Are you wondering what the most effective strategies for teaching phonemic awareness are? Phonemic awareness is such a vital skill our kindergarten students need to master. If you want your students to reach their reading benchmarks and have success learning to read and write, you need to know the best strategies for teaching this foundational literacy skill.

Recent research like that found in the Science of Reading has shown that strong phonemic awareness skills lay the foundation for kids to successfully read and write. So, if you are wondering what phonemic awareness is and how to effectively teach it, this blog post is for you.

I want you to feel confident in your abilities to not only teach phonemic awareness to your students but to also know that this is an important skill that is worth investing your teaching time on. At the start of the school year, I spend weeks teaching phonological awareness. Sometimes I feel the pressure to move on, but year after year, I have found that laying the groundwork pays off big time.

What is the Difference Between Phonemic Awareness and Phonological Awareness?

Well, yes. These two terms are often confused. Phonological awareness is the ability to recognise and manipulate the spoken parts of words. The levels of phonological awareness skills are, from simplest to most complex: syllables, onset–rime, and phonemes.

Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It is about sounds and not letters.

Phonemic awareness and phonological awareness are both important concepts related to understanding and manipulating sounds in language, so it is worthwhile to get really clear on their differences.

Phonological Awareness: Phonological awareness refers to a broader umbrella term that encompasses a range of skills related to recognising and manipulating the sounds of language. It involves the ability to

detect, discriminate, and manipulate units of sounds within words and various components of oral language.
it includes compound words, syllables, rhymes, onset and rime, and individual phonemes (sounds).

Phonological awareness refers to the ability to recognise and manipulate the spoken parts of sentences and words. Some examples of phonological awareness tasks include

breaking down sentences into individual words
identifying syllables in words
identifying words with the same beginning sound
recognising words that rhyme
blending and segmenting onset and rimes.

The most advanced and final stage of this skill is known as phonemic awareness.

Phonemic Awareness: Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness and focuses specifically on the ability to identify and manipulate individual phonemes in spoken words. It involves recognising and understanding that words are made up of a sequence of distinct sounds (phonemes) and being able to manipulate those sounds.

🔆 When you see / / around a letter, it refers to the letter sound, not the name of the letter.

Phonemic awareness skills include tasks such as

blending (combining individual sounds to form a word, like /c/ /a/ /t/ to make cat)
segmenting (separating a word into its individual sounds, like cat pulled apart makes /c/ /a/ /t/)
deleting or substituting phonemes within words
identifying the position of a specific sound in a word (beginning, middle, or end)

The Key Take Aways: Phonological awareness encompasses a broader range of skills related to the awareness and manipulation of sounds in language, while phonemic awareness specifically focuses on the ability to identify and manipulate individual phonemes within words.

Phonological awareness refers to oral language. It is about sounds and not letters or written words.

In this blog post, we will be looking at 10 Effective Strategies for Teaching Phonemic Awareness.

It is important you know that the phonemic awareness strategies in this blog post work. They have been tried and tested in my classroom for many years. There’s also heaps of research now that backs up these early literacy strategies. Rest assured, phonological awareness, concepts of print, and phonemic awareness are all worth your time and energy.

Now, before we dive into the strategies, let’s see exactly what phonemic awareness is and why it is so important.

What is Phonemic Awareness?

So, what exactly is phonemic awareness? Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds, or phonemes, in words. And trust me, mastering phonemic awareness is no small feat for our little learners.

Phonemic awareness comes under the broader umbrella of Phonological Awareness. Phonological awareness activities encompass other speech sounds like syllables, alliteration, and rhyme.

Phonemic awareness is the beginning of phonics. In phonics, children need to match speech sounds (phonemes) to alphabet letters (graphemes). Phonemic awareness is all about the sounds in oral language, and phonics is all about the sounds in print.

Phonemic awareness is only one stepping stone on the path to reading and writing success, but it is a crucial one. It is a critical pre-reading skill that allows individuals to recognise and work with the smallest units of sound in our language.

Phonemic awareness goes way beyond simply hearing and using individual phonemes. Most children have these basic phonemic awareness skills when they start school. They can talk and understand when others talk to them.

At school, phonemic awareness focuses specifically on the sounds that make up words. For example, being phonemically aware means understanding that the word cat consists of three distinct sounds: /k/a/t/. And that substituting the initial sound, for example, to /b/, will give you a new word, bat. It involves being able to hear, isolate, blend, segment, and manipulate phonemes in various word contexts.

