The PK Guidelines and the TEKS include phonological-awareness standards in pre-K through second grade. By third grade, most students will have acquired proficiency in phonological awareness; however, many reading difficulties, including dyslexia, are related to weaknesses in phonemic proficiency. Thus, students who demonstrate word-level reading and fluency difficulties will likely benefit from targeted and explicit instruction in phonemic awareness.

Take a moment to review each grade level on the TEKS Matrix to compare the expectations for each grade level.

Phonological-awareness skills include blending, segmenting, and manipulating words, syllables, and phonemes.

Review how the terms blending, segmenting, and manipulating are used within the context of phonological-awareness instruction at the sentence, word, syllable, onset-rime, and phoneme level. Keep in mind that phoneme manipulation is the most complex task within the phonological awareness continuum.

This Rhyme Concentration activity can provide practice with rhyme identification. Turn it into a rhyme production activity by pulling a card, having students name the picture, and then asking them to provide a word that rhymes with the picture. This practice helps all students have a common understanding of what the card represents.

As you review the lesson, look to see that it meets these criteria:

• Identifies phonological-awareness skills to be learned and communicates objectives clearly

• Provides clear, concise instructions and directions

• Connects new learning to previous knowledge

• Provides multiple opportunities to practice phonological tasks with affirming and corrective feedback

• Employs the Gradual Release of Responsibility model (i.e., I do, we do, you do)

• Revisits previously introduced concepts frequently

• Logically builds from the least complex to the most complex skills

Phonological Awareness Instruction "Look Fors"

Explore the google doc to find instructional activities for phonological awareness skills

A phoneme refers to the smallest unit of sound in speech. For example, there are three phonemes within the word sip (/s/-/i/-/p/). Phonemes can be challenging for young children to discriminate because phonemes are instantly blended together as we produce words, phrases, and sentences. However, learning to read and spell requires us to map sounds to letters, which is dependent on our ability to discriminate and accurately produce phonemes.

The video shows Karen Blais, a Certified Academic Language Therapist in Austin ISD, using small mirrors during articulation instruction for digraph /sh/.

Notice how the students use mirrors to watch themselves articulate the sounds.

Use mirrors to examine the articulation of phonemes. In small groups, have students discuss how their mouth is shaped and whether their lips, teeth, or tongue block the sound.

Phoneme Categorization

Now that you have explored phoneme categorization, connect it to the classroom by watching a short clip of this in action. At the beginning of this chapter, we learned about allophones. You will notice the /ă/ sound has a slight variation, depending on the position of the letter within the word and the letters around it.

Reflect

While watching the video, observe the actions of Mrs. Keas:

• States the objective in student-friendly language

• Explicitly teaches the phonemic awareness skill

• Models at least 2 examples of the skill

• Clearly and accurately articulates phonemes and does not add the schwa sound on to phonemes

• Provides opportunities for student practice with feedback

• Uses a brisk pace