While reading this post, I thought of an interesting moment. One day in class, my kid, Ted, raised his hand and asked, ” Tr. Pei, how to spell head?” My intuition was “H-e-a-d
” My kid started questioning me, “Tr. Pei, “-ea- pronounced /i/”! Head is h [i] d, not h[ε]d! Hahahahahaha😂… kid, your sweet reaction impressed me. Theank you for arguing with me. I am glad that my teaching content stays alive in your brain and became part of your own knowledge. Then, the other day, he came to me and said Tr. Pei, T-E-D is going home!
What is Phonemic Awareness?
Phonemic awareness is the knowledge that spoken language is made up of sound units, called phonemes. This includes the ability to blend sounds, as well as isolate, segment, delete, add, and substitute phonemes within words. When students have phonemic awareness they can do these things with both spoken and written words.
Examples of phonemic awareness include:
- recognizing words that begin with the same sound
(“Run, Rake, and Risk all have /r/ at the beginning.”) - isolating and saying the first or last sound in a word
(“The beginning sound of bat is /b/.” “The ending sound of cat is /t/.”) - combining, or blending the separate sounds in a word to say the word
(“/t/, /a/, /g/ – tag.”) - breaking, or segmenting a word into its separate sounds
(“up – /u/, /p/.”)
Phonics vs. Phonemic Awareness
Phonics and Phonemic Awareness are two terms that are often confused or used interchangeably. While both components are essential for learning to read, they are not the same thing.
Phonemic awareness is oral and auditory. It focuses on the sounds in words. Phonics instruction is visual AND auditory. The focus of phonics instruction is letter-sound relationships, also known as phoneme-grapheme correspondence.
When you add graphemes to phonemic awareness lessons, it becomes a phonemic awareness lesson AND a phonics lesson at the same time. Studies have found that lessons like this, ones that integrate letters (graphemes) into phoneme instruction have a greater effect on phonemic awareness, decoding, and spelling than lessons that did not include graphemes.
When Should I Teach Phonemic Awareness?
Teaching phonemic awareness in small groups is most effective. It allows you to closely monitor student responses, provide positive, corrective feedback, and scaffold instruction as necessary. Whole group or one-on-one instruction was also found to be effective, just not as effective as small group instruction.
Phonemic Awareness Lesson Plans for Kindergarten and 1st Grade
Today I’m thrilled to share with you my Science of Reading-aligned Phonemic Lesson Plans for Kindergarten and First Grade students. These research-based lesson plans have EVERYTHING you need to bring effective phonemic awareness instruction to your small groups!
Let’s take a closer look at all that is included in these resources…
Phonemic Awareness Lesson Plans Aligned to a Scope and Sequence
With this resource, you’ll get lesson plans laid out in a weekly format.
Each lesson plan includes a warm-up for the target skill and three activities.
- Phoneme Segmenting: students practice breaking apart each word and identifying each phoneme
- Phoneme Blending: students hear a sequence of phonemes and put them together to identify the word
- Connecting Graphemes to Phonemes: students practice connecting the phonemes in a spoken word to the letters (graphemes) that represent those sounds.
Note that the kindergarten lessons do start a little differently. For the first couple of weeks, the lessons focus on letters. Students work on isolating beginning and ending sounds, as well as the visual skills using the grapheme cards.
Screener Assessments
We know assessment is a KEY component to providing effective, targeted small group instruction. With this resource, you’ll get a two-part screener for each unit that will identify whether each student can segment and blend phonemes, as well as a spelling inventory assessment that would be given whole-group. The assessments help you identify where in the scope and sequence you should begin your instruction and ensures your small group instruction is meeting the true needs of your students.
Class Data Tracker
The class data tracker is a place to record the skills your students have mastered in the scope and sequence. You will be able to see your entire class data at a glance. Use this information to create your small groups and ensure you are providing targeted instruction. It is also a helpful tool for discussing students’ progress at parent-teacher conferences, data meetings, and more! Simply enter the date as students become proficient with each skill to track the growth of your class.
Reference: https://mrswintersbliss.com/phonemic-awareness-lesson-plans-for-kindergarten-and-first-grade-students/?fbclid=IwAR1atGuk8xPOHQTHIDZUUQcXT_dx1E6uMos-UBRlVneyWxsw5F10C8CkmC0