This skill is vital in developing strong reading and spelling abilities. Phonemic awareness lays the foundation for children learning phonics, which is the connection between letters and their corresponding sounds. By developing phonemic awareness, your students will become proficient in decoding words, recognising language patterns, and understanding the relationships between sounds and letters.

Why is Phonemic Awareness Important?

I know phonemic awareness is extremely important because I have seen first-hand how it influenced my student’s abilities to learn the basic literacy skills we teach in kindergarten and grade one. All that time invested in building our phonological awareness and, more specifically, our phonemic awareness skills in these early years of schooling built the foundation for many pre-reading and pre-writing skills.

When I saw other kindergarten classes starting formal reading and writing lessons, I used to worry that I was wasting valuable teaching time. My fears were forgotten when I saw how quickly and easily my students picked up phonics, decoding, and phonetic spelling.

Phonemic awareness will help your students develop and learn:

Decoding Skills: Decoding is the ability to match sounds (phonemes) to letters (graphemes) and then blend these sounds to form words. Phonemic awareness provides the groundwork for decoding skills because it helps early readers to recognise and manipulate individual phonemes.

Your students need phonemic awareness if you want them to be able to decode unfamiliar words and sound out words they come across when they are reading.

For example, blending the sounds /c/ /a/ /t/ into the word cat is an example of a phonemic awareness task. If students can blend the word, they can then read the word.

Decoding skills are essential for building reading fluency and reading comprehension in your students too. The whole purpose of learning to read is comprehension, and it all starts with phonemic awareness and decoding.

Spelling Proficiency: When students are aware of the individual sounds in words, they can transfer that knowledge to spelling. Phonemic awareness activities will help your students to understand the relationship between sounds and letters.

For example, segmenting the word cat into the sounds /c/ /a/ /t/ is an example of a phonemic awareness task. If students can segment the word, they can then spell the word.

Kids need to be able to map phonemes to corresponding letters or letter combinations if they are going to have any chance of accurately spelling words. Strong phonemic awareness supports spelling proficiency and reduces the old reliance on rote memorisation.

Vocabulary Development: Phonemic awareness can help develop children’s vocabulary. It can help students break down new words into phonemes so that they can more easily recognise and remember them. The ability to manipulate sounds in words helps expand a young child’s vocabulary and can promote word comprehension too.

Reading Comprehension: Phonemic awareness contributes to reading comprehension because it helps to build reading fluency. By mastering phonemic awareness skills, your students will be able to competently identify and distinguish the sounds that make up words, and that leads them to efficient word decoding. This in turn, will build reading fluency so that they can comprehend and derive meaning from the text.

Language Acquisition: Phonemic awareness is closely tied to language development. By engaging in activities that promote phonemic and word awareness, learners become more attuned to the sounds and nuances of spoken language. This heightened awareness enhances their overall language skills, including listening, speaking, and even understanding grammar.

Early Literacy Success: Phonemic awareness is considered a strong predictor of early literacy success. Research has consistently shown that children who possess solid phonemic awareness skills are more likely to become proficient readers and writers. By establishing a solid foundation in phonemic awareness, your students will be equipped to tackle the challenges of learning to read and write.

If explicit instruction in phonemic awareness is not provided, many students will not grasp the concept that words are made up of individual sounds. Instead, they may think that words are whole units that need to be memorised visually.

Although children naturally learn about language by listening to speech and words, they don’t naturally hear the individual sounds within words. When we speak, we don't make individual sounds. Instead, we blend the sounds together to make entire words. So, if we just jump straight into teaching letters and their sounds without any phonemic awareness instruction, our students may struggle to comprehend the logic behind phonics.

Phonemic awareness is like a gateway to unlocking the complexities of reading and writing for our little ones. Don’t worry that any phonemic awareness activity or lesson is going to be a waste of time. Know that it is in fact building the strong foundation your students need.

And it is all backed by research. Recent research on the Science of Reading supports teaching phonemic awareness to students learning to read and write.

Phonemic Awareness and The Science of Reading

The Science of Reading is a current body of research based on scientific evidence and findings that can inform and guide us as early childhood educators interested in effective reading instruction. The science of reading emphasises the importance of explicit, systematic, and structured literacy instruction to develop strong reading skills in our students.

Let’s have a look at some of the latest research and how it links to learning to read and phonemic awareness.

Phonemic awareness is a key component of the science of reading research. In fact, many recent studies consistently show that phonemic awareness plays a central role in learning to read.

Researchers have found a strong correlation between phonemic awareness and reading achievement. Did you know that phonemic awareness has been identified as one of the strongest predictors of reading success?

