Phonemic Awareness

In the past, educators took for granted that children had the ability to distinguish sounds. Over the past few years there has been a better understanding that not all children have this ability. These children greatly benefit in being given assistance in this area and the push towards phonemic instruction was adapted. Phonemic awareness does not relate to identifying letters but a child's ability to distinguish sounds. I attended a session where a school gave a presentation on how they have included phonemic awareness instruction daily with their kindergarten class. They devoted 10-15 minutes every day to this. They noticed an increase in the children within their school being more successful in learning to read.

I often refer to the site that you will find in the link below because it provides you with a wealth of information on this topic and a video demonstrating instruction in this area. However, in the session I attended the children were given little hand mirrors to observe how their lips and tongue moved when they made the different sounds. They would also hold their hand close to their lips and feel the air movement as they made different sounds. This gave the children an understanding of how and why different sounds are produced.

I have included the link below for more information on this topic. Maybe you can start thinking about using little mirrors in your own phonemic instructional period.


Phonemic Awareness

Five Senses Literature Books

Below you will find a list of books that can be used in conjunction with introducing the theme "Five Senses". Click on the titles if you wish to read the reviews and purchase.
Library - Some Suggested Books:

1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Eric Carle
2. Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr.
3. Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young
4. My Five Senses by Aliki
5. You Can’t Taste a Pickle With Your Ear by Harriet Ziefert
6. You Can’t Smell a Flower With Your Ear by Joanna Cole
7. The 5 Senses by Nuria Roca
8. Smell by Maria Rius
9. Touch by Maria Rius
10. Hearing by Maria Rius
11. Taste by Maria Rius
12. Sight by Maria Rius
13. The Listening Walk by Paul Showers