According to the National Reading Panel, there are five major components of reading; phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Today I am going to focus on the foundation of reading; phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is the knowledge that spoken words can be broken apart into small segments or phonemes. According to the National Reading Panel, this is the foundation that reading is built upon. In order to have a strong home, you need a solid foundation, just as in order to be a strong reader, you need to have a solid foundation of phonemic awareness. Studies have linked this skill to an early predictor for reading success meaning, if one has weak phonemic awareness, that is a early indication that one may be a poor reader and speller. Development in this skill can improve, if not alleviate, issues in reading and spelling development.
Phonemic awareness allows one to rhyme, be able to manipulate words by changing sounds in the initial, medial, or final position, blend and segment sounds to create words, hear, identify, and count syllables in words, isolate, match, or delete sounds in words. As educators it is essential this be part of a students early reading foundational skill training. Parents can help aide in this process as well. Parents can help by reading or singing nursery rhymes or rhyming books such as Dr. Seuss. Reading to your child is absolutely essential to expose them to the code of the English language. Playing rhyming games or blending and segmenting sounds to create/break apart words can be helpful. You can clap out syllables or play games such as Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes to segment the syllables in a word. I like to play a game with my three-year-old called Silly Words. We change a sound to make a new word, for example, instead of saying "dog," we say "shog." She thinks it is hilarious and we are really building her ability to manipulate phonemes. Most importantly, keep it fun, light, and engaging! Your little one will never know they are doing such great work to strengthen their reading foundation while they are playing with you! Sources Reading Rockets, The Literacy Bug, and The National Institute of Mental Health
1 Comment
|
ArchivesCategories |