Phonemic Awareness

ONSET RIME LEVEL:

Blending- "I am going to say two-word parts and I want you to put them back together to solve the mystery word" /c/ /at/. The word is cat!

Segmenting- "I am going to say a word and I want you to separate it into two-word parts. Are you ready?" /bag/ The student responds /b/ /ag/.

INDIVIDUAL PHONEME LEVEL:

Once students are able to understand the onset-rime level of phonemes, it is time to move to the individual phoneme level. Here are some examples. 

Blending- "I am going to say three-word parts (sounds) and I want you to put them back together to solve the mystery word" /c/ /a/ /t/. The word is cat!

Segmenting- "I am going to say a word and I want you to sound it out by saying each sound in the word. Are you ready?" bag. Student responds /b/ /a/ /g/.

Phoneme Deletion: Say /stop/ now say stop again but without the /s/ (top)

Phoneme Addition: Say /tone/ now say tone again but this time add the /s/ sound at the beginning (stone)

Phoneme Manipulation: Say /rose/ now say it again but instead of /r/ at the beginning say /n/ (nose)

What is Phonemic Awareness?

Is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the smallest units of spoken sound. This involves skills such as blending, segmenting, and manipulation. New research indicates that the two most important skills are blending and segmenting. Which makes sense when you think about it. Right? In order to be successful readers and writers, students should have the ability to blend and segment phonemes. 

When students are first learning this skill, it may be difficult for them to hear individual sounds. Therefore, you may want to start at the onset-rime level. This helps break the words into bigger chunks that are easier to hear. The onset is the first sound and the rime is the rest of the word.