This document discusses phonemic awareness and how it differs from phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify, manipulate, and blend phonemes, the smallest units of sound, in spoken words. It is an oral skill that predicts reading ability. The document provides examples of how to assess and teach phonemic awareness through direct instruction, small group activities, and phoneme manipulation games.

1. Joan Heinsohn, Molly Sherer, Kim Zieroth, Mary Bahe

2. What is Phonemic Awareness?
(PA)
The understanding, identifying,
and manipulation of how sounds
work in spoken words. (Put
Reading First, pg. 2).

3. • This is an oral/spoken not written skill
• These sounds are called phonemes
• These oral sounds/phonemes can be
combined to create spoken words

4. Wait a minute……
Is P h o n e m i c Aw are n e s s and
P h o n o lo g i c al
Aw are n e s s the same thing?
OR

5. What is Phonological Awareness?
(PoA)
The “identifying and manipulating larger
parts of spoken language, such as words,
syllables, and onsets and rimes, as well as
phonemes” (Put Reading First pg. 3).

6. Sub categories in POA-
• Rhymes – oral/spoken words
• Syllables – written words
• Onset – oral/spoken in syllables (words)
– A sound before the vowel (ex. Chow – ch (/ch/)
• Individual Phonemes (FA) – oral/spoken words

7. What about P h o n e m i c
Aw are n e s s and
Ph on ics

8. Phonemic Awareness Phonics
P H O N E M IC A W A R E N W S S P H O N IC S
Auditory Visual
Speech based Print based
Speech sounds to letters Letters have sounds
Phonemes Letter pronunciation
Letter & word
Phoneme discrimination
identification
Natural units of sounds Artificial code (alphabet)

9. Why do we teach/expose students to
PA?
“PA predicts reading ability.”
• Helps Children learn to read-
– Children need to hear the phonemes before they can
link them to graphemes- otherwise they will struggle
in reading
– Improve Comprehension through fluency, decoding,
and vocabulary
• Improves children’s spelling- through segmenting
words into phonemes

10. How do you know if a child struggles
with phonemic awareness?
• Cannot put words into groups using similar or dissimilar
sounds (cat, car, fur)
• Cannot separate or connect syllables (ti/ger)
• Cannot blend sounds into words (m-a-p)
• Cannot break words into segments (/p/ /a/ /t/)

12. T e a c h e r s n e e d t o b e a b le
t o s e le c t a s s e s s m e n t
me tho d s to ma tc h the
k in d s o f in f o r m a t io n t h e y
• Word Identification
w a nt.
• -DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills)
• *Initial Sounds Fluency
• Given individually
• Recognize & produce initial sound in an orally presented word
• * Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
• *Individual test
• *Measures ability to segment 3 or 4 phoneme words into their
individual
• phonemes fluently
• -Yopp Singer Phonemic Test (Also Spanish)
• *Rubber band Stretch to model segmentation

13. • Comprehension: Running records, response to literature or print,
reading conferences
• -QRI (Qualitative Reading Inventory)
• -DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills)
• -CELF (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals)
• Motivation: Shared reading, independent reading, read-alouds,
surveys,
• -CAP(Creative Assessment Packet)
• -Reading Self-Concept Scale
• Montoring Progress
• *Students should be assessed 2-3 times per year until goal
reached
• *Teacher monitor/record informally ( Ex.-student group chart with
point system)

14. How can we work on phonemic
awareness?
• Teach children to manipulate phonemes by using letters
– Teach letters (teach alongside of PA)
– Blending phonemes to create words
– Segmenting phonemes in words – spelling
• Focus on 1 – 2 phonemes manipulation, rather than several
types
– Research - Children who learn 1-2 types of manipulation of
phonemes make better gains in reading and spelling
• Manipulating Phonemes-
• Blending Phonemes –
• Segmenting Words –

15. How should we teach PA?
• Small Group Direct and Explicit Instruction-
– Feedback from teacher and classmates
• At Instructional level of students
• Skill Activities –
– Identifying Phonemes
• Guess the name game
– Categorize Phonemes
• Odd word out
• Who goes together

16. – Blend Phonemes to form words
• Guess the word game
– Segmenting words (C- first sound, last sounds, and
complete)
– Delete or add phonemes to form new words
• Change the name game
– Substituting phonemes to make new words
• Change the phoneme game