Teaching Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness helps children learn to read by teaching them how sounds in oral language work. For instance, this skill enables a child to:

isolate and identify the first, middle, and ending sounds in a spoken word
recognize which words in a set of words begin with the same sound
segment words into separate sounds
identify and manipulate syllables
combine or blend separate sounds in a word to say the word
understand that changing sounds in a word will change the meaning of the word
identify and create oral rhymes

The skill of phonological awareness is important because once your child understands the concept of words when they are spoken, it is so much easier for him to grasp the concept of words when they are written. Engaging in phonological awareness activities is excellent preparation for learning to read and spell, because your child will learn to understand the various sounds in words and how they all work together. The next logical step is to learn the letters and letter combinations that make these sounds—and in doing so, your child will begin to read and spell.

"Phonological awareness is the ability of a child to notice, identify, and manipulate many parts of spoken language."

The best way to teach phonological awareness is to engage your young child's natural curiosity and sense of fun. Young minds are eager to learn new things, and our multisensory approach to teaching actively involves them in each lesson through sight, sound, and touch. With the All About Reading Level Pre-1 program, your child will play special word/sound games, listen to and create word rhymes, and enjoy 20 minutes a day of quality read-aloud time with Mom or Dad, all the while effortlessly absorbing phonological awareness, one of the critical Big Five Skills.

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to see how these fun activities teach your child phonological awareness.

All About Reading Level Pre-1

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