11 Teaching Tips to Overcome Word Segmenting Difficulties in Kids
Teaching word segmenting can be tricky, especially for kids who are just starting to grasp phonemic awareness. Effective strategies and the right instruction play a significant role in helping children overcome word segmenting difficulties. In this blog post, I share 11 practical teaching tips that will make a difference to your student's ability to hear and segment the individual sounds in words.
Are you at your wits end trying to teach word segmenting to your students? If you are looking for effective strategies to help your kids improve their word segmenting skills, I've got you covered!
No more kids staring blankly, thinking they are a failure or answering "meow" when you ask them to segment the word cat.
As a kindergarten teacher, I've lived through this. I've seen my students struggle. I understand the challenges we face when teaching word segmenting to young learners.
So I tried and tested various segmentation activities and strategies with my kindergarten students until I found the best ways to teach this important skill. Now, you can breathe a sigh of relief.
In this blog post, I’ll share my eleven practical and proven teaching tips. Time to overcome those word segmenting difficulties for good!
Understanding Word Segmenting Difficulties
Segmenting is one of the crucial phonological awareness skills. It helps young children develop strong phonemic awareness skills and improve their writing and reading abilities. However, some children may struggle to segment words, even after learning all the 44 speech sounds in English.
What is Word Segmenting?
Word segmenting is the ability to break down words into their different sounds. These individual sounds are called phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in a spoken word.
Word segmentation involves isolating and identifying the separate sounds within a word. It requires children to pronounce each sound distinctly and in sequence.
Mastering word segmenting is crucial for young learners as it lays the foundation for understanding the relationship between letters, letter patterns, and sounds. This understanding is essential for developing proficient reading and spelling skills, as it enables students to hear the individual phonemes so they can decode new words and write phonetically.
Word segmenting difficulties can significantly impact a child's literacy development.
Addressing these challenges effectively requires special attention from kindergarten teachers.
Impact on Reading and Writing
When children experience difficulties in word segmenting, it can directly affect their ability to write words phonetically and decode and comprehend texts. Having difficulties in this key skill may even lead to slower progress in acquiring english language arts skills and understanding how to read and write.
Word segmenting is a basic literacy skill we spend a lot of time on in kindergarten. If you are teaching synthetic phonics, I can guarantee this skill is consistently mentioned in your lesson plans.
Kindergarten teachers play a crucial role in identifying and supporting students who struggle with word segmenting.
You can provide tailored interventions and implement various strategies to support your students in developing their word segmenting skills.
Here's a quick run-down of my tried and tested teaching and intervention tips ...
Consolidate the Term: Ensure students understand what you mean by word segmenting.
Explicit Teaching and Modelling: Clearly and explicitly teach how to segment words by following best practices and the research on effective teaching strategies.
Teach Correct Pronunciations: Ensure you and your students are pronouncing the individual sounds accurately.
Use Chunking Strategies: Encourage students to break down words into manageable chunks like syllables first.
Use Manipulatives: Use hands-on materials to engage students in tactile learning experiences related to word segmenting.
Use Visual Aids like Elkonin Boxes: Visual tools like Elkonin boxes can help students visualise and segment sounds within words.
Use Games and Interactive Activities: Make word segmenting fun and engaging through educational games and interactive exercises.
Incorporate Kinesthetic Learning: Include physical movements and to engage students and enhance their understanding of word segmentation.
Use a Multi-Sensory Approach: Appeal to various senses to reinforce word segmenting skills through auditory, visual, and tactile methods.
Follow the Gradual Progression of Skills: Scaffold learning by gradually increasing the complexity of word segmenting tasks as students progress.
Clap or Tap: Stay consistent. Don't interchange clapping and tapping phonemes. it will just confuse your kids.
By noticing and addressing word segmenting difficulties early on, you can help your students build a strong foundation in reading and writing. We know word segmentation is a foundational language skill. Your students need to master it now if you want to ensure their future academic success.
I gave you a quick overview of each of my go-to strategies but if you're after all the deets... keep reading. I explain each of them in more detail below.
11 Teaching Tips to Overcome Word Segmenting Difficulties
Navigating word segmenting challenges in kindergarten students requires tailored techniques and strategies to foster phonemic awareness effectively. Here are each of my essential teaching tips in detail. They will set your students up for success and help you overcome common word segmenting difficulties:
1.Consolidate the Term
Before you even begin segmenting activities, ensure your students understand what you mean by segmenting or breaking up the word. Try using a visual tool to demonstrate the concept. Slinkys are a valuable resource to visually demonstrate the process of breaking words down into individual sounds. By seeing you stretch out the slinky as you stretch out the words, your children can see what you mean. Who knew the simple slinky could be such a valuable tool for students phonemic awareness!
