Phonological Awareness

Phonological Awareness (RF.K–1.2)

Phonological awareness is the awareness of and ability to manipulate the sound units of spoken language. Sound units include syllables, onsets and rimes (subsyllabic units consisting of the sound(s) preceding the vowel and the vowel and subsequent sounds), and phonemes (the smallest units of speech sounds, that is, individual speech sounds).

Because English is predominantly an alphabetic orthography, one in which written symbols represent the phonemes of speech, prospective readers of English are most likely to grasp the logic of the written system when they achieve the most difficult level of phonological awareness: phonemic awareness, or awareness of the individual sounds of speech.

Children who are phonemically aware can use their knowledge that speech consists of phonemes to appreciate the manner by which spoken language is encoded in print once they begin to learn letter-sound correspondences.

"Phoneme awareness performance is a strong predictor of long-term reading and spelling success and can predict literacy performance more accurately than variables such as intelligence, vocabulary knowledge, and socioeconomic status."

Gillion

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS CONTINUUM

Phonological Awareness is not phonics!

This instruction lays a strong foundation for the development of phonemic awareness, helping students learn to pay attention to the way language sounds, in addition to what it means. (Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn)

According to the National Reading Panel, segmenting words into phonemes and blending phonemes into words contributes to learning to read and spell well than any of the other phonological awareness skills.

Instruction is

Explicit
Systematic
Conducted in small groups
Not exceeding 30 minutes
Targeting no more than 1-2 skills at a time
Making sounds less abstract and more concrete
Engaging, interesting, motivating, making use of games and other interactive activities
Pronounced correctly

"It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers." James Thurber

Dr. Heggerty Phonemic Awareness

These were videos I made featuring Alisa Van Hekken at Sunrise Elementary School (LAUSD) to showcase how to use the Heggerty Books. Click below for YouTube video.

Purple Book Video

Blue Book Video

Yellow Book Video

Resources
(Hyperlinked Images)

Are you analyzing your DIBELS data and noticing that you need more information? Give the PASI to students you need to find out more about. Do not PASI all your students.

Click on 95 Percent for ALL 95% resources.

Click on PASI for the PASI long and short forms.

95 Percent

PASI

Need lessons to support the Phonological Awareness? Click on the word below to access the files. You will need your LAUSD Google SSO. Do not request access with your personal gmail.

Need support with the Heggerty Spirals? Click on flyer for all the hyperlinks.