1. Phonological Awareness
Ability to identify and manipulate oral sounds and segments in spoken language that are separate from word meaning
Phonological awareness refers to a wide range of understandings that lead to abilities to identify and manipulate the parts of spoken language: words, syllables, onsets-rimes, and phonemes. This acoustic awareness refers specifically to the ability to identify and manipulate oral sounds. Popular children’s chants and repetitions, like “eeny, meeny,miny mo”, represent oral rehearsals in which sound structures are organized and manipulated to produce utterances that have no specific meaning. Research is conclusive that phonological awareness is a critical pre-reading skill that can be taught explicitly in the context of oral (spoken) language.
Refer participants to booklet: Put Reading First – The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read, Page 3 – Phonological Awareness Chart
Call attention to the four sections of Phonological Awareness – with Phonemic Awareness being the 4th section

2. Systematic Tasks for Developing Phonological Awareness
Strategy 1: Hear Rhymes
Strategy 2: Hear Similarities
Strategy 3: Hear Differences
Strategy 4: Hear Alliteration
Strategy 5: Hear Intonation
Strategy 6: Hear Syllables
Children that require instruction to master important phonological awareness skills can benefit from practice exercises that build competency in the six phonological awareness tasks. Educators that present active, oral language experiences and follow up with practice exercises that replicate the six systematic assessment strategies will guide students toward development of the phonological awareness skills that are prerequisite to reading attainment.

3. Click to visit the Nursery Rhyme website.
Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie, Running through the town, Upstairs and downstairs in his night gown. Rapping at the window, Crying through the lock. Are all the children in their beds? It’s past eight o’clock!
Click to visit the Nursery Rhyme website.
Children across time and cultures respond to songs and rhymes that accompany dance, games, and finger play. It is now understood that children with abundant language experiences often develop phonological awareness, an essential pre-reading skill, long before school age. For students who enter school without this experience and understanding, songs and rhymes offer rich context for assessment and practice with phonological awareness tasks. This does not mean exposing them to the print version. All of the skills of phonological awareness are learned through aural activities. Through the playful oral language experiences provided by songs and rhymes, children can be taught that spoken language is comprised of a series of small sounds that can be isolated and maneuvered to make new sounds, new structures, and new language patterns. On the next slides, six research-based tasks for assessment of phonological awareness are presented. This assessment follows playful, instructive, oral activities with a familiar song or rhyme.

4. Which words rhyme? town, gown, lock Strategy 1: Hear Rhymes Listen:
If you have a student that you suspect does not have the phonological awareness skills necessary to learn to read, you may use the following slides to assess and then plan instruction for such students.
Strategy 1: Hear Rhymes
Some children require explicit instruction in listening for and attending to rhyming words in aural language. In this exercise the student will:
Listen to a familiar poem as many times as is necessary for the student to become very familiar with the words (make sure that vocabulary issues do not cloud the results of a phonological awareness assessment);
Listen to familiar words drawn from the poem;
Hear common rimes in familiar words;
Identify words with common rimes as rhyming words.
Which words rhyme?
town, gown, lock

5. Which words are the same? upstairs, downstairs, upstairs
Strategy 2: Hear Similarities
Listen:
Strategy 2: Hear Similarities
Some children require explicit instruction in listening for and attending to the similar sounds and sound segments in aural language. In this exercise the student will:
Listen to a familiar poem (as many times as you believe necessary to familiarize the student with the vocabulary within the poem);
Listen to familiar words drawn from the poem;
Hear similar words;
Identify similar words presented in a series.
Which words are the same?
upstairs, downstairs, upstairs

6. Which word is different?
Strategy 3: Hear Differences
Listen:
Strategy 3: Hear Differences
Some children require explicit instruction in listening for and attending to the differences in sounds and sound segments in aural language. In this exercise the student will:
Listen to a familiar poem as many times as necessary;
Listen to familiar words drawn from the poem;
Hear differences in words;
Identify a different word presented in a series.
Which word is different?
lock, lock, o’clock