2. Explicit Teaching and Modelling
Nothing beats explicit teaching and the gradual release model for teaching any skill. I find working with small groups the most effective. So what would an explicit teaching lesson on word segmenting look like?
The Gradual Release Model is an effective teaching strategy that moves from teacher-directed instruction to student independence. Here’s how it can be used to teach word segmentation.
I Do: Teacher Models
Give each student 3 counters and ask them to place them in a horizontal line in front of them.
In this example, we'll be using simple CVC words. Say a CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant word), like “mum.” Repeat the word, stretching it out and pausing a little between each phoneme. “/m/ /u/ /m/.” As each sound is said, slide one counter down so the children see that each sound is represented by one counter.
After moving the counters, explain to the children, “The word mum has 3 individual sounds: 1, 2, 3.” Pointing to each counter as you count.
Put all the counters back in the original line to show you are ready for the next word.
We Do: Practice Together
Repeat the process, this time inviting students to join you. Choose a new CVC word. “cat.” BTW- you can download a free list of the words I use in my Free Resources Library.
Ask the students to repeat the word before breaking it down together – “/c/ /a/ /t/.” and sliding the counters down for each sound said.
Then ask, “How many sounds are in the word cat?” Count the sounds together, ensuring each child demonstrates one-to-one correspondence and points to each counter as you collectively count, “1, 2, 3.”
Ensure the students are following along and correctly associating the component sounds with the correct counter.
You Do: Independent Practice
Now, the students individually demonstrate their understanding. Start with another simple 3-sound word like “big.”
Students repeat and segment the word, “/b/ /i/ /g/.” and, as they say each sound, they slide a counter down. Continue with other CVC words. Your students will be visually and physically segmenting the individual words into separate sounds.
Each time, ask, “How many sounds are in this word?” You might like to count the phonemes together just to make sure they are using one-to-one correspondence and pointing to each counter. “1, 2, 3.”
Progressive Difficulty: As students become more comfortable, the next step is to introduce more complex words by gradually increasing the number of phonemes, including words with consonant blends, and words with a long vowel sound.
Always use clear, slow pronunciation to help students distinguish between the words, especially in the initial stages.
Encourage students to start with the far left counter and move along the row from left to right. This reinforces reading direction.
Remember to download my Free CVC Word List. No more trying to think up suitable words on the spot. This freebie will give you a comprehensive collection of essential CVC words right at your fingertips.
3. Teach Correct Pronunciations
The correct pronunciation is key to successful word segmenting.
One common reason for segmenting difficulties is the incorrect pronunciation of sounds. It is essential to teach the distinctions between voiced versus unvoiced sounds and continuous versus stop sounds accurately.
For example, the sound represented by the letter s is /s/, not /suh/. Help children differentiate between sounds like /s/ and /suh/ to improve their segmentation skills. Teaching the nuances between voiced and unvoiced sounds enhances phonemic awareness. Students can segment words accurately and boost their reading proficiency when they master sound distinctions.
4. Use Chunking Strategies
If your students can't segment words at the phoneme level, you'll need to go right back to basics. A great place to start is with compound words.
Teach your students to break down (segment) compound words into chunks or syllables because it is easier for young children to identify syllables or word parts than it is to hear the single individual sounds in words.
I have had great success with teaching the concept of segmenting by practising with compound words first. For example, start with a compound word like sunshine, where children segment it into sun and shine. When they get the idea of segmenting compound words. you can move on to segmenting two-syllable words like monkey into mon and key. After two syllables, move on to three-syllable words.
Download a set of my flip cards for a fun way to teach these basic compound word segmentation skills.
This is a great word work activity for partner or independent work. We often have this one out in our small group literacy rotations. My Segment and Blend Compound Words with Pictures resource is perfect because it's self-correcting! No more interruptions while I work with my explicit teaching group.
Start with segmenting compound words and then progress to segmenting words into syllables and you'll find it is a smooth transition to phoneme segmenting.
5. Use Visual Aids like Elkonin Boxes and Pictures
Visual cues can go a long way to helping struggling children.
I like using visuals like Sound boxes or Elkonin boxes to help my students break down words into the correct number of phonemes.
Elkonin boxes are a visual instructional tool for helping students learn to segment words into individual sounds. Students need to match each sound they hear in a word to a corresponding box on a pictorial grid.
Each box represents a single phoneme within a word. Students push a token into one box for each sound they hear as they slowly segment the word.
This interactive method of word segmenting visually reinforces the concept of breaking down words into discrete sounds and also helps students see the structure and sequence of phonemes.
I use Elkonin boxes for any of my students struggling with word segmenting because they provide a clear, tangible way to understand and practice this critical reading skill. Elkonin boxes are a powerful tool for students who benefit from visual cues. I like the hands-on nature, too. Students physically manipulate the tokens, reinforcing sound correspondences. You get the benefits of both auditory and visual learning strategies.
