What does Phonological Awareness mean?? My Child's teacher keeps using this term..

  Are you confused about what Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness, and Phonics mean? As a parent we hear this jargon being spoken, however, the words have no value if we do not understand the meaning of the words and the relation to our child's reading development.  Yes, they do sound the same....but they are all different in meaning and essential to reading development.

    What exactly is Phonological Awareness?

Phonological Awareness is the awareness of all the sounds of language. Basically, Phonological Awareness is the ability to listen to, recognize, and manipulate the sounds of spoken language.  Children usually develop Phonological Awareness from larger units to smaller units of sound - ie... sentences, words, rhymes, syllables, onsets and rimes, and phonemes.

What are some Examples of Phonological Awareness Skills?

*Identifying words that rhyme

*Recognizing words that begin or end with the same sound

*Manipulating sounds in words

     Oral segmenting-ability to take spoken words and break it into individual parts

     Oral blending- ability to take a series of sounds and blend them together to form spoken words  

*Manipulating sounds in words by adding, deleting, or substituting
 *Ability to understand that words are composed of letters that have corresponding sounds

Why is Phonological Awareness so important?

Phonological awareness is the fundamental building block in reading development.  Students with strong phonological awareness skills are shown to have later success in reading and spelling. A major cause for reading difficulties is weak phonological skills.  These skills assist students in future decoding and blending words as they are reading.

Here is what you can do to build your child's Phonological Awareness skills..

*Read nursery rhymes, poems, or rhyming stories (Cat In The Hat) and have your child identify the rhyming words.

*Sing songs with your child and point out the words that rhyme or begin with the same sounds.

*Play the game..."What Does Not Belong" - you can give your child 3 words and ask them to tell you the words that does not begin with the same sound...cat, cow, and man.

     Please note that these are just a few of many activities you can do as a parent at home with your child. 

Here are a few fun sites that will help build Phonological Awareness skills for your child:

 Clifford's Sound Game   
http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/flash/phonics/index.htm

Elmo Rhymes                
http://pbskids.org/sesame/elmo.html#/games

Rhyming Rhino            
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bll/reggie/home/index.htm

Auditory Discrimination 
http://pbskids.org/lions/games/ears.html