The Building Blocks of Literacy

Understanding the Connection Between Decoding and Comprehending

Book and Print Awareness Earliest building block of literacy – usually occurs between the ages of 3 and 5 (pre K and Kindergarten) Assessment of Book and Print Awareness is measured through something usually called a Concepts of Print (CAP) Assessment

PHONOLOGICAL AND PHONEMIC AWARENESS….

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS (Understanding that spoken language made up of words AND words made up of individual sounds- ability to distinguish units of sound auditorily) Concept of word Concept of word- reading is fun sentence- cut up and reorganize Syllables Phonemic Awareness Rhyme

PHONEMIC AWARENESS Deals with phonemes: smallest units of sound Common components of phonemic awareness using “cat” Initial/final sound (cat or cat) Onset and rime (/c/ and /at/) Blending and segmenting (/c/ + /at/ = /cat/)

Phonemic Awareness

Now, moving on…. PHONICS!!!

PHONICS refers to letter sound relationship in WRITTEN words (No eyes closed here) Recognizing and naming letters Letter/sound correspondence Long and short vowel sounds Different phoneme combinations, and their respective sounds “rat” vs. “rate”

Alphabetic Principle Part of Phonics The relationship between letters and their corresponding sounds identifying and naming alphabet letters understanding sound-symbol correspondences and spelling patterns using knowledge about these patterns to decode words Test yourself: What is the difference between phonemic awareness and phonics?

Phonics and the Alphabetic Principle

Test your skills… Phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, or phonics? You tell me! Pointing to the letter “B” and asking child what sound it makes PHONICS! Asking a student what words rhyme with “hat” PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS! Asking a student to identify the beginning sound in the word “short” PHONEMIC AWARENESS!