Primary Chalkboard: Ideas for Teaching Phonemic Awareness

Hi everyone! It's been a while! I'm really excited about today's post. I've been working on this post for a while. This is a topic that I feel really passionate about. Phonemic awareness is a huge part of my kindergarten curriculum. I wanted to share with you some things I do with my students to strengthen their phonemic awareness. You've maybe heard many or all of these before, but I thought it would be nice to have them in one spot with pictures and videos.

Before I begin, let me make it clear that I do NOT claim to be an expert. I'm just sharing what I've learned over the years and what works for me. I know there is SO much more that I need to learn and I look forward to every. single. bit of it. :)

Here we go! Let's get started.
Here are some activities that my students (and my son) love to do.

I do this with my kindergarten small groups every day. There are three ways we do this:

1. I use the slinky to stretch a word and they guess the word (they are blending sounds)

2. I give them a word and they stretch the sounds with the slinky (they are segmenting)

3. Make it a game: One student gets a picture card. They segment the word with the slinky and the group guesses the word. To see a little video, visit my blog (link at the bottom of this post).

I have all these trains and tracks since I have two boys. I'm putting them to use!

In this video, I'm showing you different ways to use this track:

1. Isolating sounds

2. Segmenting Sounds

3. Manipulating Sounds

I know what you're thinking. Sarah, these are the same activities just with different manipulatives. Yep, you got it. Repetition for our students is good. They think they are doing something different when you put something new in their hands.

I use this one the most. You've seen it before. You can use anything to push the sounds: pennies, pom-poms, math counters, etc. Make it interesting. I've even used acorns.

This is a favorite! Get a favorite stuffed animal or little puppet. I got this idea from this amazing teacher I worked with years ago in North Carolina. She taught me pretty much everything I know. Get your little puppet or stuffy. Tell your students that he speaks a funny slow language and you need help figuring out what he is saying. Ask questions like, "what is your favorite color?" Have your puppet answer, "/r/ /e/ /d/". Act really dramatic with the kids. A little dramatic flare gets their attention. Ha, ha. "What?! I can't understand you! Say it again." Have your puppet do it again. Then call on a student to "translate" for you.