Lesson plans for phonological awareness

Building Phonemic Awareness With Phoneme Isolation

Overview

In this phonemic awareness lesson designed for a first-grade classroom, students engage in games and chants to recognize the same sounds in different words. Students match objects with the same beginning or ending sound, identify whether a given sound occurs at the beginning or ending of a word, and connect phonemes with graphemes.

From Theory to Practice

Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom (Yopp)

• Phonemic awareness, which is the awareness that speech consists of a sequence of sounds, should be a priority in early reading instruction.
• Phonemic awareness instruction should provide students with "linguistic stimulation in the form of storytelling, word games, rhymes, and riddles."
• Phonemic awareness instruction should move from rhyming words to smaller units of sound, and finally to individual phonemes
• Phonemic awareness instruction can be strictly oral or may include some sort of concrete cue.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

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Grade Select12K

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Paper bag
• Select objects/object images
• Chart paper
• Markers
• Index cards
• Overhead projector (optional)

Printouts

School Specialty Intervention Lesson Pack: Phonemic Awareness

Preparation

1.	Before teaching this lesson, gather several objects with the same beginning or ending sound and put them in a paper bag. Some ideas might be a car and a jar, a nail and a nest, and so on.
2.	Copy the fourth and fifth pages of the School Specialty Intervention Lesson Pack: Phonemic Awareness (they have a picture of a jeep and an ear, respectively) onto a transparency or enlarge on a photocopier.
3.	Create sets of index cards (enough for each student to have one index card) with pictures that have the same beginning or ending sound. Each index card should have only one picture on it. The following pictures can be used: can – cat mat – mop nest – nut mat – rat ham – comb bus – mouse sun – bone ball – doll leg – egg bell – bear five – foot rock – rabbit When the index cards are complete, separate them into pairs that have the same beginning sound and pairs that have the same ending sound.
4.	Photocopy a class set of the first worksheet (the one with a picture of a leg) for students to complete independently.

Student Objectives

Students will

• Chant beginning and ending phonemes in words
• Match objects with the same beginning or ending sound
• Identify whether a key phoneme occurs at the beginning or end of a word
• Connect phonemes with written letters
  

Session 1

1.	Using the bag of objects, pull one object out of the bag. Ask students to identify the object. Ask them what sound they hear at the end of the word. Have students make the sound (e.g., /n/ for can).
2.	Begin a chant by slapping knees and clapping hands with the object. For example, if the object was a can, the chant would go: can – slap knees, clap hands can – slap knees, clap hands /n/ /n/ can – snapping three times
3.	Continue the chant with all objects in the bag. NOTE: be sure to alternate the chant between beginning and ending sounds.
4.	Display the transparency or enlarged worksheet from the lesson pack (the third page with the picture of the ear).
5.	Say each object aloud and ask students which sound they hear at the end of the word. If they are able, have students identify the correct letter for that phoneme. If not, tell the students which letter makes that sound.
6.	Have a student volunteer circle the correct letter.

Session 2

1.	Have students sit in a circle and tell them that they are going to play a sound game.
2.	Give the students two signals – one for if they hear the sound at the beginning of the word, and one if they hear the sound at the end of the word. For example, they could hop on one foot if the sound is at the beginning, or two feet if the sound is at the end.
3.	Give students a key phoneme to listen for (e.g., /m/, /s/) Ask students, "Where do you hear the / /?" Then say a word aloud and have students give the appropriate signal if the sound is at the beginning or end of the word.
4.	Continue the game several times, alternating between beginning and ending sounds.
5.	Display the transparency or enlargement of page four of the lesson pack (the worksheet with the picture of the jeep). Point to the last letter and ask students the sound the letter makes (/p/). Then have students say the name of the picture aloud (jeep). Ask a student volunteer to write the letter p at the beginning or end of the word, depending on where they hear the key sound.
6.	Complete the worksheet together in the same manner.

Session 3

1.	Gather students into a circle and tell them that they are going to play another game.
2.	Get the set of index cards you prepared previously. Begin with either the beginning sound pairs or the ending sound pairs. It is important to do one set of cards at a time so that students will not mix up their partners or not end up with a partner.
3.	Choose half of the students and give them each an index card. At the signal, tell students that they must find their partner who has the card with the same sound (beginning or ending depending on which set you're using).
4.	Switch off and allow the other half of the students to play.
5.	Pass out the first worksheet (the one with the picture of a leg) to students and ask them to complete it independently.

