Keeping Parents informed

I often like to write newsletters to keep my parents informed. This is one I designed this week. I was helping a new Teach For America elementary teacher talk about Phonics and Phonemic Awareness in simple language.

Dear Families:

Greetings! I am so excited to once again share classroom news with you. As always, I try to make this newsletter informative and brief to let you in on all the wonderful things that happen in the class each quarter. As you know, we are about half way through the school year. Our focus for this quarter will be on Phonemic Awareness, both at school and at home. What is Phonemic Awareness you ask? This issue of our newsletter will concentrate on just that: what it is, what it means for your child(ren), and what we you can do at home to help!


What is Phonemic Awareness?

“Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in spoken words. Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of speech sounds…” (National Institute for Literacy, 3rd ed.) This means that children need to know that letters in words make individual sounds and when those sounds are combined, they make real words.


Why is knowing this important?

If readers are unable to identify phonemes (individual sounds letters make), their reading ability will be hindered and they will struggle to eventually sound out words and apply letter patterns as they encounter more difficult words. Phonemic awareness instruction must be direct and practiced and is essential for young readers. Those who do not have this awareness will struggle as they get older and encounter more difficult texts.



How can readers show they have Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic Awareness is a subcategory of Phonological Awareness. Again Phonemic Awareness concentrates on the ability of a reader to think about individual sounds. But eventually, readers have to do something with those sounds. So, what are things that readers do to begin reading? Simply put, readers should be able to identify rhyming words, identify beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words, tell how many syllables words have, blend sounds together to make a word, count the number of words in sentences, and be able to substitute old sounds for new ones to make new words. (Cooper, 2009 p. 188) Although the tasks may not sound complex, many students have difficulty with some of the processes. Students must have explicit instruction at school and practice at home to reinforce learning.


How can I help my child with these processes or what if my child is struggling?

Here are 6 things you can do to help your child practice phonemic awareness skills.


1. Play rhyming or blending games with your child. (Think of a word and say/list words that rhyme. Write out words and help them say the sounds and put them together)

2. Play free reading online games with your child. A few include www.starfall.com, www.funbrain.com. www.pbskids.org, www.primarygames.com.

3. Read books that focus on rhyming words, words with the same sounds (alliteration), and the alphabet. Ask your local librarian for recommendations. Here are a few to begin: Any Dr. Seuss, Bill Martin Jr.,

4. Use tongue twisters to also work with alliteration.

5. Sing songs with children, including the alphabet song, and others that focus on rhyme.

6. Use a phonics bingo generator to help children work on sound in words. www.phonicsbingo.com



There you have it! Try some of these ideas and watch your child(ren) enjoy the time they spend reading with you.



Best,


Ms. Terry
Reading Teacher