7. What is the same in each word? Wee Willie Winkie
Strategy 4: Hear Alliteration
Listen:
Strategy 4: Hear Alliteration
Some children require explicit instruction in listening for and attending to alliteration, or repeated sounds in aural language. In this exercise the student will:
Listen to a familiar poem as many times as necessary;
Listen to familiar words drawn from the poem;
Listen to repetition of common beginning sound patterns;
Hear repetitive common beginning sounds;
Identify repetitive common beginning sounds.
What is the same in each word? Wee Willie Winkie

8. What words sound different? Are all the children in their beds?
Strategy 5: Hear Intonations
Listen:
Strategy 5: Hear Intonations
Some children require explicit instruction in listening for and attending to the intonations in aural language. Common intonations include cadence, tone, and inflection. In this exercise the student will identify inflection (variation in tone):
Listen to a familiar poem as many times as is necessary;
Listen to a familiar phrase drawn from the poem;
Hear variation in the tone of the speaker. Speaker exaggerates “eight o’clock”.
Are all the children in their beds? It’s past eight o’clock.
Identify the words that have a different tone, or inflection.
What words sound different?
Are all the children in their beds?
It’s past eight o’clock !

9. clap clap-clap clap-clap
Strategy 6: Hear Syllables
Listen:
Strategy 6: Hear Syllables
Some children require explicit instruction in listening for and attending to word parts (segments), or syllables, in aural language. In this exercise the student will:
Listen to a familiar poem as many times as is necessary for the student to become familiar with all of the vocabulary within the poem;
Listen to a familiar phrase drawn from the poem;
Repeat and clap syllables in a familiar phrase;
How many word parts?
Wee Willie Winkie
clap clap-clap clap-clap

10. Ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the sounds in spoken words
Phonemic Awareness
Ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the sounds in spoken words
Students enter school with different phonemic awareness abilities. Some students internalize phonemic awareness through informal language experiences and do not require direct instruction in phonemic awareness. Some students require work with the more advanced phonemic awareness skills, while other students must be taught the most simple phonemic manipulations, including practice in hearing initial consonant sounds. If you believe that you have a student with specific instructional needs in the area of phonemic awareness, you may want to conduct an informal phonemic awareness assessment to identify students that require explicit instruction. You can use the following slides for such an assessment.

11. Systematic Tasks for Developing Phonemic Awareness
Strategy 1: Phoneme Isolation
Strategy 2: Phoneme Identity
Strategy 3: Phoneme Categorization
Strategy 4: Phoneme Blending
Strategy 5: Phoneme Segmentation
Strategy 6: Phoneme Deletion
Strategy 7: Phoneme Addition
Strategy 8: Phoneme Substitution
Research cites gains in phonemic awareness following 15 minutes of instruction and practice each day over a week period.
Students with identified need for instruction in phonemic awareness will benefit from a variety of interventions in which students practice phonemic awareness strategies in multiple contexts including:
1.) Oral participation in group songs, finger play, and rhyming stories;
2.) Oral "echo reading" in connected text with short, phonetically controlled reading passages;
3.) Oral practice spelling words with the same rime or spelling pattern; and
4.) Individual practice using computer software in a monitored, multi-sensory and interactive environment. Computer practice responds to a student's identified learning needs and, therefore, should be customized to ensure that students practice appropriate skills.
The eight research-based strategies for developing phonemic awareness are listed on Slide 11.

12. I wonder why the cat is so fat?
Look at the cat!
The scientific research on phonemic awareness affirms that students can be taught to hear the sounds in spoken words and subsequently to think about and orally distinguish individual sounds (phonemes) in oral language. The ability to isolate and identify specific phonemes prepares students to maneuver (delete, add, substitute, blend, and segment) sounds and syllables to form new syllables, words, and non-words. This powerful pre-reading skill prepares emergent readers to meaningfully associate sounds (phonemes) with letters (graphemes) and to use these sound-symbol associations to read and write authentic words with intent to convey meaning.
I wonder why the cat is so fat?

