You are your child’s first teacher, and reading with your child is a proven way to early literacy.
Helping to ensure your child is reading on grade level by third grade is an important task. By reading with your child 20 minutes a day and making a few simple things a part of your daily routine, you can make a positive impact on your child’s school success.
What is phonological awareness?
Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and work with sounds in spoken language. It is the foundation for
learning to read.
What can students with strong phonological awareness do?
Students with strong phonological awareness can:
- rhyme;
- count syllables;
- recognize sounds alone and in words;
- add, remove, and substitute sounds in words;
- break words into their different sounds and blend them back together; and isolate sounds.
Phonological Awareness Activities:
Rhyming Activities
- Using the most common word families, play a game where you and your child take turns thinking of rhyming words. Whoever comes up with the most for each word family wins! Example: “What words can you think of that rhyme with -at?” “Cat!” “Hat!” “Rat!” “Fat!” “Gnat!”
I Spy
- Play “I Spy” with your child, but instead of naming a color, say, “I spy something that rhymes with ____.” Take turns with your child playing the game. Encourage the use of nonsense words as rhyming clues. Note: a nonsense word a pattern of letters that may resemble a real word but does not appear in any standard dictionary.
One of These Things is Not Like the Other
- Give your child a list of three words where only two words rhyme. Ask them to identify which word does not belong. Example: "Dog, frog, mat."
