Phonemic Awareness: Segmenting Sounds

Phonemic awareness is an important component of literacy.  Many researchers believe it is a major predictor of later reading success. While there are many aspects of phonemic awareness, one of the key things to remember is that it is all oral. This means teachers and families should play lots of word and sound games with children.

Pointing at a letter and saying its name and/or sound is phonics, not phonemic awareness.

We have previously discussed the importance of preschool children being able to rhyme. This is a major and necessary part of phonemic awareness. Books like the Llama, Llama series by Anna Dewdney and Dr. Suess are favorite childhood read-alouds that develop this important skill. Children who are exposed to books like these can make rhyming part of play.

Another necessary part of phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and segment sounds. This is easy to do and can become a favorite game. To “play,” say a simple word with three distinct sounds (called phonemes). For example, you could say, “hop.” There are three sounds – the h sound, the short o sound, and the p sound. Clap your hands when each sound is heard.

Clapping for each sound in h - o - p.

When a child can clearly hear the three sounds in words like dog, tub, hat, pin, and other words, show your child how to use his or her arm to indicate the first, second, and third sound. For example, when saying the word, hat, have your child point to his wrist when saying the h sound. As the short a is said, the child moves his hand to the inside of his elbow. Finally, as the t is said, the child points to his upper arm.

The child says the first sound, h.

The child says the middle sound, short a.

The child says the final sound, t.

These types of visual and kinesthetic experiences develop the ability to segment sounds in words. This will be helpful as children later learn to read.

Rain, Rain...Don't Go Away!

Children are natural conservationists! They appreciate Mother Nature. Help children to understand the importance of water in our world. 

Talk about the benefits of rain. 

Children enjoy playing in a warm rain!

Begin discussion of the water cycle by asking children what happens to rain after it falls from a cloud. Answers such as it goes into the ground or it helps plants and trees to grow are age-appropriate scientific understandings. Help them trace the idea that water can evaporate.

Children can collect rainwater.

Put out a glass and have children measure the water, possibly using Unifix cubes or other child-friendly objects. Give them the scientific word, evaporation, to use. We find children respond well to using "grown-up" vocabulary!

Encourage children to predict what will happen to the water. This is the beginning of scientific inquiry!

Explain how this water becomes part of the air (clouds) and falls again to the ground, lake, ocean, etc. 

The water cycle begins anew.

Blast Off to Math Readiness!

Language is so important as preschoolers develop concepts. Closeness with family and friends helps makes these ideas more meaningful and attaches a sense of pleasure to developing skills. Because many teenagers and older elementary students report math anxiety, we feel it is helpful to attach positive feelings about math with family time. Below are fun and meaningful ideas that help develop math skills, vocabulary, understanding of concepts, and a positive mathematical outlook.

Make geometry real by cutting out various shapes; squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles.  Encourage lots of talk about these shapes as you hold them up and have your child name them.

Children can talk about both shape and color.

Discuss how the shapes can be put together to form a rocket. Provide your child a large piece of paper, the shapes, and glue.

Anytime children participate in art activities, you are also developing important fine motor skills, too.

Encourage that wonderful preschool imagination! Allow your child to place the shapes on the paper to make a rocket. Remember – it doesn’t matter if the rocket looks like a rocket to your eyes, it will be a rocket in your child’s eyes!

When children share activities with parents, it leads to positive feelings about important concepts.

You have just set the stage for positive feelings about geometry.

Now…5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – let’s add another math skill. Children who know how to count backwards possess an important background for subtraction.  Blasting off and counting down from 5 or 10 makes this a part of preschool play. So, use the geometric rocket to role-play a NASA rocket lift-off.  Develop this precursor subtraction skill by pretending to be “mission control” as your child engineer counts down to lift-off.

Blasting off to positive feelings about math!

Concept of Print: Ask or Tell

We discussed helping children understand the difference between an ask (question) and a tell (statement) in our previous post. Now you can take this one step further and add Concept of Print to the fun. You may even want to enjoy the spring weather while you are reinforcing the concept. This adds to a child's enjoyment and helps learning feel like a natural part of life.

Write a large question mark on a paper and a period on another paper. When you and the child (or children) are talking about signs of spring, hold up the question mark to indicate an ask and the period for a tell.

For example, this child described the buds on the bushes. He said, "There are small, small buds on the prickly branches." This was a statement so he was prompted to hold up the period.

He also asked questions such as, "Are there worms crawling under the ground?" He was given the question mark to hold. He learned this was the special sign to use when you ask for an answer.

As the outdoor experience continued, the child did not need as many prompts to hold up a question mark or period. He learned by doing!

Finally, the child sat outside with a book and eagerly discovered the same punctuation marks in print.