The science of reading research highlights the following key points regarding phonemic awareness:

Foundational Skill: Phonemic awareness is recognised as one of the foundational skills that children need to acquire before they can become proficient readers. It sets the stage for understanding the alphabetic principle, which is the understanding that letters represent sounds.
Phonics Instruction: Phonemic awareness is closely linked to phonics instruction, which involves explicit teaching of the relationship between letters and sounds. Effective phonics instruction relies on a student’s ability to manipulate and understand individual phonemes = phonemic awareness.
Early Intervention: Early intervention in phonemic awareness is critical for preventing reading difficulties and improving reading outcomes. If teachers identify and address phonemic awareness gaps in the early stages of literacy development, they can help remediate reading difficulties and provide a stronger foundation for a student’s future reading success.
Progression of Skills: In kindergarten, we should start teaching at the phonological awareness level (compound words, syllables, onset-rime) so students have the opportunity to blend, segment, and manipulate parts of words first before we have them do that same work with individual phonemes (phonemic awareness).
The Science of Reading research emphasises the importance of teaching a sequential progression of phonemic awareness skills too. Instruction should start with basic sound discrimination or phoneme isolation and progress to more complex skills like blending, segmenting, and, finally manipulating phonemes.
Differentiation: Assessment of phonemic awareness skills is essential for effective reading instruction. Assessing progress helps us identify both a student’s areas of strength and areas that need additional support.
Teachers should then provide differentiated literacy lessons that are tailored to meet the needs of their students. These literacy activities and lessons should include hands-on learning experiences that engage students to focus on sound discrimination, blending, segmenting, and manipulating phonemes.

Understanding of the importance of phonemic awareness in reading development is based on a significant body of Science of Reading research conducted over the years. Here are just a few key studies and sources that support the connection between phonemic awareness and reading:

National Reading Panel Report (2000): The National Reading Panel, convened by the U.S. Congress, conducted a comprehensive review of research on reading instruction. Their report highlighted phonemic awareness as one of the essential components of reading instruction and emphasised its strong correlation with reading achievement.

This report can be found on the official website of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Ehri et al., 2001: This study by Ehri and colleagues examined the relationship between phonemic awareness and reading skills in young children. The researchers found that phonemic awareness was a robust predictor of reading success and emphasised its critical role in early literacy development.
Adams, 1990: Marilyn Adams' influential work focused on the role of phonemic awareness in reading development. Her research demonstrated the significance of phonemic awareness as a foundational skill for reading and emphasised the need for explicit instruction in this area.
Phonemic Awareness in Young Children: A Classroom Curriculum by Marilyn J. Adams (1998) is a great book that provides practical ideas for teachers about implementing phonemic awareness instruction in the classroom. It includes classroom activities and strategies too.
Snow et al., 1998: In their report, "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children," Snow and colleagues emphasised the importance of early intervention in phonemic awareness to prevent reading difficulties and promote reading success.
And finally, Johnston and Watson, 2005: Johnston and Watson's research explored the impact of phonemic awareness instruction on reading outcomes. Their findings indicated that explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness positively influenced reading skills, particularly decoding and spelling abilities.

These studies, among so many others, all contribute to the extensive body of research supporting the crucial role of phonemic awareness in learning to read.

By explicitly teaching phonemic awareness skills, our students will gain a deeper understanding of language and literacy. The Science of Reading research explains the critical role phonemic awareness plays and gives us evidence-based support for the inclusion of explicit phonemic awareness instruction in our reading programs.

The Best Strategies for Teaching Phonemic Awareness

We now know exactly what phonemic awareness is, why it is so important in early literacy instruction, and what the Science of Reading research has to say about it. Time to dive into the 12 best strategies for teaching phonemic awareness in the early childhood classroom.

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 1: Single Sound Discrimination Activities

Sound discrimination activities are very important in a phonemic awareness program. They are often the first step to teaching phonemic awareness in kindergarten. Phonemic awareness activities should be designed to help your students develop the ability to distinguish and isolate different sounds in words.

Phoneme isolation is a skill where students hear and isolate a sound at the beginning, middle, and end of a word. They are often referred to as the initial, medial, and final sounds.

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 2: Blending Phonemes

Blending is a phonemic awareness strategy that directly relates to decoding. In these activities, students will hear individual sounds spoken aloud, and they will blend the sounds together to make a word. When you are teaching this strategy, you will make the sounds, and your students need to blend them into a whole word.

