Early Childhood - Connecticut State Department of Education

Language And Literacy Development Chapter 5
PHONEMIC AWARENESS
Performance Standard
Recognize matching sounds and some printed letters.
Phonemic awareness is the understanding and ability to
work with sounds in our language. Research indicates
that phonemic awareness is a strong predictor of
beginning reading achievement (National Research
Council, 1998). Although children naturally hear and
play with sounds, current practice supports more
intentional teaching to develop the ability of children to
identify and manipulate sounds. Such teaching includes
Teacher Strategies
During shared writing, model the sounding and
blending process of words.
Plan opportunities throughout the day for
rhyming and blending games. Use transition
periods or the beginning of a new activity. Plan no
more than 5-10 minutes each time, and make them
fun!
Support children whose language development is
delayed and/or are experiencing impairment with
additional opportunities to play with sounds.
Read classic nursery rhyme books and recite
favorite tongue twisters.
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matching words that begin with the same sound,
listening for each distinct sound, blending sounds into
words, and taking apart and manipulating sounds, e.g.,
taking away the /h/ and putting a /p/ to change hat to
pat. This kind of instruction should not be planned for
long periods of time, nor in a drill and recall fashion.
Rather, carving out brief moments for quick games as
you move from one activity to another can heighten
children’s sensitivities to sounds and provide needed
instruction. As children become comfortable hearing and
making individual sounds in spoken words, familiarity
will build their confidence for later stages of decoding
words.
Suggested Experiences
Take the opportunity to talk to the children as you
write some of the text. Point out that one word
sounds similar to someone’s name or a previous
word.
Ask children to find all the objects that match a
particular letter sound.
Play singing and rhyming games using familiar
nonsense words. (“I like apples and bananas.”)
Play with words by changing initial or final
sounds. Invent nonsense words.
Play games with children’s names: Abby likes
apples. Bob likes books; Cory likes candy.
Play I Spy: “I spy something that starts like mom,
that rhymes with cat, etc.”
During choice time or centers, find opportunities
to play games with individuals or groups of two or
three where children can participate and respond
at a slower pace.
Encourage children to notice rhyming words and
to create more.