13. Strategy 1: Phoneme Isolation
Listen:
The scientific research on phonemic awareness affirms that students can be taught to hear the sounds in spoken words and subsequently to think about and orally distinguish individual sounds (phonemes) in oral language. The following slides are examples of ways to assess your students to see if they are lacking in phonemic awareness skills.
What is the first sound in cat?

14. Strategy 2: Phoneme Identification
Listen:
What sound is the same in cat, car, and come?

15. Strategy 3: Phoneme Categorization
Listen:
cap cat mat
Which word does not belong?

16. Strategy 4: Phoneme Blending
Listen:
What is this word?
/k/ /a/ /t/

17. Strategy 5: Phoneme Segmentation
Listen:
How many sounds in mat?

18. Strategy 6: Phoneme Deletion
Listen:
What is cat without /k/?

19. Strategy 7: Phoneme Addition
Listen:
When instruction in the alphabetic principle (sound-sound correspondence) is included in phonemic awareness instruction, explicit connections between phonemic awareness, reading, writing and spelling can be made. For example: You have just made the word rat. Now, we will write the sounds in rat. Write /r/. Write /a/. Write /t/.
What is the word if you add /r/ to the start of /at/?

20. Strategy 8: Phoneme Substitution
Listen:
Remember that if you do need to address phonemic awareness with a small group or an individual, then you will plan activities that are strictly aural in nature.
The word is hat.
Change the /h/ in hat to /f/.

21. Explicit Systematic Phonics
Direct, sequential teaching of the relationship between the sounds of spoken language (phonemes) and the symbols of written language (graphemes)
English is an alphabetic language in which the sounds of spoken language are represented by alphabetic symbols that constitute written language. To make sense of sound-letter relationships, the learner must establish connections between the sounds in speech and the written symbols on a page. In phonics instruction, the learner’s attention is focused on the phonemes (sounds) that make up spoken words and the graphemes (letters) that make up written words.

22. Phonics Learning Sequence
3rd
Phonemic Awareness Phonological Awareness
Alphabetic Principle
Consonants
Short Vowels CVC, CCVCC
Long Vowels CVCe, CVVC,CCVCC
R-controlled Vowels
Consonant Blends and Digraphs
Vowel Diphthongs, Digraphs
Multi-syllable Words
Phonics Learning Sequence
2nd
1st K
Pre-K
Systematic phonics programs present instruction in sound-letter associations in a defined, pre-determined and predictable sequence. Explicit programs provide scripted text for use by teachers as an instructional guide. The particular system presented here is the Orton-Gillingham method of phonics instruction. There are other systematic programs. As long as the program moves along a continuum of skills, then the program is systematic.
Used with Permission: Educator Preparation for Achievement in Reading (2004) Lexia Learning Systems, Lincoln, MA

23. Phonics Learning Sequence
Pre-Kindergarten
Attend to rhyme, rhythm, and repetition in spoken language.
Hear beginning/common sounds.
Begin to map sounds to letters.
Phonics Learning Sequence
Instructor prompts pre-K teachers to stand. We have already ascertained that without the phonemic awareness piece, students will not read. Pre-K teachers must help all students meet the phonological awareness objectives.
Slide 3 presents sample learning outcomes that can reasonably be expected by the end of pre-kindergarten. An example of an oral phonemic awareness strategy that can be used effectively in pre-kindergarten calls for attention to hearing common beginning sounds.
Instructor asks: “Which word starts like your name: M-m-m-ary? Listen carefully.”
Instructor names pictures: “f-f-f-an”, “m-m-m-onkey”
Which word
starts like
your name?
Used with Permission: Educator Preparation for Achievement in Reading (2004) Lexia Learning Systems, Lincoln, MA