If you are looking for some fun phoneme blending activities, you will want to check out this blog post: Fun Phoneme Blending Activities - Build Phonemic Awareness

Sound blending is sometimes referred to as sound synthesis. Sound synthesis is an essential skill and one of the easier phonemic awareness skills to master. Research suggests that this important skill is related to later reading ability (Lewkowicz, 1980; Lundberg et al., 1988; Wagner, Torgeson, Laughon, Simmons, & Bashotte, 1993)

It is suggested we follow a particular sequence when teaching blending to our students:

Blend an initial sound onto the remainder of a word. For example, blend /sh/ onto /ark/ to make shark.
Blend syllables of a word together. For example, blend cat-er-pill-ar to make caterpillar.
Blend isolated phonemes to make a word. For example,/sh/ /o/ /p/ to make shop or /d/ /o/ /g/ to make dog.

At the start of the year, we love having some fun learning each other’s names, and this idea is a great way to sneak in a bit of blending practice while we are at it. At transition time, I will say, “I’m thinking of a friend to go out to lunch. Her name starts with /s/ and ends with/ally/.” As the children become better at blending onsets and rimes like this, we can move on to blending the single sounds /s/ /a/ /l/ /ee/

If you would like more of my tried and tested blending activities, don’t forget to check this blog post for ideas. You’ll discover effective strategies for teaching phoneme blending so your students will be decoding and blending sounds to make words in no time.

There are phoneme blending activities that cover modeling, multi-sensory approaches, gradual progression, and more!

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 3: Segmenting Phonemes

Segmenting phonemes is all about isolating the sounds in a spoken word by separately pronouncing each one in order. It is one of the more difficult phonemic awareness skills.

It is a phonemic awareness strategy that directly relates to encoding or spelling. When children learn to separate sounds, they will hear a whole word and then break it up into all the individual sounds they hear. When you are teaching this strategy, you will say a whole word, and your students need to segment the word into individual phonemes.

Sound Boxes or Elkonin boxes are often used by teachers to visually represent individual phonemes. You can draw the boxes or use templates. You just need to make sure you have a box to represent each sound.

For example, for the word cat, you would draw three boxes. A box each for /c/ /a/ /t/. If you were segmenting the word cow, you would only draw two boxes. A box for /c/ and another for /ow/. Remember, we are working with sounds and oral language and not print and letters, so don’t be tempted to write the graphemes in the boxes just yet. That will come later in your phonics lessons.

I say the word and then have the children point to each empty box while they segment the sounds. Of course, you can substitute the boxes for anything:

Magnets that slide on a magnetic board
Beads on a string
Balls of playdough the kids squash as they segment
Fingers tapped on the table

Lewkowicz (1980) suggested starting with isolated productions of initial phonemes before you move on to segmenting whole words. Then when your students are ready for word segmenting, start with short words (consonant-vowel) or CV words and vowel-consonant or VC words. Then progress onto (consonant-vowel-consonant) or CVC words like hat, dog, and rat. Next, you would segment CCVC and CCVCC words.

Also, start by segmenting out a word for the child and then have them repeat it back to you. When they are proficient at this, then have the child segment out a word for you. If they have difficulty doing this, try having them do the first or the last sound and then help him with the rest.

A SPECIAL NOTE: While it's important for young children to understand sounds in words and develop their phonemic awareness skills, they don't have to fully grasp it before you start teaching about letters and phonics.

Phonemic awareness continues to develop as children are exposed to language orally and in print.

To begin teaching, it's sufficient for students to be able to recognise the beginning sounds of words. Phonological awareness strategies involving phoneme manipulation and other literacy skills related to reading, writing, and spelling will all develop together. It’s a symbiotic relationship – they will all support each other's growth.

Phoneme manipulation is practiced by adding a phoneme, deleting a phoneme, or substituting a phoneme in spoken words.

Here are some examples of how we can manipulate phonemes for the word rat.

Blending Sounds – Putting the sounds together /r/ /a/ /t/ makes rat

Segmenting Sounds – Breaking apart the sounds rat into /r/ /a/ /t/
Adding Sounds – Adding /b/ to the beginning of rat makes brat
Deleting Sounds – Saying rat without /r/ is at
Substituting Sounds – If the word is rat. Change the /r/ to /m/ to make mat.

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 4: Phoneme Manipulation - Adding Phonemes

This strategy helps children develop their understanding of sounds in words. As the name suggests, they need to add a phoneme at the beginning of a sound in order to create a new word. For example, adding /s/ to at to make the new word sat.

