“Children generally do better on phonological awareness tasks that involve familiar words than they do on tasks with less familiar words (Metsala and Walley, 1998).” ~LETRS for Early Childhood Educators manual, p. 100
10 Things Every Preschool Teacher Should Know About Phonological Awareness - 2025
50 Fun Phonics Activities ~ Savvas (also has AK activities)
Here's a link to another set of activities and this set focuses on word study activities
A Kindergarten Teacher’s Guide to SUPPORTING FAMILY INVOLVEMENT IN FOUNDATIONAL READING SKILLS - links to videos and materials embedded
Family Literacy Videos: The Family Literacy Videos show families engaging their child in activities related to the skill you just explained and modeled. Show and discuss the videos using the key points about the videos found in each associated Teacher Scaffold. Explain to families how they can access the videos free online if they would like to view them again: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVHqsnePfULqzbnu1BZf50y7HFgGNZp6v . Table 4 lists all of the kindergarten Family Literacy Video titles and links that you can share with families.
NCDPI OEL ~
LETRS manual, pg. 103-10
OLD IDEA
Teachers used to think…Phonological Awareness is learning to manipulate word structure, independent of meaning
NEW IDEA
But now we know…Understanding word meaning is also important to manipulating word structure (becoming metaphonological)
OLD IDEA
Teachers used to think…The PAST table book and TSG progressions for discrete units of sound, represented the most current research on developmental progressions and age ranges.
NEW IDEA
But now we know…Children should learn syllables at 3-4 years old, then should progress to initial sound isolation at 4-5 years. (LETRS pg. 111)
ODL 15c - discrete units of sound (concept of word, syllables & phonemes)
As you expose children to rhyming and alliteration activities, you may notice students who confuse the beginning and the ending of words. In this 2-minute video, my colleague, Michelle O’Reilly, demonstrates a very simple strategy to add visual and kinesthetic input that supports and reinforces the concepts of “beginning” and “end”.
NOTE: It is important not to confuse students with the concepts of ‘rhyme’ and beginning sound awareness (alliteration -onset/rime). Explicit instruction when teaching rhyme (words that sound the same at the end) is extremely important before formally teaching the concept of alliteration (words that begin with the same sound).
Concept of Spoken Word
Syllable Blending
Syllable Segmentation
Phoneme Isolation of Beginning Sound
Phoneme segmentation
Rhyme Recognition
Rhyme Completion
Rhyme Production
A Kindergarten Teacher’s Guide to SUPPORTING FAMILY INVOLVEMENT IN FOUNDATIONAL READING SKILLS
Recommendation 1: Academic Language Video Title (book title/nursery rhyme in parentheses)
1.1 Talking While You Read (Bear Says Thanks) https://youtu.be/OEz4Z7w85Tw
1.1 Talking While You Read (Llama Llama and the Bully Goat) https://youtu.be/HtVdIHBpjyM
1.3 Cooking Conversations https://youtu.be/y2uEltffyfM
1.3 Dinner Table Talk https://youtu.be/dt1l51JiXzk
Recommendation 2: Phonological Awareness and Letter Sound Relations
2.1 Syllable Sort https://youtu.be/pcTDCoR-NsY
2.1 Read Aloud and Syllable Practice (Silly Sally) https://youtu.be/n1C4L8y95kM
2.1 Rhyme Time https://youtu.be/BXiWuB6XMfg
2.1 Read Aloud and Rhyme Practice (Green Eggs and Ham) https://youtu.be/hYKzgymUoJs
2.1 Add a Sound to Make a New Word https://youtu.be/RPlxbRF52rM
2.1 Saying Individual Sounds in Words https://youtu.be/SPKRN_sXcVs
2.1 Read Aloud and Individual Sounds in Words (There’s a Wocket in My Pocket) https://youtu.be/NjP0k9p0MpE
2.2 Letter Naming Using a Letter Arc https://youtu.be/QvN70v1QRHI
2.2 Letter Sound Practice Using a Letter Arc https://youtu.be/_MPZ6KAKC9k
2.2 Short Vowel Practice https://youtu.be/EGf2lL9eALg
2.2 Letter Sound Writing ("Humpty Dumpty") https://youtu.be/-jkL7Plx834
2.3 Step Up to Spelling Words https://youtu.be/N0lvwxoNV8g
2.3 Step Up to Writing Words https://youtu.be/j_8DJLn0aPQ
Recommendation 3: Decode, Analyze, Write, and Recognize Words
3.1 Letter Puzzles https://youtu.be/AOzTD_z-6yM
3.2 Word Family Fun https://youtu.be/5K6WicXvYGs
3.4 Let’s Read Words and Sentences https://youtu.be/Qs4YuoAxrsI
3.5 Memory Using High-Frequency Words https://youtu.be/3W0bBRRdpO4
3.6 Challenging and Important Words (I Want to be a Vet) https://youtu.be/F1h6xPV98JY
Recommendation 4: Fluency and Comprehension
4.1 When I Read to You (Bear Snores On) https://youtu.be/i12X8A5giF0
4.1 When I Read to You (Book!) https://youtu.be/4lkFh9y0C1U
4.1 When You Read to Me (Cat Traps) https://youtu.be/LL0uJqW_jwY
4.1 When You Read to Me (This is a Peach) https://youtu.be/pxrcdffJCyw
4.2 Does That Make Sense? (Just Grandma and Me) https://youtu.be/bW7nalwle9U
4.3 Echo Reading (Little Blue Truck) https://youtu.be/vt1Twhs8KiA
4.3 Reading Together (Buzz Said the Bee) https://youtu.be/KCFFqKA85tE