Literacy

Phonological awareness is hearing the sound structure of spoken words: that words rhyme, that they break into syllables, and that they are made of single sounds. It is a listening skill, so there are no letters yet, and it is one of the strongest early predictors of learning to read. Most children move through it in roughly this order, from big chunks to single sounds.

1. 1

   Words in a sentence

   Around 3 to 4

   Say a short sentence and clap or hop a counter for each word.

   “The dog ran.” → three claps

2. 2

   Rhyme

   Around 4 to 5

   First hear it (“Do cat and hat rhyme?”), then make it (“What rhymes with cat?”). Nonsense rhymes count.

   -an family: man, can, than, plan, ran, van

   -ock family: sock, rock, knock, lock, block, clock

   -all family: ball, all, call, fall, wall, hall

3. 3

   Syllables

   Around 4 to 5

   Clap, tap or jump once per syllable. To blend, say the parts with a pause and let the child put the word together.

   man (1) · monkey (2) · magazine (3) · motorcycle (4) · sun (1) · seven (2)

4. 4

   First sounds and onset-rime

   Around 5

   Which sound does the word start with? Then split a word before its vowel and put it back together.

   “What is the first sound in sun?” → /s/  ·  /m/ + op → mop

5. 5

   Blending and segmenting sounds

   Around 5 to 6

   Say each sound with a short gap and the child says the word. Then reverse it: say the word and the child pulls it apart. Segmenting is the harder of the two.

   Blend: /m/ /a/ /n/ → man · /m/ /oo/ /n/ → moon · /s/ /uh/ /n/ → sun · /s/ /ah/ /k/ → sock · /b/ /aw/ /l/ → ball · /b/ /a/ /t/ → bat

   Segment: man → /m/ /a/ /n/ · moon → /m/ /oo/ /n/ · sun → /s/ /uh/ /n/ · sock → /s/ /ah/ /k/ · ball → /b/ /aw/ /l/ · bat → /b/ /a/ /t/

6. 6

   Changing sounds

   Around 6 to 7

   Take a sound away or swap one. This is the most advanced step and keeps building into first and second grade.

   “Say mat without /m/.” → at  ·  “Change /k/ in cat to /h/.” → hat

Sight words are the short, very common words a child meets on every page, like the, said and was. Many can be sounded out (and, big, can); others have a tricky part that does not follow the usual sounds. Read the regular parts by sound, point out the tricky part, and practice until the whole word comes at a glance. These are the Dolch lists most schools use.

CVC words are consonant, vowel, consonant: cat, pig, sun. They are usually the first words a child reads by sounding out. Say each sound, keep the voice going from one to the next, and the word appears. Start with one short vowel at a time, then mix them, so the child has to look at the middle letter every time.

Short a

19 words, as in cat

• cat
• hat
• bat
• rat
• mat
• cap
• map
• nap
• can
• fan
• man
• pan
• van
• bag
• ham
• jam
• ram
• cab
• yak

Play short a

Short e

14 words, as in hen

• bed
• red
• hen
• pen
• ten
• jet
• net
• pet
• vet
• wet
• leg
• peg
• web
• yes

Play short e

Short i

18 words, as in pig

• pig
• wig
• dig
• big
• fig
• pin
• fin
• bin
• lip
• zip
• rip
• sip
• lid
• kit
• sit
• bib
• six
• mix

Play short i

Short o

17 words, as in dog

• dog
• log
• hog
• jog
• pot
• dot
• hot
• mop
• top
• hop
• pop
• box
• fox
• rod
• pod
• mom
• wok

Play short o

Short u

21 words, as in bug

• bug
• rug
• mug
• jug
• hug
• tug
• pug
• bun
• sun
• run
• cup
• pup
• cut
• hut
• nut
• bus
• cub
• tub
• rub
• gum
• mud

Play short u

All the vowels

Every word above, mixed together. The pictures to choose from are words spelled almost the same, often one letter apart, so the child reads all three sounds instead of guessing from the first.

Play all the vowels

• Keep sounds clean

  Say /m/ as “mmm”, not “muh”. An added “uh” makes blending harder: c-uh, a, t-uh does not sound like cat. Sounds you can stretch (m, s, f, l) are the easiest to blend.

• Short and often

  Five to ten minutes a day does more than one long session. Stop while it is still fun, and come back to a game tomorrow rather than pushing through.

• Listening comes first

  If letters feel hard, step back to rhyme and syllables for a while. Phonological awareness can be practiced in the car or the bath with no print at all.

• When to ask for help

  If a child of five or older still cannot hear rhymes or the first sound in a word, or reading is not building after steady practice, talk to the child’s teacher or a speech-language pathologist. Speech sound and language difficulties and reading difficulties often travel together.