Research Behind Phonemic Awareness
Is that phonemic awareness booklet collecting dust on your shelf? Shake it off and open it up! While you do, you’ll want to be sure you’re doing these three things while you’re teaching your phonemic awareness activities in order to get the most out of your whole and small group sessions:
Apply phonemic awareness to print as soon as possible. Why? Because research states that this is when PA becomes most effective! Introduce it orally to start, but as soon as kiddos are ready, apply those skills to print.
Apply these skills to the phonics skills that students are currently learning. It can’t just be random. Have the focus be on the skills that are being taught in the classroom that week.
Focus on blending and segmenting. These are the two most important components in the reading journey. These two skills push your readers forward into actual reading (decoding) and writing spelling)
Make the most of all of those phonemic awareness activities! This is a kind reminder that when you know better, you do better. When you are equipped with the research and knowledge, you can enhance your phonics activities and see incredible results when you do so.