Learning by Sound

What is phonemic awareness and why is it important?

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear individual parts of words, be able to separate the parts, put the parts back together and change the parts to make new words (Adams, 1990). This early literacy skill usually developed by the end of first grade, is a strong indicator of reading success in young children and kindergarten readiness. Phonemic awareness can be introduced to young children through reading rhyming books, singing songs, and chanting nursery rhymes.

When a child has developed phonemic awareness, he or she is able to enjoy language and play with its sounds. Children will understand the language we speak can be divided into individual words that can break into syllables (parts/chunks). Children will also be able to identify the beginning, middle and ending sounds in words and match words with the same beginning sound.

Here are some suggested books for developing phonemic awareness (this is not a complete list):

Rhyming Books

• Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault
• Duck in the Truck by Jez Alborough
• A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein
• Is Your Mama a Llama by Deborah Guarino

Alliteration Books

• Dr. Seuss’s ABC by Dr. Seuss
• K is for Kissing a Cool Kangaroo by Giles Andreae
• Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan Edwards

Playing With Sound Books

• The Hungry Thingby Jan Slepian
• If I had a Paka by Charlotte Pomerantz
• Oodles of Noodles by Lucia Hymes

Alphabet Books

• A is for Salad by Mike Lester
• Albert’s Alphabet by Leslie Tyron
• Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert
• Tomorrow’s Alphabet by George Shannon

Songs/Poetry

• The Eensy-Weensy Spider by Mary Ann Hoberman
• Hush, Little Baby by Margot Zemach
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by Iza Trapani

What you can do at home to strengthen your child’s phonemic awareness:

Parents can participate in the development of their children’s phonemic awareness by turning everyday activities into teachable moments. The activities listed below are intended to be done orally and for short periods of time (5-7 min.) repeatedly throughout the day (in the car, in the bath, waiting in line or for a bus, etc.)

Rhyming Activities

Children are naturally drawn to rhyming words. Parents can incorporate rhyming activities by reading aloud books that play with language. Visit your local library for Dr. Seuss books, which are an excellent resource to help children develop phonemic awareness.

Try these activities at home to reinforce your child’s concept of rhyme:

• Give your child a word and then generate a list of rhyming words together (log, frog, dog, hog, etc.)
• Read and teach your child nursery rhymes

Syllable Manipulation

Activities that encourage children to manipulate syllables are generally easy for most parents and children to engage in. A syllable, quite simply, is a word part. Young children often don’t know or understand the term syllable, but they are able to hear the parts of words. The most common methods of manipulating syllables include clapping, tapping fingers, and snapping fingers.

Try these activities at home to reinforce your child’s concept of syllables:

• Clap the syllables of names of people in the family, places the family has visited, food in the kitchen, toys in the toy box, or friends at school. For example, as the family passes in front of a library, the parent might say, “Look a library. Let’s clap to see how many syllables are in library.” The parent and child could then clap their hands to each syllable in the word library.
• Place a few common objects into a bag. Ask your child to pull one of the objects out of the bag and then clap or pronounce the name of the object segmented into syllables (e.g., dic-tion-ar-y, ap-ple, un-der-wear).

Phoneme Blending, Segmentation, and Manipulation

Activities that involve phoneme manipulation deal with the individual sounds of words. A phoneme is a sound made by an individual letter. Manipulating the phoneme means working with the sounds in words in a concrete way. Again, the most common ways to manipulate individual sounds include clapping, tapping, or snapping fingers. The activity may be focused on a beginning, ending, or middle sound, of a word. It is important for your child to be able to segment words into their individual sounds, blend sounds into whole word, and change sounds to make new words.

Below are some common, yet confusing, terms when discussing the sounds (phonemes) in words.

• Isolation: Say the first, middle or last part of the word.
• Deletion: Say the word “cat” without the first part: at.
• Addition: Say the word you have when you add the sound /s/ to the word top: /s/top.
• Categorization: Say the word that does not belong in this group of words: pig, pack, top, put.
• Segmentation: Say how many parts are in the word lunch.

The following activities can help you practice this at home:

• An excellent activity parents can engage in with their children is a scavenger hunt. The parent and child can hunt around the house, at the store, in the yard, at the park, in the car, etc., for things that begin with the same sound as the child’s name, or some other sound.
• Make up sentences together with the stipulation that every major word has to have the same beginning sound (Seven silly snails sat slowly on the sand.)

