/d/ /o/ /g/
The word "dog" has three sounds or phonemes. The slash marks indicate the sound of the letter, not the name of the letter.
Listen!
What word am I saying?
Pick any word and say the sounds or syllables and ask your child to tell you the word.
Parent: What word am I saying? /f/ /i/ /sh/
Child: Fish!
Parent: The word starts with the sound /l/ and ends with the sound /ight/. What word is it?
Child: Light!
Hint: You can reverse this game and ask your child to give you the sounds in a word.
Parent: What sounds do you hear in "fish"?
Child: /f/ /i/ /sh/
What sound do you hear?
Pick any word and ask your child to tell you what sound they hear at the beginning, middle, and end.
Parent: What sound do you hear at the beginning of "top"?
Child: /t/ (remember it's the sound you want, not the letter name)
Parent: What sound do you hear at the end of "sad"?
Child: /d/ (remember it's the sound you want, not the letter name)
Do these words rhyme?
Present two words together and ask your child if they rhyme.
Parent: Do these words rhyme: mop - top?
Child: Yes!
Parent: Do these words rhyme: big - ram?
Child: No!
Challenge your child by providing two words that are similar, but don't rhyme such as big - bag. Children who haven't mastered rhyming will often hear these words as having the same ending sound.
Activities to Support Phonemic Awareness
Books That Support Phonemic Awareness
What is
Phonemic Awareness?
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear the individual sounds that make up words. These individual sounds are called phonemes. Building phonemic awareness is done orally - no print is involved.
Why is Phonemic Awareness
important?
Phonemic awareness is one of the greatest predictors for success in reading. Children who master phonemic awareness are on track to becoming proficient readers.
Watch and learn more about phonemic awareness and how it supports reading success in young children.
Let's clap sounds/syllables/words!
Clap out the number of sounds in a word.
Parent: Let's clap and say how many sounds we hear in "bed".
Child & Parent: Clap each time you say a sound: /b/ /e/ /d/ (3 claps)
Clap out the number of syllables in a word.
Parent: Let's clap for each syllable we hear in "window".
Child & Parent: Clap for each syllable: /win/ /dow/ (2 claps)
Clap out the number of words in a sentence.
Parent: Let's clap for each word in this sentence (parent makes up a sentence and claps along with the child for each word).
One of the great things about working with your child on developing phonemic awareness is that it can be a ton of fun! Phonemic awareness is done orally so there are no letter names or words your child has to know in order to develop this skill. The key is to play with the sounds in words. That means you can sing at the top of your lungs your favorite nursery rhymes and play silly rhyming games that will have you and your child in stitches. Below are some tried and true fun activities to help your child master this critical skill.
Need more?
Contact your child's teacher for additional information.
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When students are learning to separate the individual sounds in words, it is important we "clip" each sound as we say it. Watch the video to learn about this very important technique.