /a/ /t/. (I would recommend having some kind of motion that goes along with this warm-up. Students can touch their shoulders, elbows, and hands, for instance. Alternatively, they could clap or chop for each phoneme.) Similar to isolation, this skill should be taught alongside onset and rime.
- Addition: Addition should be taught and practiced before deletion and definitely before substitution. An example would be to add /m/ to at to make mat. Word lists are vital to lessons addressing addition.
- Deletion: Deletion is a harder skill than we may realize. Again, word lists should be used during lessons that target deletion. When given a word such as mat, students should be able to take away the /m/ sound to make at.
- Substitution: Substitution is the most challenging skill in phonemic awareness. During these lessons, students learn to change words in word lists by changing the beginning, middle, or ending sounds. I would recommend starting by changing the beginning sounds. Once students are comfortable doing that, practice changing the ending sounds. The middle sounds, which are vowels in CVC words, are the most difficult sounds to change. Once students are comfortable changing the middle sounds, it is time to start transitioning to phonics instruction.
How can I target both phonemic and phonological awareness during my lessons?
I truly believe there is value in both whole-group and small-group lessons when it comes to most subjects, but especially to literacy instruction. When I plan a lesson, I usually choose three or four phonological skills, one or two of them being phonemic awareness skills. I included a sample 2-week literacy schedule below for your convenience. This is just a sample. Depending on the needs of your class, you may choose to lengthen or shorten any of these lessons. This schedule is meant for grades K-1, so I did not include syllables yet, as this schedule is meant to be for early education. If you re teaching intervention in grades 1 or 2, I would recommend including syllables as a warm-up before working on multi-syllable words. (Yes, I would absolutely teach multi-syllable words at the same time as single-syllable words, but more on that next month.)
| Day | Whole Group | Small Group |
| 1 | Rhyming (warm-up) Onset and Rime (model) | Isolation |
| 2 | Alliteration (warm-up) Onset and Rime (practice) | Onset and Rime |
| 3 | Blending (warm-up) Segmenting (model) | Blending and Segmenting |
| 4 | Blending (warm-up) Segmenting (practice) | Blending and Segmenting |
| 5 | Onset and Rime (warm-up) Addition (model) | Addition |
| 6 | Onset and Rime (warm-up) Addition (practice) | Addition |
| 7 | Onset and Rime (warm-up) Deletion (model) | Deletion |
| 8 | Onset and Rime (warm-up) Deletion (practice) | Deletion |
| 9 | Onset and Rime (warm-up) Substitution (model) | Substitution |
| 10 | Onset and Rime (warm-up) Substitution (practice) | Substitution |
When planning your differentiated literacy centers, make sure to include activities that students can work on independently, using Nearpod, printable activities, or learning games (coming soon).
Discover an all-inclusive resource for CVC centers and start saving time and money today!
Something to note is that we are not addressing spelling or phonics with any of the ideas listed above. Both phonemic and phonological awareness will precede phonics instruction initially, though I strongly encourage you to continue to strengthen your students’ phonemic and phonological awareness even after specific phonics instruction has begun.
Although it is ideal to address phonological awareness before teaching phonics, it is important to transition seamlessly from one to the other. If you are teaching first grade or above, you may want to consider addressing both during your intervention or small group lessons.
Stay tuned for specific steps on how to transition from phonological awareness to phonics instruction using Elkonin boxes. The post will go live on Saturday, January 27 with the podcast airing on Sunday, January 28.