Extensions

• The phonemic awareness activities should be ongoing. Have students continue doing the games and activities with increasingly harder words.
• Dictate a word aloud and have students "air write" or write on paper the letter they hear at the beginner or end of the word.
• Give students additional practice with beginning-letter sounds by having them play the Picture Match game. They can also use the game to practice ideintifying short- and long-vowel sounds.
• To extend these activities and challenge students, use the last worksheet in the lesson pack or have them play the Puzzle Me Words game. This game has students listen to a word read aloud and then drag and drop letters to spell it.  At the beginner level, students can focus on one short-vowel sound at a time.
  

Student Assessment / Reflections

Students should be assessed through observation and anecdotal notes during the games and activities. Students can also be assessed using the worksheet they complete individually to see if they are able to isolate the phonemes.

Quick and Simple Phonemic Awareness Lesson Plans for the Year

Do you want to know about the #1 game changer when it comes to your students becoming successful readers? Phonemic. Awareness. I have seen it year after year making a huge impact on my students. The best part? It is so easy to fit into your day because it will only take 5 minutes. Let's learn why it is so important and how to use these simple and quick phonemic awareness daily lesson plans to watch your students succeed!

Phonemic Awareness can be defined as the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes (aka sounds) in words. This skill is best taught orally, with an “I say, you repeat, think, and solve” type of sequence. While there is a mix of phonological awareness skills (counting syllables, rhyming) in these warm-ups, the main focus is the manipulating of phonemes, creating new words, and listening for word families. These skills are what will help your students become STRONG readers and writers. You'll find if your students are struggling with things like blending CVC words, then they need more support in phonemic awareness. There are the 6 main phonemic awareness skills, in order from simplest to the most complex. You can read more about these specific skills here: Phonemic Awareness Skills Blog Posts.

When students are able to manipulate a word using these phonemic awareness skills, they will become fast and fluent readers. You want to train their brain to see a word family, add a different beginning sound, and be able to read the new word without having to sound out each individual sound. Students should be doing this daily, to see the most growth.

But just how do you teach these skills daily?

After trying to wing it, or spending way too much time planning, I decided to create a yearlong daily warm-up to practice phonemic awareness.

These daily phonemic awareness lesson plans or warm-ups include 40 weeks of direct instruction implementing over 25 skills! Each week, you will have a set of flashcards to practice first. At the beginning of the year, you will be saying the sound, and students will repeat. However, as soon as they catch on, they can just say the sound once they see the flashcard. To help them stay focused and engaged, I like to use hand motions when I am teaching different sounds.

Each week, you will also have three skills to practice from Monday to Friday. These skills rotate throughout the year, so you will touch back on most of them. Continually reviewing phonemic awareness skills is proven to help students retain that knowledge. 

How do I teach each skill?

Phonemic and Phonological Awareness have a lot of new terms, especially if it is your first time teaching this! You can find a free list of all the terms on this post here. However, I made sure to write explicit directions for each skill, so you know word for word what to say. It is so easy to follow, that even substitute teachers can easily follow along with no additional directions!

The first time you teach a new skill to your students, you will have to walk them through each step and practice together. It will take a lot of modeling and repeating until they get the hang of it. If they all can't do it independently by Friday, that is completely normal. It's a new skill they just learned a few days ago! By the second or third week of practice, they will start to be able to do most of it independently.

To start these phonemic awareness daily lesson plans in your classroom, designate about 5-10 minutes of your day as “Phonemic Awareness” time when we do our phonemic awareness daily warm-ups. First, I sit my students down on the carpet, criss-cross and facing me. This helps them stay focused and not be tempted to fiddle with things on their table/desks. Next, we start with the flashcard practice, practicing whichever sounds we are working on at the time.

Then, we go through each phonemic awareness skill. I model how to do it first, then we do it together. By the end of the week, my students are mostly doing it independently. While I am doing this with them, I am constantly scanning and making sure everyone is participating. If I notice a few are not, I point out some students who ARE doing a great job and praise them. Usually, this gets everyone back on track.

Twice a week, I do a “Quick Check” with my students. Rather than everyone answering, I pick individual students to answer. The rest of the class gives them a thumbs up or down if it's correct or not, then repeat the answer. You can also pull out whiteboards and have them write down the answer. For example, if you are isolating beginning sounds, have them write the letter, rather than say the sound aloud.

I tell my students that these 5-10 minutes are the MOST IMPORTANT part of our day. Because it truly is! Daily repetition and practice of phonemic awareness is a must starting in Kindergarten.

