I'm back - this time to talk about phonemic awareness, a skill that your kindergarteners have been developing in their classrooms. So, what in the world is phonemic awareness? It is the ability to identify, hear, and work with the smallest units of sound known as phonemes. For example, the ability to recognize rhyming words; to detect syllables; to blend individual phonemes into a word; to identify beginning, middle and ending sounds of a word; to count the number of phonemes in a word; to segment a word into its individual phonemes; to substitute phonemes in a word and to omit phonemes in a word. It is essential in learning to read because letters represent sounds or phonemes, and it is a strong predictor of reading success.
So you may now be wondering how you can help your children develop their phonemic awareness. Let's start with rhyming and detecting syllables. Here are some activities, most of which can be done just about anytime and just about anywhere.
1. Say a word and ask your child to think of rhyming words. Say, "ball" and help your child come up with words like small, wall, hall, etc.
2. Read rhyming books. Just think of all of those classic Dr. Seuss books! After you read, go through the book together to find rhyming words.
3. Sing or say nursery rhymes. At the end of each nursery rhyme, ask your child to identity the rhyming words.
4. Say a word, and ask your child to repeat it and clap out the syllables. How many syllables does each word have? Be sure to mix it up and use some one syllable words and some multi-syllable words.