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This blog post has been adapted from the article What is Phonemic Awareness

www.psd202.org/eagle/Documents/Phonemic.pdf

Interactive Read Alouds

In honor of Eric Carle’s birthday on June 25^th, let’s celebrate by reflecting on one of his most famous books.

(http://www NULL.rarbayarea NULL.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/brown+bear+brown+bear NULL.jpg)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a popular read aloud and easy to memorize. Raising A Reader specializes in interactive read aloud where we not only read the words but include an action (sound or movement) and/or question with each page. During an interactive read aloud, some of the questions we might ask (depending on the age group) for this book include:

• What sound does the animal make?
• Where does the animal live?
• What does the animal eat?
• What are their babies called?
• Name three things that are (color)?
• What words rhyme with (name of animal)?

For our English language learners, we invite them to share the name and color of the animals in their home language.

The book can also be read as a song (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=pdHCYgO9zh8). (more…)

KIT Camp

San Francisco Unified School District’s KIT (Kindergarteners In Training) Camp is up and running and partnering with local organizations to help support a smooth transition into Kindergarten for San Francisco’s youth. Raising A Reader (RAR) is offering the participating Kindergarten classes weekly read aloud sessions in the classroom and is one of the main presenters at the camp’s Family Literacy Nights. June 14^th kicked off the first Family Literacy Night; hosted by SFUSD, Raising A Reader and San Francisco Public Library (SFPL). Families were provided with a dinner, while the SFPL offered library services. Parents were able to fill out library card applications and board the Book Mobile with their children; where library cards were distributed and books were checked out. RAR and SFPL then joined forces in the cafeteria and presented two interactive stories. RAR ended the evening with the parents by facilitating a conversation about early literacy skills, brain development, and the importance of maintaining healthy reading habits in the home.

On the other side of the Bay, program coordinators have been talking to parents about preventing the “summer slide” (http://www NULL.scholastic NULL.com/resources/article/three-ways-to-prevent-summer-slide) by maintaining reading routines throughout the summer and visiting local libraries (http://www NULL.rarbayarea NULL.org/2011/05/summer-reading-season/). Parent are provided handouts with tips on promoting the six early literacy skills and kindergarten readiness.

(http://www NULL.rarbayarea NULL.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/6earlylitskills NULL.png)

(http://www NULL.appliedsurveyresearch NULL.org/projects/KSRA_2008/reports/SanMateoCounty_SchoolReadinessAssessment2008-FinalReport NULL.pdf)

Diagram from the San Mateo School Readiness Assessment (http://www NULL.appliedsurveyresearch NULL.org/projects/KSRA_2008/reports/SanMateoCounty_SchoolReadinessAssessment2008-FinalReport NULL.pdf), 2008. Page 54
This core set of skills reflects the five dimensions of readiness articulated by the National Education Goals Panel.

June 21 is Summer Learning Day (http://www NULL.sfgate NULL.com/cgi-bin/blogs/jpeck/detail?entry_id=91219)

This national advocacy day is a great opportunity to showcase summer reading programs and get the word out about the importance of continued learning. (http://www NULL.summerlearning NULL.org/?page=summer_learning_day)

Summer learning programs:

• help participants maintain and advance academic and developmental growth
• support working families
• keep children safe and healthy
• send young people back to school ready to learn

(http://www NULL.naeyc NULL.org/woyc)

April 10–16, 2011, is the Week of the Young Child (http://www NULL.naeyc NULL.org/woyc), an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

NAEYC first established the Week of the Young Child in 1971, recognizing that the early childhood years (birth through age eight) lay the foundation for children’s success in school and later life. The Week of the Young Child is a time to plan how we – as citizens of a community, of a state, and of a nation – will better meet the needs of all young children and their families.

source: http://www.naeyc.org/woyc/faq (http://www NULL.naeyc NULL.org/woyc/faq)

Visit the NAEYC website for Key Facts About Children and Families (http://).

During Week of the Young Child, Raising A Reader staff will be at:

Jumpstart for a Day
Thursday, April 14, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
San Francisco Civic Center Plaza
Selected preschool children and teacher’s will experience various hands-on learning stations, inspired by a popular children’s book.

