Emergent Literacy: Phonological Awareness

Lauren Fouts

Overview

What is Phonological Awareness?

Awareness of sound features in spoken language

It involves rhyme recognition, syllables, onset, and rime.

The awareness that words are made up of smaller units of sound (McGuiness & McGuiness, 1998).

Types of phonological awareness include: phonemic awareness, syllable awareness, word awareness, and sentence awareness (Virginia Department of Education, 1998).

Why is it important?

Phonological Awareness is important for learning how to read.

It teaches children to recognize sameness, difference, number, and order of speech sounds (Adams, Foorman, Lundberg, & Beeler, 1998).

It makes spelling-sound correspondences more learnable when they are taught (Adams et al., 1998).

When children develop phonological awareness, they are able to think about how words sound, apart from what the words mean. For example, they appreciate that the word “kitchen” has two spoken parts (syllables), that the word “bed” rhymes with “bread,” and that the words “cat” and “king” begin with the same sound (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999).

How is Phonological Awareness taught?

Phonological Awareness can be taught through listening games, rhyming, words and sentences, awareness of syllables, initial and final sounds, phonemes, letters, and spellings

The principle goal of the program is to lead the children to attend to the phonological aspects of speech and, ultimately, to help them to hear and feel the phonemes in words (Adams et al., 1998).

Classroom Experiences

Games and songs are often used to help develop children’s phonological awareness. The following are some examples of games and songs that might be a part of children’s classroom experiences.

Game 1: teacher sings and uses the student’s names to complete the rhyme.
(Virginia Department of Education, 1998)
This game helps direct the children’s attention to similarities and differences in the sounds of words.

Willaby Wallaby
Willaby Wallaby Wusan,
An elephant sat on Susan
Willaby Wallaby Wark,
An elephant sat on Mark

Game 2: Invent new rhymes
and sing to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” as follows: (Adams et al., 1998).
This game also helps to direct the children’s attention to similarities and differences in the sounds of words.

Did you ever see a (bear) in a (chair)?
Did you ever see a (bear) in a (chair)?
No, I never, no, I never, no, I never, no, I never
No, I never saw a (bear) in a (chair).

Game 3: create sentence patterns that use words that begin with the same initial sound (Virginia Department of Education, 1998).
This game continues to direct the children’s attention to similarities and differences in the sounds of words.

My name is Anna and I like apples.

My name is Paul and I like puppies.

Family Activities

Phonological awareness activities for home and community can be found in the items listed below. Have fun!

Songs and chants
Word play, games, rhymes and riddles
Storybooks, poetry, nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss
Oral Storytelling
Clapping, jumping, manipulating letters, blocks

Everything should be playful, engaging, interactive, social, deliberate, and purposeful, stimulate curiosity, and encourage experimentation with language and comprehensive language and literacy programs (Yopp & Yopp, 2000).

Activity 1 (Burns et al., 1999)

Take advantage of everyday activities to talk about words and sounds. For example, when buying fruit at the market, you might ask the child which sound is the same in the words peach and pineapple, or in peach and tea. This activity promotes children's awareness of sounds and language.

Activity 2 (Burns et al., 1999).

Make up your own games with rhyming words, silly sounds and chants, like the one below. This activity also promotes children's awareness of sounds and language.

Ba Be Bi Bo Bu-dle-oo-dle-oo!
Ba Be Bi Bo Bu-dle-oo-dle-oo!
If the words sound crazy, don’t be a lazy daisy
Ba Be Bi Bo Bu-dle-oo-dle-oo!
Create new verses by substituting different consonants for the letter B.

Activity 3
Silly song by Raffi (Burns et al., 1999).
This activity continues to promote children's awareness of sounds and language.

