Before moving on to Lesson 9, I decided to talk about phonemic awareness, which is critical in order for your child to learn how to read. (More information about phonemic awareness and phonics instruction can be found on the website under FAQ.)
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in words. Before children can learn to read, they must understand how the sounds in words work. Phonemic awareness is critical because being able to hear the individual sounds in words, helps children learn to read and spell. Children who are phonemically aware are likely to have an easier time learning to read and spell than those who are not.
Phonemic awareness focuses on HEARING the sounds in spoken language. This is not the same as phonics. Phonics instruction teaches the relationship between the letters of the WRITTEN language and the phonemes of the spoken language. Phonics teaches children to read and write words. Both phonics and phonemic awareness are necessary when learning to read.
Things you can do to help your child become more phonemically aware are:
Rhyming – Play rhyming games with your child and recite nursery rhymes together.
Blending – Say three sounds to your child such as, /b/ /u/ /g/ and your child will say the word “bug”.
Segmenting – Say a word such as “flag” and your child will say each phoneme. /f/ /l/ /a/ /g/.
Syllable counting – Clap and count the syllables in words such as but-ter-fly. (Three claps)
Change a sound – Say a word such as “hat”. Then ask your child what word is formed when you change /h/ to /c/ and your child will say “cat”.
Sound deletion – Say “snap”. What word is left if I leave off the /s/. Your child will say “nap”.
Adding a sound – Say “car”. What word does car become if I add /d/ at the end? Your child will say “card”.
Children enjoy listening games and playing with sounds and words. Phonemic awareness games can be played anywhere such as in the car when running errands with your child, taking walks, waiting for doctors appointments, waiting for your food at a restaurant, and so on. I will be showing you some other ideas to help your child become more phonemically aware in the some of the upcoming lesson plans.