These visuals really do help. The visual representation of the segmented word seems to help students see that words are made up of individual sounds.
Want a set of differentiated Elkonin boxes already done for you?
I've got a comprehensive set of over 200 printable Elkonin boxes HERE in my store. There are some free bonuses like printable learning prompts and teacher assessment checklists for teaching blending and segmenting phonemes also in this resource.
It makes word segmenting activities easy to differentiate because the set uses real pictures representing words with 2, 3, 4 and 5 phonemes. You will be able to cater to the individual needs of your students by giving them the phoneme level they need practice with.
Elkonin boxes are perfect for developing phonemic awareness skills like phoneme segmentation, segmenting words, and blending sounds so you'll be using them often in your classroom.
Informed by the Science of Reading research, this early literacy resource is perfect for word mapping too! When you are ready for phonics lessons and the written word, you can use these Elkonin boxes again with letter tiles or magnetic letters. I love finding resources I can use over and over.
Pictures are another useful visual tool I often use. Using pictures to represent words ensures your lessons align with phonemic awareness principles. Phonemic awareness is an oral and auditory skill, so it does not involve written words.
If you’d like to learn more about phonemic awareness, check out this blog post: Teaching Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness
When you use pictorial representations of the words you are segmenting, it can help keep you stay on the phonemic awareness track and the visuals will also benefit students having trouble with word segmenting.
If you are teaching struggling students how to count phonemes in a word, you’ll love my Counting Phonemes Picture Sorts.
This resource has 72 phoneme counting picture cards that children will instantly recognise and relate to. This comprehensive set is the perfect addition to your literacy toolkit. You'll be able to tailor the segmenting practice to your student's learning needs because it contains pictures of words with two to five phonemes, just like in the above Elkonin Boxes printables.
You can use them for picture sorts or as flash cards. For those students just starting to segment words, start with a selection of five or six cards representing different words with two- and three-phonemes. Then build student confidence before adding a few cards representing four or five-phonemes.
6. Use Manipulatives
Manipulatives are physical objects that students can manipulate to help them understand concepts. In the case of phoneme segmentation, manipulatives like counters, bingo chips, blocks and small toys can be used to invite students to learn about phoneme segmentation through hands-on learning.
Use them with Elkonin boxes or Sound boxes to engage your struggling students and help them learn to isolate and identify individual sounds in words. I don't know about you, but whenever I pull out the hands-on resources, my kids are totally engaged. It's one of the reasons I love play based learning so much!
Because Elkonin boxes have a grid of drawn or printed boxes to represent the number of sounds in a word, they lend themselves perfectly to the addition of a few toy manipulatives.
Use manipulatives to keep your students interested and on task. Have a student interested in frogs? Use little toy frogs to represent each sound in the segmented word. Have a child into cars or motorbikes? Use transport manipulatives. You get the idea 😉
Manipulatives are your best friend. They provide a tactile learning experience that aids in visualising sound segmentation.
7. Use Games and Interactive Activities
Phonemic awareness games are a great way to make learning about phoneme segmentation fun and engaging for struggling and disinterested students. Hands-on games and activities not only make learning fun, but also enhance memory retention and concentration. I won't go into all my segmenting games and activities here because I have a dedicated blog post: 22 Phoneme Segmentation Activities for Phonemic Awareness.
You know how much I advocate for play based learning and hands-on learning. That's why I have so many of these resource types in my store. There are heaps of games and interactive activities to help you develop basic phonological and phonemic awareness skills through play in my store so go check them out if you need to inject a bit of engagement into your phonemic awareness instruction.
8. Incorporate Kinesthetic Learning
Kinaesthetic learners like moving their whole body. They prefer to learn by doing and gravitate towards activities that use big gross motor muscles. Get your students up and moving so they are using their whole body to learn about phoneme segmenting. You'll be providing your students with a kinesthetic phonemic awareness learning experience.
Instead of having your students clap or tap the sounds in a word, try jumping or hopping for each sound. This helps children associate the sounds they hear with the physical action, and it also helps them focus and remember the activity. Kinesthetic learning activities can help the learning stick!
9. Use a Multi-Sensory Approach
Use a multi-sensory approach that integrates auditory, visual, and kinesthetic elements. Engage students and cater to their diverse learning styles by using manipulatives, sound cards, songs, and movement to reinforce the segmenting process.
Considering tactile learning can help you take your teaching to the next level. It can also really help you cater to all the different ways kids learn. By blending auditory, visual, and kinesthetic elements, you create a rich, engaging learning environment that speaks to each student's unique learning interests and style.
For a few examples
Include auditory elements by using printable sound cards that help students hear and track the distinct phonemes in words.
