Phonemic Awareness:
What is it? Phonemic Awareness and what is Phonological Awareness?
Phonological awareness is a broad skill that includes identifying and manipulating units of oral language – parts such as words, syllables, and on-set rime. Sentences can be broken down into words, words into syllables, and then into onset-rime. When the word is broken into the smallest part, or individual sound (phoneme), “phonemic awareness” is used. Phonemic awareness is a subskill of phonological awareness.
The Phonolgical Awareness Unbrella is a great visual representation to show the incorporation of the skills needed to become a fluent reader.
Teaching strategies:
Teaching phonemic awareness is easier for some than others. Using colored tiles, felt, or counters helps students to identify the individual sounds of the word and it helps them to see the letter sound correspendense. Teachers can use the felt sqares to show students the sounds of a CVC word. CAT; /c/ /a/ /t/ by pushing or moving the felt, students can make the connection between letter and sound. Students can also pull sounds from above or chop sounds out on their arms. Whatever makes sense to the student is what the teacher will use for particular learning styles. Always model before asking students to do something. I DO, WE DO, YOU DO.
Phoneme segmentation, substitution and omission games are great ways to help students listen to and identify those sounds in relation to the word. For example, ask students to say bat. Now take away the /b/ and put /c/. What word? "cat". You can practice with initial and final sounds. When they become comfortable, have them use a roller coaster motion to find the medial sound. This is a fun learning game and helps students decompose and compose words. This will increase reading fluency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO4_S26gOkQ