Here's how you can introduce this strategy to your students:

Select a word family: Choose a word family, such as the -at family, which includes words like cat, hat, and mat.
Say the word family: Pronounce several words from the chosen word family and place an emphasis on the ending letter sounds, -at.
Introduce the new sound: Explain to the children that you will add a new sound at the beginning of the word to create a new word. For example, add the sound /s/ to -at to form the word sat.
Blend the sounds: Help the children blend the new sound /s/ with the rest of the word. When you say the new word sat, make sure to emphasise the added sound /s/. Have the children repeat the word, focusing on both the new sound and the original word family sound.
Practice with other word families: Repeat the process with different word families. Add a variety of sounds at the beginning to create new words. Encourage the children to listen carefully to the new sound and blend it with the existing word family sound to form the new word.

This type of activity will develop phonemic awareness strategies by helping children to recognise and manipulate the individual sounds within words. Adding phonemes is one of the easier phoneme manipulation skills.

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 5: Phoneme Manipulation -Deleting Phonemes

Sound deletion tasks are more difficult than other types of phoneme awareness tasks.

Cole and Mengler (1994) stated that it is not until a mental age of approximately 7 years that children are able to perform phoneme deletion tasks adequately. Lewkowicz (1980) suggested that sound deletion activities should be left until children exhibit some skill in segmentation and after letter names have been introduced.

Phoneme deletion of the middle sounds in words tends to put an unnecessary burden on young children's memory too. These types of activities should target only initial or final sounds in words.

Before you introduce the more difficult strategy of phoneme deletion, try introducing deleting parts of a word instead. Display pictures of objects that are compound words and demonstrate to your students how each word can be said with a part missing. For example, when you say seesaw without the see, it says saw.

Deleting a sound from a word becomes easier if you can build on previous practice with segmenting sounds. Play a game called Sound Take-away, where you demonstrate how to segment a word and then take away a part. For example, segment the word cup into /c/ and up. Then delete the initial /k/ sound from the word. “Say cup. Take away the /k/, and what is left?"

To help children identify missing sounds, you can play a fun guessing game called Secret Sound. To play, you say two words like meat and eat and then ask the kids to figure out what the secret missing sound is in the second word. You can give them clues if they get stuck, like "Listen: meat/eat. What's missing in eat that you can hear in meat?"

You can encourage the children to create their own secret sound words by using the phonograms on word family charts. For example, ask, "What's missing in an that you can hear in pan (man, ran, or can)?"

Using phonograms to find the missing sounds is easier because the ending part of the word stays the same. If you would like a set of word family charts, you can download a set of 55 Word Family Charts HERE.

55 Rhyming Word Family Posters

$4.50

Add To Cart

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 6: Phoneme Manipulation -Substituting Phonemes

When children have learned how to delete a phoneme, it isn’t that much more difficult for them to substitute the deleted sound with another phoneme. It’s like switching letters out to make new words.

Ask the children to tell you what would happen if you took away one sound and swapped it for another one. “ Say, bat. Take away the /b/ and put in a /f/ to make the new word…? fat

Once again, it would be handy to have these word family charts on hand. It will save you time trying to think of suitable words that allow you to swap out sounds and make new words that make sense. Of course, children love a bit of nonsense, so swapping out sounds to make nonsense words is always a good idea!

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 7: Incorporate Phonemic Awareness into Storytime

Interactive read-aloud strategies can be effective in promoting phonemic awareness, and if your kids are like mine, they love a good picture book!

Here are three ways you can incorporate phonemic awareness into storytime:

Sound Identification: During storytime, pause at specific points in the story and ask the kids to identify or guess the beginning, middle, or ending sound of any particular word. For example, you can say, In this sentence, the word is cat.
What sound do you hear at the beginning of the word cat?
This strategy helps develop sound discrimination skills and certainly reinforces phonemic awareness. It’s a quick and easy way to include some phonemic awareness into your day.
Sound Substitution: Select a book with repetitive text or rhyming patterns. While reading, intentionally substitute a phoneme in a word and ask your students to identify the new word or sound. For example, if the book says, The cat sat on the mat, you can read it again as The cat sat on the hat and ask the kids to identify the change. Then you can do a quick little lesson on phoneme substitution. “ Say, cat. Take away the /k/ and put in a /h/ to make the new word…? hat
Word Play and Manipulation: Choose a book that features wordplay, alliteration, or word families. During the read-aloud, emphasise the targeted sounds or word patterns. Ask your students to repeat words with specific sounds, identify rhyming words, or generate other words that belong to the same word family. This interactive approach fosters phonemic awareness by highlighting specific phonemes and encouraging learners to play with sounds and words.