We think we may need to teach literacy objectives inside, but outdoor learning, using a child's natural curiosity, can accomplish something as important as understanding punctuation marks!

An Overlooked School Readiness "Skill"

Children can be an endless stream of questions: 

“Why is the sky blue?”
“Why do I sleep at night?”
“How come we need to go shopping?” 

Preschoolers also love to tell tales and may not stop for a breath:

“We went to the park and saw a frog that was making a loud noise and he hopped away.”
“My brother took my puzzle and now one of the pieces is lost and my mother can’t find it so I am not happy.”

Often these questions and tales are told when you are trying to teach your preschoolers. That is why it is helpful to teach children the difference between an “ask” and a “tell.”

I like to tell children that some things are said to let others know what we are thinking. Other things are asked and we need the other person to answer. I give children some easy examples such as:

“Is your shirt red?”

I find out if the child has enough background to identify this as an “ask” or a “tell.” If the child does, I proceed; but if not, I share my thinking and say, “I expect you to answer. So that is an “ask.” What is your answer?” I then give several more examples of an “ask” before stating examples of “tells” like, "I have a yellow crayon."

Next, I would ask the child to provide some “asks” and “tells.” This is something I review constantly with preschoolers. When we have class sharing or a guest in the classroom, the child is then better equipped to understand what he or she can say when raising a hand. Kindergarten and first grade teachers will thank you as often children raise their hands to tell a long story when a question has been expected. This is an often overlooked but important school readiness “skill.”

Math and Fine Motor: A Colorful Combination!

We love when we can integrate a subject area with the development of fine motor skills. This math activity is perfect for doing just this. The bonus? It also helps review colors and it’s fun!

Prepare by creating number cards, about 3”x 3”. Write a target numeral on each along with a meaningful representation such as dots depicting the number as shown below.

You can develop verbal skills by asking children to talk about the dots as you draw them.

As you can see, these cards should then be attached to a pipe cleaner.

It is helpful to laminate the cards, if possible.

 Place a bowl of beads with a number of pipe cleaners next to it.

Be sure your beads have large enough openings for the child to place them on the pipe cleaner.

Children read the numeral on the card, use the dots to count, and then find the same number of beads. They thread the beads onto the pipe cleaner so that the target number is represented.

Children may initially use a variety of ways to push the beads onto the pipe cleaner.

Encourage children to use the pincer grasp. This develops important hand muscles and builds control for a proper pencil grip.

This child learned that using the pincer grasp was the most efficient way to slip the beads onto the pipe cleaner.

You can use this activity at a center, as a whole class hands-on lesson, or you can even send home the materials in a Zip-Loc bag for family practice.

Children like to put their finished work in sequential order - another skill!

Use Your Words!

“Use your words.” It’s a statement that families and teachers often use when dealing with upset children. But, as we all know, this is often easier said than done. We use our words but how can young children, still in the egocentric stage of development, tell us how they feel rather than resorting to actions? And these actions can range from hitting to crying loudly so you can’t reason with the child.  How can we get children to use their words?

            One of the key things to remember is that our understanding, as adults, about this statement is different than a child’s understanding. We need to help children know what the statement means before they become upset. When children are talking in a normal and calm situation, you can reinforce the idea of using words by simply saying, “I like the way you are using your words.” For example, if a child says, “I would like more potatoes,” you can compliment him for using his words.

If you notice two children in a classroom sharing crayons, help them see that this is what you mean when you say, “use your words.” You can reinforce whatever you see by saying, “It makes me feel so happy when you use your words to ask for the yellow crayon.” This gives children an important background in what the phrase means.

You can also teach children an important sentence to fill in with feeling words. In the scenario above, the child could say, “It makes me feel happy when you share your crayons.” I often give children the starter phrase, “It makes me feel ____________________________ when you ___________________________.” We practice this phrase, even in calm times.

            When a situation escalates to crying or yelling at another child, you can ask the angry child to explain how he feels. So, for example, a child might say, “It makes me feel mad when you won’t share the glue.”  If you have practiced this enough times in a calm situation, chances are better that the child will know what to say in a tense moment.

            So, develop background in helping a child know what you mean by the phrase, “use your words” and practice saying “it makes me feel _________________ when you _______________.” Preschoolers are then more likely to talk about their feelings rather than resorting to tears and negative actions.  Of course, nothing is perfect and a developmental stage is a developmental stage but we can try!

This child has a background in “using his words.” He has something to draw on when he becomes upset.  His mother will coach him when he is crying uncontrollably.

             This child is upset in the grocery store. His mother gave him the phrase, “It makes me feel angry when you __________________” and he tearfully finished it for her by saying “won’t give me a cookie.” She was able to resolve the issue and continue shopping.