If you are interested in trying out a FREE WEEK in your classroom, you can grab the first week here!

Grab these done-for-you daily phonemic awareness lessons on TPT here!

It took me a lot of time to plan out a phonemic awareness lesson, and trying to come up with words on the spot didn't work. That's why I created these quick and simple daily lessons that you can just print and go. This printable Phonemic Awareness Lesson Plans bundle includes 40 weeks of done-for-you phonemic awareness lesson plans that you can just print and go! It cycles through 25 phonemic awareness skills that are developmentally appropriate for Kindergarten or First Grade. Attach it to a clipboard and keep it where you teach your phonics lesson. Each week, you can just switch it out for the next week's lessons. You can find these warm-ups for Kindergarten and First Grade below.

Kindergarten Phonemic Awareness for the Year

First Grade Phonemic Awareness for the Year

Kindergarten and First Grade Mega Bundle

Teaching Virtually? Make sure to check out the Phonemic Awareness Boom Cards Bundle for extra practice! These Boom Cards are designed to be independent practice your students can do without your help after they are able to do each skill successfully. It helps connect phonemic awareness skills to phonics.  

“I am on my 7th year of teaching kindergarten.  This year I have a classroom of 26 students in a public school in South Dakota.  This year I have a very wide learning continuum in my classroom. I was looking for something to help give a boost to my students who were struggling with phonemic awareness and to help solidify phonemic awareness kills of my higher students. Once I found these lessons, I started using them daily with my students. I have already noticed a huge improvement in all the student’s phonemic awareness skills. According to my latest ESGI assessments my students have improved substantially in the areas of rhyming, syllables, blending, and substituting phonemes to create new words.  

I have used the Phonemic Awareness Daily Warm-ups in several different ways in my classroom.  I started by using them to begin my whole group reading instruction. All my students were able to learn the expectations this way and become familiar with the routines.  After the students were comfortable with the new routine of the warm ups I began using them in my small reading groups, during transitions such as waiting in line for lunch, P.E. etc. and using them as phonemic awareness work with a substitute teacher. I love how quick they are, they can hold the student’s attention well.  The directions are explained very thoroughly and have been great to use with a sub for this reason. I can’t wait to continue exploring how I can use Kristina’s phonemic awareness warm- ups in my daily routines in my kindergarten classroom!”

Hope, Kindergarten Teacher in Tennessee writes…

“My name is Hope and I teach Kindergarten at a small private school in Tennessee. I have been using Kristina’s phonological awareness daily warm-up curriculum each morning as part of our morning routine. I love how simple and straight forward it is, but how much it makes the students think. It’s laid out daily for each week, so it’s super easy to use. During our morning I use all but the syllable section as an oral review with them. When teaching reading groups I add the syllable section in there so i can help the students understand syllables, as that is one thing that has stumped my students. My students think the curriculum is a fun game that we play every morning, and they beg to play the game! After using it for about 6 months, there have been a handful of times that we’ve had to miss it in the morning, but my students make sure to remind me later so we can still play their game!

I’ve seen huge improvements in their abilities to write sentence, read, stretch words out to spell, and their confidence levels. Before using this curriculum my student could write independently, but they were unsure if they were hearing every part of the word. Now, my students are taking initiative in their writing, reading, and they are able to aid each other in their word work time. I have been amazed in how far this simple “game” has taken their learning. I absolutely love that the students are making huge gains, but I also love how fun this curriculum has become in our class!”

Melanie, Kindergarten teacher writes…

“I started implementing these Phonemic Awareness Daily Lesson Plans within the first few weeks of school and I am SO glad that I did! I can confidently say that my students this year are so much stronger in phonics than any other class I've had and I believe it is because of this product. The repetition of the flashcards at the beginning helped even my lowest friends learn all their letters and sounds quickly. I love how the phonemic awareness skills change each week based on what we are working on in our phonics unit. It is so easy to informally assess my students and know who needs more support – I can call on individual friends or have the whole class go through a skill. My students also LOVE the warm-ups and they look forward to doing them every single day because it is fun for them! Needless to say, this product has changed my phonics instruction for the better and I am so glad that I found it – the ten minutes each morning truly makes all the difference in the world!”