Remember to create a supportive and engaging environment during the read-aloud session. Encourage your students to actively participate, ask questions, and make connections between the story and the targeted phonemic awareness skills. These interactive read-aloud strategies will develop your student’s phonemic awareness and won’t cut into your already jam-packed timetable.

Suggestions for selecting phonemically rich picture books for storytime.

When selecting phonemically rich books for your read-a-louds, think about the following suggestions:

Rhyming Text: Look for books with rhyming text that emphasise various phonemes. Rhymes help children develop an ear for sounds and support their phonemic awareness. Books by authors such as Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, or Mem Fox often contain engaging rhymes.
If you are looking for a comprehensive list of rhyming picture books, make sure to check out this blog post: 79 Rhyming Books for Kindergarten and Preschool

Alliteration and Sound Repetition: Source books that feature alliteration. That’s where words start with the same sound. This repetition helps children focus on specific sounds and reinforces phonemic awareness. Examples include Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy E. Shaw or Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle.

Wordplay and Manipulation: Choose books that play with sounds, word families, or phonetic patterns. Books like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault or Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin are two of my favourites that incorporate wordplay and phonetic elements. They are super fun read-a-louds too!
Phonics-based Series: Consider using phonics-based book series designed explicitly to support phonemic awareness and early reading skills. The Bob Books are a series I like. It is by Bobby Lynn Maslen. The Phonics Readers is another good series by Wiley Blevins.

These recommendations are just a starting point. There are many more books available that can support phonemic awareness development. Once you visit the library with a phonemic awareness eye, you’ll be walking away with your arms full!

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 8: Use Manipulatives and Visual Aids

Using manipulatives and visual aids can greatly enhance the reinforcement of phonemic awareness skills. Here are six examples of manipulatives and visual aids that I have found success with:

Objects or Pictures: Provide kids with objects or pictures of objects that represent the words you are studying. This hands-on approach helps young children connect sounds with prior knowledge and items they are already familiar with. And if they are not familiar with the items, they soon will be after working with real-life objects or their pictorial representations.
Phoneme Counting Chips or Tokens: Use small chips, counters, magnets, beads, blocks, or tokens to represent individual phonemes or sounds. Children can place the chips or tokens on a mat or in separate sections of elkonin boxes to help them count and manipulate sounds. This visual aid helps reinforce the concept of segmenting and blending sounds in words.
Sound Sliders: Create sliders from strips of cardboard so your students can have their own slide to blend or segment sounds as they hear the words. This visual and tactile aid provides a kinesthetic approach to their phonemic awareness practice.
Anchor Charts or Posters: Display anchor charts or posters that highlight specific phonemes in pictures. It is Ok to have some print on them but remember, phonemic awareness is about speaking and listening. Phonics is about written letters and words. Visual aids serve as reference tools and reminders for your students. Tools like these are worth having in the classroom. Your kids can refer to the charts during group work or independent work time.

Remember, there’s no use having these tools if you don’t use them, so make sure to provide explicit instruction and guidance on how to use the manipulatives and visual aids effectively. Using hands-on activities, games, or word-building exercises that involve these types of tools will help the learning stick.

They promote active engagement by encouraging kids to actively participate in the learning process.
They provide a multi-sensory experience by engaging multiple senses simultaneously, and we all know when kids can see, touch, and feel objects, that helps their understanding and memory retention.
The students will have a concrete representation of what can sometimes be abstract concepts.
Kinesthetic learning is often how young children learn best. Use movement and physical activity whenever you can.
Hands-on activities and games add an element of fun and excitement to the learning process. Kids are so much more likely to stay focused and motivated when they are actively involved and having fun.

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 9: Engage in Word and Sound Play

Word and sound play activities play a crucial role in developing phonemic awareness. As well as developing sound discrimination, phoneme segmentation, and the ability to blend sounds, word and sound play has other phonemic awareness benefits. Here are a few:

Vocabulary Expansion: Word and sound play activities provide opportunities for children to explore and expand their vocabulary. Through activities like word association games, word families, or alliteration exercises, children encounter new words and become more familiar with different phonetic patterns and sound relationships. This exposure to a variety of words and sounds supports vocabulary development and strengthens overall language skills.

Oral Language Skills: We all know how important oral language is in the early years classroom. Word and sound play activities foster oral language development. When children can engage in activities that involve wordplay, rhyme, or sound manipulation, they actively participate in oral communication. This active engagement helps them develop their oral language skills like articulation, phonological awareness, and expressive language abilities.

Engagement and Enjoyment: Word and sound play activities are just fun. These highly engaging ways to learn are often interactive and playful. The element of fun and engagement motivates children to actively participate and explore the sounds and patterns of language. This positive and enjoyable learning experience promotes a positive attitude toward language, reading, and literacy.