Week of the Young Child Celebration and Resource Fair
Friday, April 15, 9:00am – 3:30pm
Children’s Fairyland, Oakland
Parents and families can learn about safety and wellness at this celebration and resource fair.
Please NOTE: This event is for Oakland Head Start parents only.

To learn about additional activities, check out the calendar of events for 2011 Week of the Young Child ( http://www NULL.childrenscouncil NULL.org/?q=community/WOYC), assembled by the Children’s Council of San Francisco.

For more information about Early Care and Education in San Francisco and Alameda Counties visit:

• The Department of Children, Youth & Their Families - San Francisco (http://www NULL.dcyf NULL.org/Content NULL.aspx?id=1440¬e=1462&ekmensel=14_submenu_16_btnlink)
• First 5 Alameda County (http://www NULL.ackids NULL.org/index NULL.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=8)

Community Partnerships

On Saturday, March 26, 65 Early Childhood Educators were honored at the Early Literacy Buffet, an event hosted by the San Francisco Public Library (http://sfpl NULL.org/index NULL.php?pg=0000026601) and The San Francisco Early Literacy Network (http://sfearlyliteracynetwork NULL.blogspot NULL.com/). We celebrated the crucial role of early childhood educators in the lives of children 0-5 with a lovely breakfast, a showcase of early literacy resources, and mini-workshops presented by Janell Bolte and Betsy Keever Russakoff (Early Literacy Consultants), and Lynne Maes and Alli Spector (Raising A Reader and Jamestown Community Center).
(http://www NULL.rarbayarea NULL.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Your-library-card NULL.jpg)
As one educator remarked: “I wanted to take a moment to let you know what a positive experience Saturday’s workshop was for me. . . . [The] collaborative efforts allowed me to come away with a much greater awareness and understanding of early literacy resources in San Francisco, and gave me a renewed enthusiasm to pursue ways in which our center can benefit from these services.” (http://www NULL.rarbayarea NULL.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Big-bigger-biggest NULL.jpg)

It was our pleasure to honor and nurture those people who make a difference in the lives of children each and every day.

For more information about the Early Literacy Network, please visit http://sfearlyliteracynetwork.blogspot.com/ (http://sfearlyliteracynetwork NULL.blogspot NULL.com/)

Myths & Truths about Bilingualism

On Saturday February 12th, Raising a Reader Coordinators, Sara Rizik-Baer and Jo McConnell, presented RAR’s new workshop, “Myths and Truths of Bilingualism: Supporting English Learners through Literacy” at Jumpstart’s annual Early Childhood Education Academy. The event held at San Francisco State University provided Jumpstart (http://jumpstart-sf NULL.sfsu NULL.edu/)Corps members with an opportunity to utilize scientific evidence to dispel common myths about bilingualism and language development. Participants brainstormed and modeled strategies to support English language development in the classroom that will respect and support students’ diverse home languages. Fun and learning was achieved by all!

Five common myths are addressed below:

Myth: Children who are exposed to more than one language get confused.
Truth: Young children have the brain capacity and the neural flexibility for learning two or more languages without becoming confused.

Myth: Bilingual children are slower than monolingual children in developing speech.
Truth: There is no evidence regarding a later age in developing speech for bilingual children.

Myth: Mixing languages or ‘code switching’ is a sign of the child being confused.
Truth: ‘Code switching’ is a normal part of bilingual language development and a common communication strategy for bilingual children & adults.

Myth: Home language interferes with children’s ability to learn English.
Truth: Home language does not interfere with the ability to learn English. In fact, a strong foundation in the home language positively impacts the learning of a second language

Myth: Children can learn a second language very quickly.
Truth: It takes two years for children to incorporate a conversational level in a second language, and five to seven years to achieve an academic level (i.e., school related skills – language of text).

**Developed by: SCMOE Early Childhood Language Development Institute**

To learn more on this topic read:

Psychology Today’s article Myths about Bilingualism (http://www NULL.psychologytoday NULL.com/blog/life-bilingual/201010/myths-about-bilingualism-0)

Linda M. Espinosa’s article Challenging Common Myths about Young English Language Learners (http://www NULL.claytonearlylearning NULL.org/files/espinosaarticle NULL.pdf)