{"id":23546,"date":"2023-01-18T11:18:34","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T23:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kamiapp.com\/?p=23546"},"modified":"2023-02-07T10:14:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T22:14:35","slug":"phonological-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.kamiapp.com\/blog\/phonological-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"Boost Your Students\u2019 Reading Skills with Phonological Awareness Activities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Phonological<\/a> awareness is the first step in learning about words and sounds and is crucial for developing good literacy skills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most children develop phonological awareness skills from birth through the first five years. The most complex stage is phonemic awareness skills<\/a> which are the ability to hear individual letter sounds and use them to form spoken words. Learn about the differences between Phonological Awareness vs Phonemic Awareness here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good awareness of word and letter sounds is essential for reading success. Children with dyslexia<\/a> often show signs in early childhood when they struggle with spoken words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if you teach pre-k, kindergarten, or first-grade students, lots of your teaching should be focused on these elements of speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five phonological awareness activities to help children differentiate between sounds and word structures<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Here are our favorite ideas and teaching tips for improving phonological awareness skills in a fun way. They will help students learn about breaking a sentence into words, word structures including syllables and onset-rimes (the vowels and consonant sounds that make up a word), and later, individual phonemes<\/a>, including beginning sounds, middle sounds, and ending sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember that phonological awareness is all about the spoken word. Connecting individual sounds to written letters comes later with phonics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read aloud to your class<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Reading is one of the best ways to start children on the path to learning word and letter sounds, which help develop their reading skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choose books and poems that rhyme, like Juia Donaldson<\/a>\u2019s The Gruffalo<\/em><\/a>, or texts with lots of alliteration or repeated words like One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish<\/em><\/a> so that you can emphasize the rhyme or repetition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use funny ways of talking<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Because phonological awareness focuses on the sounds of words, it\u2019s always a good idea to get children to speak when you are learning these skills. One way of doing this is funny talking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you are emphasizing certain sounds, talk very slowly and draw out the sound. This is particularly good for initial sounds and final sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also try talking like a robot in a very staccato way to emphasize the different syllables of a word. The key is to embrace humor as a way of making these sounds more memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use music and rhythm<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Singing or clapping is an excellent hands-on way of teaching young children phonological concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sing rhyming songs or songs which feature repetition. Children may already know some of these songs or nursery rhymes like Humpty Dumpty<\/em><\/a> or Five Little Monkeys<\/em><\/a> from daycare or at home, so the words may be familiar. Emphasize the words that rhyme as you read them aloud or sing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also use rhythm to aid syllable counting by asking children to clap out the syllables of a word as they say it aloud. You could start with the student\u2019s own name to teach them how many syllables it has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Play word and sound games<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everyone knows that learning is more fun when it\u2019s a game, especially for younger students. So using word and rhyming games can be a great way of teaching phonological awareness. Here are some classic games for you to try:<\/p>\n\n\n\n