Abby, Kindergarten teacher in Ohio writes…

“My name is Abby and I teach Kindergarten in Scioto County, Ohio. This is my second year teaching, first in Kindergarten. I found the Phonemic awareness daily warm-ups on Teachers Pay Teachers and immediately knew I needed them for my class. I’ve even gotten the other Kindergarten teacher at my school to start using them! We absolutely love the skills included and the fast-paced format. We do them every morning during my morning meeting on the carpet before we do story time. It’s super easy to just follow the directions on the page and cover SO many skills with your little learners every day! I’m sad I didn’t know about this product at the beginning of the year! It’s only been about a month and I’m already noticing such a difference with my class!”

Grab your free week here!

Grab the yearlong bundle here!

Phonological games for preschoolers | Skyteach

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Before learning to swim, children get used to the water, learn to breathe correctly, and train to lie on the water. In the same way, before learning to read, a preparatory stage is needed - the child must learn to distinguish sounds and control them. This is called phonological awareness.

The development of phonological awareness includes the following steps:

• separating words in a sentence by ear;
• selection of rhyming words;
• distinguishing syllables in words;
• onset recognition and roman. Onset is the initial phoneme in a word, and rima is the sounds following the onset. For example, in the word dog d is onset, and og is rima;
• identification of phonemes in words;
• fusion and separation of phonemes.

I will tell you how to develop phonological awareness through games. The games from the selection are suitable for preschoolers, younger students, as well as for all students who have difficulty learning to read. Tasks are easily adapted for group and individual lessons.

Candy Count

This game teaches you how to count the number of words in a sentence.

You will need a candy wrapper or a printed wrapper and counters such as fruit puree lids or large buttons. Say a sentence and put as many candies in the package as there are words in the sentence. Then the students listen to the sentences and lay out the sweets themselves.

Sample sentences:

• Children play.
• Read a book.
• Boys like cars.
• He likes dancing.
• Mary doesn't live here.

Hungry Spider

We train the ability to find rhyming words.

You will need a web drawn on a sheet of paper, cards with flowers and pictures of rhyming words: pink/sink, red/bread, black/sack, green/bean, brown/clown, blue/shoe.

Attach the web to a board or wall, and place the cards with the pictures of the objects around the room. Read the rhyme aloud, filling in the gap with the first words of the pair:

I'm A Hungry Spider (based on the tune “I'm a Little Teapot”)

I'm a hungry spider, in my web.

Looking for treats that rhyme with _____.

Can you find me a tasty treat?

Put it in my web. Let's eat!

Children must find an object with a rhyming name and fix it on the web, for example, with a magnet. For young children, make cobwebs on the floor with masking tape or masking tape.

Source: Rhyming Activity: I’m a Hungry Spider

Pick a rhyming pair

Task to find consonance in words - rhymes.

You will need cards with rhyming words or real objects with rhyming names. The words must be familiar or learned beforehand. Each child receives a card, walks around the classroom and says the word out loud until they find a rhyme. If the class is large, then the children match in pairs.

Possible word pairs: flag/bag, cake/snake, duck/truck, star/car, boat/goat, bug/rug, pear/bear, log/frog. The number of words depends on the level of knowledge of the child.

Calling animals

Task for distinguishing syllables.

You will need animal figurines, eg bull, donkey, camel, gorilla, elephant. We hide the animals behind our backs and invite the child to call them in turn, dividing the words into syllables. For example, ca-mel, e-le-phant. Clapping hands helps to clearly separate syllables.

In my lessons the animals usually miss their flight: This is the final call for passenger Donkey. Let's call him together. Don key! don key! Hurry up.

Magic pockets

We practice the ability to distinguish syllables in words and count them.

You will need three or four pockets and a stack of word cards. Say the word in syllables - students will count the syllables and put the card in the appropriate pocket.

Pop-it game

Learning to identify phonemes.

The teacher shows the picture and says the word and then breaks it down into phonemes, eg b-u-s . During the pronunciation of sounds, children push the appropriate number of buttons in the pop-it toy. If pop-it is not at hand, then the number of phonemes can be slammed.

Puppet conversation

Task to merge phonemes into words.

Put on a glove puppet and say that it speaks puppet language - this will be a temporary name for English. Ask the children to translate what the toy says. For example:

Teacher (puppet voice): H-e-l-o. What does Mr Crocodile say? H-e-l-o?

Children: Hello!

I practice most of the tasks from the article at home with my three-year-old son. He does tasks on rhymes and tapping syllables himself, and he determines phonemes with my help.

I hope your students enjoy the games and help them take the first step towards learning to read.

You may also be interested in reading about games for the development of phonemic hearing in children

Earn with Skyeng

Julia Belonog

Certified teacher (CELTA A; TKT 2, YL; TESOL; CPE). Anglomama

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