Phonological Awareness with Tara from Looney's Literacy



We are pleased to have another guest blogger with us today!  Tara from Looney's Literacy Blog is here to help us all with some phonological awareness activities!

Hello, Adventures in Literacy Land friends! My name is Tara Looney from Looney's Literacy Blog and I'm pleased to be a guest blogger here where I can meet new literacy lovin' bloggy buddies!
I'm here today to share a little bit about phonological awareness and the part it plays in literacy learning. Since the National Reading Panel's research on the six basic components of literacy learning and my own personal experience with my child with developmental delays in speech and language and  proprioceptive sensory disorder, I've made it my mission to discover the literacy learning process and share it with others so that we can reach as many kiddos as possible. 

By the time our kiddos reach us in Kindergarten, especially if they've not had pre-school, it is important to teach explicit phonological skills to those who seem to have not mastered them yet. 
Phonological skills are closely related to  language and listening skills (All strong indicators of future literacy learning success).  A quick check at the beginning of the year is simple  and  can be done  within any normal "getting accustomed to school" routines. 

As an intervention teacher, I spend the first 2-3 weeks observing whole group instruction and independent activities. I try to keep record of observations that raise the red flag of possible learning difficulties. Language, listening and phonological awareness are  among the top five "literacy look fors" at the beginning of the year.

What Do We Look For When Checking for Phonological Awareness?

I like to look at phonological awareness as an umbrella. The solid upper portion containing the "developmental" foundation for listening and language. Research states that rhyming awareness occurs around 3-4 yrs of age  and syllable awareness around 5-6 years. One of the first things I focus on is language and listening, which is going to tie into phonological awareness. Kids come to us at the age of five at varying levels of literacy learning. Listening to them them talk is a strong indicator of where to begin their literacy learning with you.

Easy Checklist:

1. Do they speak in complete sentences?
3. Do they hear rhymes?  Teacher says,"Do cat and sat rhyme?"
4. Can they produce rhymes? Teacher says, "Tell me a word that rhymes with car."
5. Can they hear syllables? (In words with 1-4 syllables - 1 syllable words are sometimes the hardest because they want to break the word into phonemes)

How do we address phonological awareness with the whole class and students who still need practice?

Addressing phonological awareness activities with the whole class can be done by choosing books that have a rhyming pattern for class read alouds, including rhyming activities to work on independently during word work time, and discussing how many parts are in a word during shared writing time. This can and should happen throughout all content subjects. For kiddos who need additional, more explicit teaching I extend their learning opportunities into small group time. As an intervention teacher, I've created some extension activities that are based off of classroom read alouds. Just recently, one of our Kindergarten classroom was studying Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse when they were learning about the letter P. So I took that story and created a fun syllable activity to go with it.
Click image to see my post on "Literacy Look Fors" 
It's kind of hard to see but when you close the flaps it makes Lily's purple plastic purse.

*Disclaimer: Remember not to stay on any one literacy component for too long, you can always "spiral," or loop skills back into learning as needed.*

I want to again, thank all you friends over at Adventures in Literacy Land for your generosity by allowing me to share some of my knowledge.  If you would like to hear more from me click on my blog button at the top and you'll be directed to my blog. 






Tara

3 comments

  1. Love the pink syllable purses, Tara! What a cute idea! Thanks for a great post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tara-Thanks so much for the great post. Excellent suggestion...and one that can be modified depending on grade level.
    Carla
    PS...love your knew blog design. Very sophisticated.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That purse is so cute! My 5 year old would love to make that!

    Deniece

    ReplyDelete