Phonological Awareness Resources
“Phonological awareness was found to be a better predictor of reading readiness than standard reading readiness tests” (Crawley, 2012, p. 23).
Below Grade Level Students
- Ice Cream Cone Phoneme Segmentation: Students will practice segmenting phonemes with hands-on practice. Have your student segment given words. As he/she segments each word, have him/her stack ice cream onto the ice cream cone.
- Boats on the Water Phoneme Segmentation: Students will practice segmenting phonemes with hands-on practice. Have your student segment given words. As he/she segments each word, have him/her place boats on the water. Click here for the boats and water template.
English Language Learners
- Phoneme Closed Sort: Students will practice segmenting and counting phonemes using pictures. Have your student choose a picture and segment the phonemes in the picture's name. Count the number of phonemes by clapping, tapping, or stepping. Then place the picture under the correct number of phonemes in the word. Click here for the directions, pictures, and numbers.
- Sound Spin: Students will practice segmenting and counting phonemes using pictures. Have your student spin the arrow and locate one card with the corresponding number of phonemes. Place picture on student sheet under corresponding number. Click here for the directions, pictures, and student sheet.
Students with Autism
- Phoneme Hopscotch: Students will practice segmenting and counting phonemes with a kinesthetic approach. Have your student pick a picture card, segment the phonemes, and count the number of phonemes. The student hops that many numbers on the hopscotch, segmenting the word as they hop. Click here for the picture cards and directions.
- Say and Slide Phonemes: Students will practice segmenting phonemes with the use of Elkonin boxes. Have your student say the name of the picture, segment the phonemes, and slide chips as they segment the phonemes. Click here for directions and pictures with Elkonin boxes.
- The Sound Game: Students will practice segmenting and counting phonemes in a fun, visual game. Have students draw a picture card, say the name of the card, segment and count the phonemes. The student will then move his/her game piece the corresponding number of spaces until one player reaches the end space. Click here for the directions, picture cards, and game board.
Students with Dyslexia
- Move and Tell: Students will practice isolating medial sounds with the use of a picture board. Have your student roll a die and move their game piece that number of spaces. He/she should then say the name of the picture and isolate the medial sound. Click here for the directions and game board.
- See it, Sound it: Students will practice identifying initial sounds with the use of objects. Place several objects in a bag or box. Have your student select an item from the bag and state the initial sound of the object. This can be adapted for medial and final sounds, too. Click here for the directions to this activity.
- The Last Sound Is..: Students will practice identifying last sounds in objects by playing a game. In partners or one-on-one with a student, identify an item with a given last sound. "Find an object with the last sound /l/." Have your student select which item(s) you are thinking of. Click here for the directions to this activity.
Gifted Students
- Sound Quest: Students will identify if two pictures have the same initial, medial, or final sound. Have your student cut out the double picture cards and identify if the pictures have the same initial, medial, or final sound. Place the card in the corresponding spot on the mat. Click here for the directions, cards, and student mat.
- Phoneme Feud: Students will practice segmenting phonemes and comparing words to identify which word has the greater amount of phonemes. In pairs, have your students make two decks of the picture cards. Each student will draw a card from the top and segment the phonemes. The student with the greater number of phonemes gets to keep the cards. Click here for the directions and cards.
- Phoneme Photos: Students will practice segmenting phonemes of students' names (various lengths) and counting them with interlocking cubes. Print students' photographs and place on flat surface. Students will draw a picture, say the student in the picture's name, count the number of phonemes and make a stack of cubes to represent the number. Click here for the directions and adaptation picture cards.