Phonological Awareness

“Phonological awareness is noticing the sounds of spoken language – beginning speech sounds and rhythms, rhyme and other sound similarities, and at the highest level, syllables and phonemes (the smallest units of speech) (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

“Children who are better at detecting and manipulating syllables, rhymes, or phonemes are quicker to learn to read” (Lonigan, 2006).

Developing the ability to hear and distinguish sounds in word endings will assist children in building their phonological awareness. Activities that encourage listening to and repeating rhyming sounds foster a child’s phonological awareness which is foundational to reading and writing. Singing rhymes at every opportunity will reinforce the child’s ability to hear and identify the rhyming sounds in words.

Recommended Reading

Duck in the Truck, Alborough, J.
Where’s My Teddy? Alborough, J.
Can You Make a Piggy Giggle? Ashman, L.
Madeline, Bemelmans, L.
Sleepy ABC, Brown, M. W.
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? Carlstrom, N. W.
The Neighborhood Mother Goose, Crews, N.
Alphabears, Hague, K.
Roar and More, Kushkin, K.
The Wheels on the Bus, Kovalski, M.
Kermit the Hermit, Peet, B.
Down by the Bay, Raffi
Hop on Pop, Seuss, Dr.
Fox in Socks, Seuss, Dr.
Green Eggs and Ham, Seuss, Dr.
A Giraffe and a Half, Silverstein, S.
This is the House That Was Tidy and Neat, Sloat, T.
The Napping House, Wood, A.

About The Author
Recommended Web Sites
References

A Big, Bright, Beautiful Full Moon Presents a Teachable Moment for Parents and Caregivers of Prekindergarten Children to Learn About the Moon and Phonological Awareness!

Carving Pumpkins, Singing Songs and Phonological Awareness Become a Teachable Moment in Our Surroundings

Activities

Reading Dr. Seuss and singing Mother Goose rhymes are excellent ways for children to hear repetitive and rhyming sounds in words.

In Dr. Seuss’, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, the word fish is repeated several times and the beginning sound (onset) of fish /f/ will be easily identified. Seuss uses rhyme throughout with rhyming words such as star, car, and are, and sad, glad, bad, and dad. Hearing and saying these rhyming words repeatedly develop a young child’s awareness to sounds in words.

In Mother Goose rhymes such as: Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John, Went to bed with his trousers on; One shoe off, and one shoe on, diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John – rhyming words John and on are easy to hear in this favorite Mother Goose rhyme.

Listening to the rhyming words and repeating them aloud will reinforce a child’s phonological awareness.

The child soon acquires the ability to identify rhyming words and create their own rhymes. For example, the adult may introduce a word and the child responds with a rhyming word.