How to Increase Phonemic Awareness Skills
In Kindergarten, phonemic awareness skills acquisition is a focal point in language and reading development. Kindergarten phonemic awareness challenges include memorizing the consonant sounds that are associated with each letter of the alphabet and learning to detect the part of a word where a specific consonant sound is heard.
Your Kindergarteners can practice honing their phonemic awareness skills with some of these activities available via the Web:
Kindergarten Phonemic Awareness Activities from PBS Kids
PBS Kids offers several fun online games that even young children can play to develop phonemic awareness skills:
Elmo shows the child a selection of objects on the shelves of a closet. He names one of the objects and asks the child to select all of the items in the closet that rhyme with the named object. As the child mouses over an object, Elmo says the name of the object.
The child hears a short word spoken and is asked to look at three written words and click on the word that he heard. The child gets multiple chances to get it right, and after making a correct match, sees the written word next to a picture of the named object.
The child sees a picture and a word label for the picture. A letter is missing from the word. It is the child’s task to select the missing letter from three letters provided. The game also provides a little help: the child can mouse over several letters to hear the sound each one makes before selecting an answer.
Alphabet Chant from EFL Playhouse
While the website is geared toward teachers of English Language Learners, the Alphabet Chant is appropriate as a general classroom Kindergarten phonemic awareness activity. The chant is designed to be fun, can be incorporated into the classroom in just 5-10 minutes, and over time helps young learners associate letters with sounds.
Kindergarten Phonemic Awareness Activities from “Patti’s Classroom”
From Los Angeles County Office of Education, “Patti’s Electronic Classroom” provides many resources for teachers of students in grades K-3—including a selection of kindergarten phonemic awareness activities:
- Word rhyming
- Syllable segmentation
- Beginning sound substitution
- Sound isolation
- Phonemic segmentation
Kindergarten Phonemic Awareness Activities from SaskEd
These phonemic awareness activities from SaskEd encourage the use of books and songs that rhyme as well as tongue twisters, alliteration, and other types of language play. The end of the article features a list of books for young children that highlight language play.
Graphophonic Strategies and Activities
In addition to the book list and language play suggestions, SaskEd’s graphophonic strategies and activities are perfect for helping kindergarteners discover the alphabetic principle, the idea that each letter of the alphabet is associated with one or two sounds. Activities include making and reading one-letter books and a fun challenge to sing the alphabet backwards sometimes.
Have fun with these phonemic awareness activities and help your Kindergarteners begin to develop a lifelong enjoyment of language and reading and become a successful reader.