Word and sound play will help you to build a strong foundation for future learning.

Incorporating word and sound play into whole class and small group activities can make the learning experience interactive and enjoyable. Here are 2 suggestions for using word and sound play in your classroom:

Rhyme Relay: Divide the class into teams and set up a relay race with a rhyming twist. Prepare a set of pictures (or use real life objects) depicting rhyme (a toy cat and a hat, a clothes peg and the leg from a small doll).
Place the pictures or objects at one end of the room, and have one player from each team run to them, select two that rhyme, and bring them back to their team. The next player repeats the process until all the rhyming pairs have been collected. This activity encourages listening for rhyming words and promotes teamwork.
You could also play this game but target the initial or final sounds in words. If you would like an already curated list of easy-to-find rhyming objects, you can download a list HERE in my free resources library. Look for the Rhyming Basket download. It has a list of rhyming objects you are sure to have lying around your classroom, and there’s a heap of other ideas for using these objects to teach rhyming in this download.
Phoneme Scavenger Hunt: Hide objects or picture cards representing words with specific phonemes around your classroom or outdoor play area. Divide your class into teams and provide each team with a pictorial list of target phonemes. Tell the kids to find and collect only objects or cards that contain those target phonemes. The team that finds the most objects or cards within a set time wins.

Both of these word play games can be differentiated to suit the needs of your students and the phonemes you are targeting. You’ll be using movement, competition, and collaboration, and that’s going to enhance engagement and participation.

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 10: Provide Opportunities for Oral Language Development

I hope you already know how oral language development plays a critical role in supporting phonemic awareness. Here are just a few reasons why oral language development is soooo important for supporting phonemic awareness:

it exposes children to a rich variety of sounds
facilitates sound discrimination
promotes phoneme segmentation
strengthens auditory processing skills
expands the vocabulary
encourages language play

Creating a language-rich classroom environment is essential for promoting language development and supporting early literacy skills in preschool, kindergarten, and grade one. Here are my top 4 ideas that I think are must-haves if you want to create a language-rich classroom:

Read-Aloud Sessions: Regular read-aloud sessions are a powerful way to expose children to rich vocabulary, varied language structures, and engaging stories. Teachers should be reading a variety of picture books, and informational texts aloud to their students. It is important we model expressive reading, ask questions and promote literary discussions in our read-aloud sessions.
A text gives you the chance to pause and explain new words, ask comprehension questions, encourage predictions, and engage your students in discussions about the story or topic. This strategy fosters language acquisition, vocabulary development, comprehension skills, AND a love for reading.
Language-Rich Learning Centers: Set up learning centers, investigation areas or learning invitations that provide opportunities for language-rich interactions and hands-on exploration. For example, create a mark-making area where students can engage in pre-writing and drawing activities. Add a listening center to your space. Students can listen to audio recordings of stories.
Please set up a dramatic play area with props and materials that encourage role-playing and conversation. It really will boost your student’s oral language development.
By providing play-based learning areas like these, you will create an environment where children can engage in meaningful conversations, practice communication skills, and explore language in different contexts.
Vocabulary Building Activities: Integrate intentional vocabulary-building lessons into your daily routine. You can introduce and reinforce new vocabulary through picture walls, anchor charts, and interactive whiteboard activities. For example, display illustrated word walls with initial sound visuals (like alphabet charts but focus on the phonemes, not the letters), illustrated thematic vocabulary charts, or illustrated word families.
Start a Sound Wall: Unlike a word wall, where words are displayed by their beginning letter, a sound wall displays the 44 speech sounds and shows photographs of the mouth as it articulates a sound.

These types of activities not only expand vocabulary but also provide opportunities for using new words in context and fostering oral language development.

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 11: Scaffold Instruction and Provide Differentiated Support

When teaching phonemic awareness, it's important to provide differentiated instructional strategies and materials to scaffold instruction and meet the diverse needs of all your learners. Here are four ways you can do this:

Multi-Sensory Activities: Use multi-sensory activities that engage different modalities to support phonemic awareness instruction. For example, provide tactile manipulatives so your or students can physically move and arrange them when segmenting and blending phonemes.
Use visual aids, like picture charts and diagrams, to represent phonemic patterns and relationships.
Incorporate auditory elements by using sound clips, songs, wordplay, and rhymes to reinforce phonemic concepts. By using all the senses, your students can access and process phonemic awareness information in learning styles that best suit their needs.
Levelled Tasks or Activities: Differentiate instruction by providing levelled tasks or activities based on your student's individual abilities. For example, for students who struggle with phonemic segmentation, provide tasks with compound words or fewer phonemes to segment.
Gradually increase the complexity as they progress.
Offer a variety of worksheets, games, or tasks that target different phonemic awareness skills at varying levels of difficulty. This allows students to work at their own pace and ensures they receive appropriate support and challenges.
Small Group and Individual Instruction: I like to work with small groups for targeted literacy lessons. Conduct small group and individual instruction whenever you can.
You can group students based on their current level of phonemic awareness skills and design activities and lessons accordingly. If you can manage to do this, you’ll be able to provide explicit instruction, guided practice, and corrective feedback tailored to each student's needs. This personalised approach allows for more focused instruction, increased opportunities for participation, and individualised support.
Technology-Based Resources: Use technology-based resources and interactive tools if you can too. Every time I turn my big interactive panel on, it’s all eyes and ears from my students! There are various online programs, apps, and educational websites that offer engaging activities and games specifically designed to develop phonemic awareness skills. These resources often provide adaptive features, allowing students to progress at their own pace and receive immediate feedback too. Perfect for an independent literacy group rotation activity.

Phonemic Awareness Strategy 12: Continuously Assess and Provide Feedback

Yes – assessment had to be in here.

Assessing phonemic awareness is crucial if you want to discover areas of need. You can also use assessments to inform your planning and help you provide targeted instruction. Here is an overview of assessment tools and methods that you might like to use so you can continuously assess and provide feedback on your student’s phonemic awareness development:

Informal Observations: Conduct ongoing informal observations of students' phonemic awareness skills during everyday classroom activities. Observe students as they participate in discussions, engage in language-rich activities, and interact with their peers. Pay attention to their ability to recognise and produce rhymes, identify initial sounds in words, segment words into phonemes, blend sounds together, and manipulate phonemes. Take anecdotal notes to document their progress, strengths, and areas for improvement.

One-on-One Assessments: Administer one-on-one assessments to gather more specific information about your students' phonemic awareness abilities. Use standardized or teacher-created assessments that target different phonemic awareness skills. These assessments may include tasks like identifying rhyming words, completing onset-rime activities, or orally segmenting and blending sounds. Analyse students' responses to determine their level of mastery and areas where additional support is needed.

Progress Monitoring: Implement regular progress monitoring to track students' growth in phonemic awareness over time. Use short, targeted assessments or probes at regular intervals (weekly or monthly) to assess specific phonemic awareness skills. Progress monitoring data will help you identify students who may require additional intervention or differentiated instruction. It can be used to inform your instructional planning and adjustments too.

Portfolios and Reflections: Maintain portfolios or folders that include student work samples and your observations. Encourage students to self-assess their progress if they can. Have a go at setting goals together and reflecting on their phonemic awareness development. This process promotes student ownership and metacognition. Your students will become more aware of their strengths and areas for improvement this way.

Teacher-Student Conferences: Conduct individual or small-group conferences to discuss students' phonemic awareness progress. Engage students in conversations about their understanding of phonemic concepts, ask open-ended questions, and provide specific feedback to guide their growth. These conferences offer opportunities for formative assessment and provide personalised feedback too.

Parent Communication: Communicate regularly with parents or guardians to share information about their children’s phonemic awareness development. Provide updates on assessment results, strategies for supporting phonemic awareness at home, and suggestions for activities to reinforce phonemic skills. It’s always a good idea to encourage parental involvement and collaboration.

By using a combination of these assessment tools and methods, you will be armed with all the information you need to assess and plan your students' phonemic awareness journey. An ongoing assessment process helps identify individual needs, track progress, and ensure that all of your students receive the targeted support they need.

Conclusion

Wow! Have you made it to the end? This blog post seems more like an ebook 🤣

In conclusion, developing phonemic awareness is a fundamental step in building strong literacy skills in our young learners. The strategies outlined in this blog post provide teachers with effective tools to support and enhance phonemic awareness instruction in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade classrooms.

Remember, phonemic awareness is not a skill that develops automatically for all students. It requires explicit instruction, practice, and reinforcement. By implementing these 12 effective strategies, you can build a strong foundation for reading and writing success for your students.

As early childhood educators, we must prioritise phonemic awareness instruction and use research-based strategies to meet the diverse needs of our students. By implementing these 12 Effective Strategies for Teaching Phonemic Awareness, we will empower our young learners with the essential skills they need to become lifelong readers and effective communicators.

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12 Effective Strategies for Teaching Phonemic Awareness