What is phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics? How to teach it & FREE continuum guide!

Summary

In this informative video, Sosa, a kindergarten teacher in Texas, explains the differences between phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics. She breaks down the continuum of phonological awareness skills, from rhyming and alliteration to syllable segmentation and onset-rhyme, leading up to phonemic awareness. Sosa also shares hands-on classroom activities and strategies to help students master these skills, emphasizing the importance of phonics and letter-sound correspondence in early literacy. Her video provides practical insights for teachers, especially those working with English language learners.

Takeaways

• 😀 Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and work with sounds in spoken language, covering rhyme, syllables, and more.
• 😀 Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness, where students manipulate individual sounds in words.
• 😀 Phonological awareness includes skills like rhyme recognition, alliteration, sentence segmentation, and syllable segmentation.
• 😀 Phonemic awareness focuses on tasks such as sound isolation, blending, and segmentation.
• 😀 Phonics connects sounds with letters, enabling students to decode words using letter-sound correspondence.
• 😀 Teaching phonological awareness begins with recognizing rhymes and alliteration, progressing to syllable segmentation and onset-rhyme blending.
• 😀 Phonemic awareness progresses with more complex tasks like isolating, blending, segmenting, and manipulating individual sounds.
• 😀 Classroom activities like rhyming, alliteration, syllable counting, and word families support phonological and phonemic awareness development.
• 😀 In phonics, once phonemic awareness is established, students are taught letter-sound correspondence to decode written words.
• 😀 The foundation of reading and writing skills is laid through a balance of phonological, phonemic, and phonics instruction.

Q & A

What is phonological awareness, and why is it important?

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and work with sounds in spoken language. It is crucial because it is one of the strongest predictors of a child's reading success, helping children understand that words are made up of sounds.

What is the continuum of phonological awareness skills?

The continuum of phonological awareness includes six different skills: rhyming, alliteration, sentence segmentation, syllable segmentation, onset and rhyme, and phonemic awareness. These skills range from less complex to more complex as children progress.

How does rhyming help children in their early literacy development?

Rhyming helps children identify patterns in words, which later supports their reading and writing skills. It focuses on recognizing similar sounds at the end of words and helps children develop a sense of sound patterns in language.

What is the difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness?

Phonological awareness is the broader ability to recognize sounds in spoken language, while phonemic awareness focuses on the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in words.

How do you teach sentence segmentation to young children?

To teach sentence segmentation, children focus on listening to a sentence and determining how many words they hear. This skill can be made more complex by using sentences with multiple syllables and words.

What is the focus of syllable segmentation, and how is it practiced?

Syllable segmentation involves counting the parts (syllables) in a word. It is often practiced with children's names, where students clap, stomp, or jump to count the syllables. This helps them develop an understanding of word structure.

Can you explain onset and rhyme, and how does it support phonemic awareness?

Onset and rhyme involves blending and segmenting the initial consonant (onset) from the rest of the word (rhyme). It helps children practice identifying and manipulating sounds, a skill that is critical for phonemic awareness development.

What types of phonemic awareness manipulations do children learn?

Children learn several types of phonemic awareness manipulations, including isolation, blending, segmentation, addition, deletion, and substitution. These skills help children manipulate individual sounds to form new words.

What role does phonics play in early literacy development?

Phonics teaches children the relationship between sounds and letters. It builds on phonological awareness and helps children connect spoken sounds with written letters, enabling them to decode words and understand patterns in written language.

What are some activities for practicing phonological awareness in the classroom?

Activities include whole group rhyming exercises, syllable counting with cards, sentence segmentation with printable books, and word family exercises. Hands-on activities like using pebbles or arrow visuals for phonics can also reinforce letter-sound correspondence.