Marking sounds in words
Strategy
Competence in phonemic awareness is clearly related to success in spelling skills and involves understanding and demonstrating skills in:
- rhyming.
- hearing individual sounds in spoken language - phoneme awareness.
- segmenting.
- blending.
- manipulating individual sounds in spoken language.
Modelling strategies and then guiding students through those strategies in controlled and then independent activities provide the opportunity for them to see, practise and consolidate skills. Further to this, activities which allow students opportunities to transfer and consolidate their new skills in a variety of contexts are essential. There are many strategies that support phonemic awareness; however, instruction should progress from 'shallow to deep' (Stanovich, 1993).
As there is a reciprocal relationship between reading and phonemic awareness (Adams, 1990; Stanovich, 1986), phonemic awareness is taught in the context of teaching reading and writing.
- Adams, M.J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Stanovich, K. E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading : Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 21, 360-406.
- Stanovich, K. E. (1993). Does reading make you smarter? Literacy and the development of verbal intelligence. Advances in Child Development and Behaviour, 24, 133-180.
Activities to support the strategy
Activity 1: beginning-middle-end
Beginning-Middle-End is useful as an extremely brief, whole-class activity.
- The teacher places the letters of a three- or four-letter word face down so that the students cannot see them and tells the students the word (e.g., dog).
- The teacher and students sing the following brief song to the tune of “Are You Sleeping, Brother John?”: “Beginning, middle, end; beginning, middle, end/Where is the sound? Where is the sound?/Where’s the d in dog? Where’s the d in dog?/Let’s find out. Let’s find out.”
- After singing, one student comes forward, picks the position (beginning, middle, or end) that he or she believes the sound is in, and turns around the letter card. If the child reveals the letter d the teacher asks the class, “Does this letter make the d sound?” and confirms, “Yes, it does, doesn’t it? We hear the d sound at the beginning of dog.”
- Repeat this process for the other two phonemes. It is more engaging if the teacher does not ask for the phonemes in sequence. Middle sounds are more difficult to discern so they should be asked later.
- Use Beginning – Middle–End one or two times each day during kindergarten and early first grade, selecting words that reinforce the letters that students are studying.
- Use high frequency words on the blank chart to show a visual letter-phoneme map. Laminate on A3 to use several times a day.
- Use a Y shaped arrow when two letters make one phoneme and no arrows connecting phonemes that make no sound (e.g. silent ‘e’).
Activity 2: word mapping
Use high frequency words on the blank chart to show a visual letter-phoneme map. Laminate on A3 to use several times a day.
Use a Y shaped arrow when two letters make one phoneme and no arrows connecting phonemes that make no sound (e.g. silent ‘e’).
Activity 3: spelling roll–a–word (ES1 – S2)
Start with the first word in your spelling list. Roll a die and complete the activity for the number you roll. Continue with the rest of your list.
References
Australian curriculum
ACELA1471: Expressing and developing ideas: Understand how to use digraphs, long vowels, blends and silent letters to spell words, and use morphemes and syllabification to break up simple words and use visual memory to write irregular words.