Phoneme awareness and phonics instruction are not the same, and phoneme awareness should come before phonics. “Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in spoken words. Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in words work,” according to a publication by the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, “Put Reading First: the Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read.”
Categorizing Phonemes
One of the phonemic skills that children should master is recognizing the word that does not belong in a group of words, e.g., can, cat, bat.(bat).
Pronounce several groups of three or four words. Emphasize each targeted sound: (/t/ tub, /r/ run, /t/ tug).
Ask students to say which word does not belong.
- tub run tug (run)
- sat pan sad (pan)
- mad man cap (cap)
- catch patch back (back)
- tall small sell (sell)
Put a toy cat, a can, and a bag in a box. Ask a child to pull one object out of the box and tell what it is. Have the class make the beginning sound /c/ several times. Continue with the other two objects in the same way. Ask which object does not belong with the others (bag).
Do the same activity using a toy bug, mug, and a cup. This time emphasize that the odd sound in the group is the ending sound.
Make several sets of index cards with pictures that begin with different sounds. Place the cards in plastic bags. Use a different beginning sound for each set, and include at least one picture in each set that begins with a different sound. Have students work in groups to put all the pictures that begin with the same sound together, leaving the odd one out.
Repeat the previous activity stressing ending sounds.
Assessing Phoneme Awareness
Before teachers begin to teach letter recognition they should make sure their students can distinguish the different sounds that make up words. Most children who have had many opportunities to develop their oral language and who have had many stories read to them will naturally recognize these sounds, or phonemes. However, teachers should assess their students’ awareness of phonemes and plan activities to teach them to students who haven’t learned the sounds.
Teachers can assess student progress by observing children as they participate in phoneme activities. They can also provide paper and pencil activities in which children match pictures with similar sounds. Teachers should provide extra help for children who are not making adequate progress in phoneme awareness.
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