What is Phonemic Awareness and Phonics?

Phonemic Awareness is a consciousness of individual sounds that make up spoken language and the ability to attend to those sounds, differentiate the sounds and manipulate them in speech. A child with phonemic awareness can also recognize the individual sounds that make up that word.

Children learn about words through reading and writing. The top predictors of reading achievement in first grade include phonemic awareness, knowledge of letter names, and print awareness. Children can be trained in phonemic awareness when teachers spend time each day on activities that promote listening to spoken word, awareness improves.

Phonics is integrated throughout the Balanced Literacy Model and should be an important part of each of the reading and writing components. Phonics is an instructional approach. It teaches that symbols represents sounds. Phonics attaches symbols to spoken words. In contrast, phonemic awareness is an oral activity and is the consciousness of individual phonemes and attending to sounds.

Teaching Methods

Activities should be quick, using enjoyable exercises combined with many typical classroom activities, such as reading aloud, poetry, songs, journal writing, etc. Teachers should spend approximately 15 minutes a day with these quick, high energy, game-like activities. These activities, combined with print can be powerful and productive.