Visually, you can bring in anything from letter tiles to fun, themed counters that students can move and manipulate as they physically segment words. This not only makes learning visually stimulating but also adds a tactile element that reinforces the learning process.
Don’t forget the power of music! Sing songs and clap the syllable beats in sentences and words. This is a great warm-up activity to hook your students and get them ready for oral blending and segmenting of phonemes.
Lastly, get them moving! Add some physical activity like clapping, stomping, or hopping to different phonemes in a spoken word. Movement helps cement the learning and keeps those little bodies engaged and ready to absorb new information.
By using a mix of these techniques, you make learning word segmenting a fun, effective, and inclusive experience that taps into various senses, ensuring a deeper understanding and retention of the material.
10. Follow the Gradual Progression
Guide students through a structured progression of word segmenting skills. If you want to follow the right order, start with basic segmenting activities before tackling those tricky words.
Begin with simple tasks like segmenting sentences before transitioning to two-phoneme words and gradually advancing to longer words. By following a systematic progression, you'll be confident that you haven't missed anything and taught this skill step-by-step.
Start with simple and familiar tasks and gradually introduce more complex words. Follow the research-backed progression.
Start by segmenting sentences and word awareness. When sentences can be segmented confidently, your students will be ready to segment words.
Children find it easier to segment the initial sound or the onset and rime in words before diving straight into whole word segmenting.
When your students are ready to segment words, begin with two-phoneme words and then move on to words with three or more phonemes.
When teaching young students word segmenting, it's more effective to start with words that contain continuous phonemes rather than stop sounds. Continuous phonemes, such as those in words like mum or room, allow for a smoother and more elongated sound that makes it easier for children to hear and isolate each phoneme. Continuous sounds can be stretched out without altering their nature, which helps in emphasising each individual sound within the word.
In contrast, stop sounds (also known as plosive sounds), like those in hop or bat, create a sudden cessation of sound, which can be more challenging for beginners to identify and segment accurately. The abruptness of stop sounds makes it difficult for early learners to distinguish the individual phonemes clearly.
Starting with continuous phonemes allows students to become comfortable with the segmenting process before tackling the more complex challenge of segmenting words with stop sounds. Once they have mastered easier words, they can progress to more difficult segmenting tasks that include a mix of continuous and stop sounds.
11. Clap or Tap
Do not use clapping and tapping interchangeably when segmenting phonemes. Decide which to use – clap or tap, and stay consistent.
When you sometimes tap and other times clap the sounds, some children will get confused and struggle to remember the difference between segmenting words, syllables and phonemes. I like to
chop words in sentences
clap the syllables in words
tap the sounds in words
12. Practice
Yeah, I know - I said there were 11 teaching tips but I had to add this one!
It is all about consistent and regular practice. If your aim is mastery and proficiency of word segmenting skills by your students, you'll need to:
Create a supportive learning environment where students feel comfortable.
Practice, practice and practice some more!
Use play-based learning invitations to allow children to practice word segmenting at their own pace.
Celebrate success and reinforce the positive efforts your students are making in developing strong phonemic awareness skills.
These teaching tips will help your students overcome segmenting difficulties and develop strong phonemic awareness skills.
Engaging Young Learners in Word Segmenting Activities
Teaching word segmenting to young learners can be an exciting and interactive process. Engaging them in activities that focus on breaking down words into individual sounds or syllables can help build their phonemic awareness. If you are looking for some fun and effective activities to use, don't forget to head over to this blog post: 22 Phoneme Segmentation Activities for Phonemic Awareness
Teaching word segmenting skills to young learners is crucial for their reading development. By implementing the 11 (or 12) teaching tips provided in this blog post, you can effectively support your children in overcoming their word segmenting difficulties. From consolidating terms to incorporating kinesthetic learning, each tip plays a vital role in enhancing phonemic awareness.
Follow the research and use explicit teaching and modelling to help your students grasp the concept of breaking words into individual sounds. Ensure you are correctly pronouncing the phonemes and try basic chunking strategies to guide your children towards mastering word segmentation with confidence.
Use manipulatives and visual aids like Elkonin Boxes to further enhance the learning experience. They will make your lessons more engaging and effective.
Using games and interactive activities like singing and movement, you can cater to different learning styles and keep your students actively involved in the learning process. A multi-sensory approach ensures that children experience word segmenting through various senses, helping it stick in their memory.
Follow the gradual progression of skills outlined in this blog post to build upon their knowledge incrementally.
And the last step? Practice!
Encourage practice through a range of activities and give your students ample opportunities to strengthen their word segmenting abilities. Remember, patience and consistency are key when guiding children through this essential skill.
By implementing my teaching tips, I know you'll equip your students with the necessary tools to overcome word segmenting difficulties. Using the instructional strategies and engaging activities outlined in this blog post, your students can master word segmenting.