24. Kindergarten Phonics Learning Sequence Decode and spell CVC words.
Associate sounds-symbols.
Recognize sounds as same or different.
Recognize and produce rhyming words.
Blend phonemes and onset-rime.
Segment and count phonemes in words.
The instructor prompts Kindergarten teachers to stand. Notice that systematic phonics instruction increasingly connects sounds with letters. Total dependence on pictures to communicate sound decreases.
Slide 4 presents sample learning outcomes that can reasonably be expected by the end of kindergarten.
The research findings of the 2000 National Reading Panel imply that formal instruction in explicit, systematic phonics should begin in kindergarten. It is now accepted that five-year olds can be expected to develop significant abilities in phonological awareness and in phonics.
Phonics Learning
Sequence
Used with Permission: Educator Preparation for Achievement in Reading (2004) Lexia Learning Systems, Lincoln, MA

25. Phonics Learning Sequence
First Grade
Identify consonant blends.
Decode, spell CVC/CCVCC words.
Phonics Learning Sequence
Decode, spell CVCe/CVVC words.
Make 2 syllable compound words.
Instructor prompts first grade teachers to stand. Look at all the parts the first grade teacher is responsible for teaching. First grade must bring a student through the continuum of short vowels, long vowels, consonant blends and digraphs, and compound words; essentially, the first grade teacher must start and finish phonics. This is why it is so important for the pre-K and Kindergarten teachers to get done with finger plays and songs—first grade teachers do not have time for this. First grade teachers must focus on the code.
The 2000 National Reading Panel suggests that formal instruction in explicit, systematic phonics can be completed by the end of the First Grade. The learning sequence provided in this example concludes basic phonics instruction toward the end of the First Grade
Used with Permission: Educator Preparation for Achievement in Reading (2004) Lexia Learning Systems, Lincoln, MA

26. Phonics Learning Sequence
Second Grade
Decode, spell words with vowel patterns: digraphs/ dipthongs/ r-controlled.
Phonics Learning Sequence
Spell consonant blends, digraphs.
Decode, spell multi-syllable words.
Instructor prompts second and third teachers to stand. Your job is fluency and confirmation and irregular phonics. You have two years to confirm phonics and prepare students to get ready for the next stage of reading which is reading to learn instead of learning to read.
The 2000 National Reading Panel suggests that Second Grade instruction focus on specific exceptions to standard consonant and vowel pronunciation rules and conventions.
Instructor requires application: Explain why sp-ear does not follow the CVVC rule? ( The “r” controls the vowels, making the /ir/ sound.
Used with Permission: Educator Preparation for Achievement in Reading (2004) Lexia Learning Systems, Lincoln, MA

27. Phonics Learning Sequence
Third Grade
Apply knowledge of phonics to spell unfamiliar words.
Apply knowledge of phonics to automatically decode unfamiliar words in a variety of literary forms.
Third grade teachers continue to confirm phonics and add multi-syllable words to the phonics rules the students already know.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 establishes a national goal: “All children can read by the end of the third grade.” For this goal to become reality, all students must master the ability to apply knowledge of phonics to decode unfamiliar text by the end of the third grade. Pre-K – Second grade must do their job in order for all students to be successful in the third grade
An example of a systematic phonics strategy that can be used effectively in the Third Grade requires decoding of multi-syllable non-words, a skill that requires the highest level of applied alphabetic and phonetic knowledge.
Phonics Learning Sequence
Used with Permission: Educator Preparation for Achievement in Reading (2004) Lexia Learning Systems, Lincoln, MA

28. Explicit Systematic Phonics
Direct, sequential teaching of the relationship between the sounds of spoken language (phonemes) and the symbols of written language (graphemes)
English is an alphabetic language in which the sounds of spoken language are represented by alphabetic symbols that constitute written language. To make sense of sound-letter relationships, the learner must establish connections between the sounds in speech and the written symbols on a page. In phonics instruction, the learner’s attention is focused on the phonemes (sounds) that make up spoken words and the graphemes (letters) that make up written words.