Explanation of Phonological Awareness

1. Playing with
Words
Phonological Awareness
in Shared Reading & Interactive Writing
Susan Dee
K-5 Literacy Strategist
RSU 5 Freeport, Durham, Pownal

2. Phonological
Awareness
Phonemic
Awareness
Phonics

3. Phonological Awareness
awareness of many aspects of spoken
language
★ words within sentences
★ syllables within words
★ phonemes within syllables and words

4. Phonemic Awareness
awareness that words are made up of
individual sounds
★ sound matching
★ production of words with same sound
★ phoneme segmentation
★ phoneme blending
★ phoneme manipulation

5. Phonics
connection between a sounds and letters
★ decoding
★ sound/symbol correspondence
★ spelling patterns/rules

6. Phonological Awareness
ability to examine & manipulate language separate of meaning
Rhyme Number of Words in
Sentence Word Length Syllable
Segmentation
Phonemic Awareness
awareness that words are made up of individual
phonemes & ability to manipulate those sounds
Recognize word
pairs
Give word to
complete word
pair
Produce a set of
words
Segment word
into parts
Delete a syllable
of a word
Sound Matching Produce words
with same sound
Phoneme
Segmentation Phoneme Blending Phoneme
Manipulation
initial
end
medial
initial
end
medial
onset & rime
simple single syllable
advanced (c-c-v-c-c)
2 phonemes (c-v, v-c)
3 phonemes
advanced (c-c-v-c-c)
deletion/substitution of:
initial sound
blends
phoneme in a blend
final
medial

7. Children who were lacking phonological
awareness in 1st grade were more likely to
have reading difficulties in 4th grade.
Connie Juel, 1988
So why does it matter?

8. It’s not just a time filler...
Phonological Skill Correlation to Literacy
Sound Matching Hearing individual sounds and that sounds
occur in different positions is a precursor
to segmenting
Phoneme Segmentation Needed to able to spell correctly
Phoneme Blending/Manipulation Essential for later reading. It requires
child to process & recall a sequence of
sounds in the correct order and blend into
a word. Must be able to blend in order to
decode unfamiliar words
Letter/Sound Relationship Must understand how the alphabet is
used to represent the sounds that they
hear.

9. What it’s NOT...
➔ It’s not using print.
➔ It’s not doing abstract isolated skills.
➔ It’s not worksheets.
➔ It’s not drill & kill activities.

10. Phonological awareness should be a natural, functional
part of literacy experiences throughout the day.
It has the greatest impact when tied to authentic
reading and writing experiences.
● Read Aloud
● Shared Reading
● Strategy Groups
● Shared Writing
● Interactive Writing
● Independent Reading and Writing

11. Phonological Awareness & CCSS
RF.K.2 I can play with words, syllables, and sounds
RF.K2a I can tell you what words rhyme. I can make new
rhymes.
RF.K2b I can count, pronounce, blend & segment syllables in words.
RF.K2c I can break words apart.
RF.K2d I can change sounds to make new words

12. Phonics & CCSS
RF.K.3 I can decode words.
RF.K.3a I know my letter sounds.
RF.K.3b I know the two sounds a vowel makes.
RF.K.3c I can read words by sight.
RF.K.3d I can tell similar words apart by the sounds.
RF.K.4 I can read books on my own.