I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas
I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas
I like to ate ate ate aypuls and baynaynays
I like to ate ate ate aypuls and baynaynays

I like to eet eet eet eeples and beeneenees
I like to eet eet eet eeples and beeneenees

I like to ote ote ote opples and bononos
I like to ote ote ote opples and bononos

I like to ute ute ute upples and bununus
I like to ute ute ute upples and bununus

Activity 4
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear (Adams et al., 1998).
This activity promotes the identification of words that have identical final sounds.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, (standing in place, do the actions with the words).
Turn around.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,
Touch the ground.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,
Show your shoe.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,
That will do.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Go Upstairs.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Say your prayers.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,
Turn out the light.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,
Say good night!

Activity 5
Stand Up Tall (Adams et al., 1998).
This activity also promotes the identification of words that have identical final sounds.

Stand up tall, (children stand)
Hands in air (Raise hands).
Now sit down (children sit).
In your chair.
Clap your hands, (clap
three times).
Make a frown, (children frown).
Smile and smile (children smile).
And flop like a clown. (children relax whole body with arms dangling).

Activity 6
Jack Be Nimble (Adams et al., 1998).
This activity continues to promote the identification of words that have identical final sounds.

Jack be nimble. Jack be quick,
Jack jump over the candlestick.
Jack be nimble, quick as a fox,
Jack jump over this little box.
Jack be nimble. Jack cut the caper.
Jack jump over this little piece of paper.
Jack be nimble. Jack be fair,
Jack jump over this little chair.
Jack be nimble and bright as a star,
Stand up and jump very wide and far

Resources

Books

Silverstein, S. (1981). A light in the attic. New York: Golden Press
This is a fun book filled with poems that will appeal to all ages.

Lithgow, J. (2003). I’m a manatee. New York: Simon and Schuster
A book about a little boy who pretends to be a manatee. Children will enjoy the pictures and the repetitive rhymes.

Perkins, A. (1970). The nose book. New York: Random House
A book about noses with repetitive rhymes and silly verses.

Wilson, K., & Chapman, J. (2002). Bear snores on. New York: Margaret K. McEldery
A book about hibernation and a bear that sleeps through all sorts of noises.

Seuss, Dr. (1968). The foot book. New York: Random House.
A rhyming story about feet and other funny things.

Seuss, Dr. (1960). Green eggs and ham. New York: Random House.
This is a very funny story about a creature that refuses to eat green food.

Brown, M. W. (1947). Goodnight moon. U.S.: Harper & Row.
A delightful children’s book with repetitive rhymes.

Neitzel, S. (1989). The jacket I wear in the snow. New York: Scholastic.
This story is about a boy that is getting ready to play in the snow.

Hoberman, M.A. (1978). A house is a house for me. New York: Viking,
This story is about different kinds of houses and includes animal houses too. Older children will enjoy seeing the different places to live.

Wood, A. (1984). The napping house. Orlando: Harcourt.
A story about a sleeping family and a biting flea.

Seuss, Dr. (1974). Great day for up. U.S.: Random House.
A repetitive book about things that go up.

Technology Resources

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/index.asp (2002-2006). IRA/NCTE
A wonderful website offering multiple teaching plans and opportunities for children in kindergarten through grade 12th.

http://schools.katyisd.org/groups/pathways/instr_ctr/linkslessons/elem/k/la/kdg_la.html
An interactive website for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Topics include listening, speaking, reading, ESL, phonological awareness, and writing.

References

McGuiness, C., & McGuiness, G. (1998). Reading reflex: The foolproof phono-graphix method for teaching your child to read.
New York: Simon & Schuster.

Adams, J. M., Foorman, R. B., Lundberg, I., & Beeler, T. (1998). Phonemic awareness in young children. Baltimore: Paul H.
Brookes.

Burns, M. S., Griffin, P., & Snow, E. C. (1999). Starting out right: A guide to promoting children’s reading success. Washington:
National Academy.

Virginia Department of Education. (1998). Ideas and activities for developing phonological awareness skills: A teacher resource supplement to the Virginia early intervention reading initiative. Author.

Yopp, H. K., & Yopp, R. H. (2000). Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom. Reading Teacher, 54, 130-
143.