What is phonemic awareness?

According to this article, "The small units of speech that correspond to letters of an alphabetic writing system are called phonemes. Thus, the awareness that language is composed of these small sounds is termed phonemic awareness."

Why is phonemic awareness so important?

According to this article, "A child's level of phonemic awareness on entering school is widely held to be the strongest single determinant of the success that she or he will experience in learning to read — or, conversely, the likelihood that she or he will fail (Adams, 1990; Stanovich, 1986). In fact, research clearly shows that phonemic awareness can be developed through instruction, and, furthermore, that doing so significantly accelerates children's subsequent reading and writing achievement... "

Expectations

Your child will need the assistance of an adult to complete this phonemic awareness practice. Once your child learns the routines of the activities, the whole thing should take about 5 - 7 minutes (maybe even faster). If your child struggles with these exercises at first (frustrational level), give immediate corrective feedback and try a few examples at a time. The eventual goal is that students are able to complete these activities automatically -- that is, without having to struggle and think about it too much. To be considered automatic, students must be able to respond to the prompt within 1-2 seconds (optimal range).

This practice will be completed orally. Directions for how to complete each skill practice are included on the left side of table on the paper. Thank you for your support!