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Abstract
Phonological awareness encompasses three main 
subsets of skills: awareness of words, syllables, and 
sounds. These three skills work in concert to support 
students’ reading development. By purposefully 
utilizing time in the classroom, teachers can embed 
phonological awareness activities during common 
transitions, thus maximizing students’ exposure to 
early literacy skills. Through these deliberately planned 
activities, teachers can not only provide effective 
instruction, but they can ensure that throughout 
the school day, transitions run smoothly with fewer 
disruptions and off-task behaviors.

As Ms. Simpson (all names are pseudonyms) 
completed her read-aloud, she glanced at the clock 
and took note of the time. She clapped her hands in 
the first part of a well-known rhythmic pattern. Her 4K 
students, finishing the pattern, knew it was time to get 
quiet and line up to wash hands so that they could 
head to the cafeteria for lunch.

As students washed their hands and Mrs. Simpson 
ushered them to the line, several children were having 
their own conversations.

“I have an apple for lunch,” Jade whispered to Kendra 
at the sink.

“Ewwww! I hate apples!” Kendra shouted.

As Jade’s face started to morph into what surely 
indicated an imminent tantrum, Ms. Simpson came up 
behind them and attempted to diffuse the situation.
“Apples are delicious! I wonder if you can guess my 

[fuh-nol-uh-jee]syllables

words sounds

Maximizing Learning: 
     Embedding Phonological 
Awareness Throughout the Day

by Dr. ShaWnna heLf, Dr. LinDSay yearta anD Dr. kaVin Ming

favorite fruit. I’m going to say the sounds slowly and I 
want you to put them together. Listen as I stretch the 
sounds, and then you will blend the sounds together to 
figure out what my favorite fruit is… Ready?”

The girls both looked at Mrs. Simpson and nodded. 
They were ready.

“Ok, my favorite fruit is a /p/  /l/ /u/ /m/.”

“Oooh, plum!”  Kendra quickly blended the sounds 
and smiled at her teacher.

As Kendra and Jade headed toward the line at the 
door, an idea came to Mrs. Simpson. She knew that 
due to transitions between activities, she was wasting 
at least five to ten minutes daily and needed every bit 
of instructional time that she could get. In this case 
not only was she able to distract these students from 
their squabble, she also provided them with phonemic 
awareness practice.

Preparing for lunch is one of many transitions that 
occur daily in early childhood settings. Put simply, 
transitions are the periods of time spent moving from 
one place or activity to another (Price & Nelson, 2011). 
Common transition times include restroom breaks, 
snack time, group time, recess, special area classes, 
arrival and dismissal. Some transitions occur quickly 
and frequently (e.g., lining up at the classroom door), 
while others take longer (e.g., restroom breaks). Taken 
together over the course of the day, this time adds 
up. Poorly managed transitions can result in the loss 
of instructional time and may also lead to unwanted 
student behaviors.



GEORGIA JOURNAL OF READING 31 VOLUME 41, NUMBER 1   2018

Within the recent past, there has been an increased 
emphasis on academic achievement.  This has 
resulted in teachers being required to teach more, and 
students being required to process larger amounts 
of information (Lee, 2006). In order for students to 
successfully meet the academic demands of an ever 
growing curriculum, there must be sufficient time 
for learning (Amadio, 2004). Teachers must make 
deliberate efforts to increase students’ engaged time, 
or their time-on-task. Engaged time is the amount of 
time that students spend directly involved in learning 
activities (Greenwood, 2002). When teachers 
effectively engage students in academic tasks, there 
is an increased likelihood that greater student learning 
will take place, which ultimately leads to higher levels 
of student achievement (Fisher et al., 2015; Johns, 
Crowley & Guetzloe, 2008). Research conducted 
on 30 schools nationwide that have demonstrated 
student growth have “made every minute count” by 
maximizing time on task (Sparks, 2011). There are 
many occurrences throughout the day that interfere 
with the amount of time that students can be fully 
engaged in learning activities. These can range from 
a 10-second intercom call to a 5-minute transition 
between classroom activities. According to Mastropieri 
and Scruggs (1994), transitions constitute one of the 
major sources of off-task behaviors. Transitions occur 
when students move from one activity to the next or 
from one location to the other. Throughout the school 
day, students are involved in multiple transition points, 
and these moments of off-task activities can have a 
compounding effect, leaving students with little time to 
be engaged in sustained learning (Johns, Crowley, & 
Guetzloe, 2008; Lee, 2006).

The purpose of this article is to encourage teachers 
to consider common transitions in their classroom 
schedule and begin viewing those periods of time 
as opportunities for learning. With thoughtful and 
purposeful planning, transitional time can serve to not 
only improve classroom management, but also as an 
opportunity to embed extra skill instruction in the school 
day. Specifically, we focus on a foundational reading 
skill, phonological awareness. We provide ideas for 
embedding phonological awareness instruction during 
transitions and offer considerations for practice.

What is Phonological Awareness?
Phonological awareness is an umbrella term that 
refers to the broad awareness of sounds within spoken 
language; under this umbrella are three subsets of 
skills: word awareness, syllable awareness, and 
phonemic awareness (National Early Literacy Panel, 
2008; National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development, 2001). Word awareness and syllable 
awareness skills involve larger units of sounds, and 

are considered easier to master than skills involving 
smaller units of sound. As phonemic awareness 
involves the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds 
in spoken words, it is considered the more challenging 
for students to achieve (Callaghan & Madelaine, 2012; 
Yopp & Yopp, 2000). Table 1 includes a description of 
individual phonological awareness skills arranged in 
order of increasing complexity (see Appendix A).

Why is it Important?
Teaching young children to read is a major goal for 
primary grade teachers (Pfost, Hattie, Dorfler & Artelt, 
2014). Before children learn to read print, they must 
understand how the smallest components of words 
work, and how these units impact a word’s meaning 
(Adams, 1990; Zeece, 2006). While phonological and 
phonemic awareness are essential language skills 
that support young children’s reading development, 
the acquisition of phonemic awareness is especially 
critical because it has been found to be a strong 
predictor of reading achievement (Foorman et al., 
2016; Machado, 2013; Manning & Kato, 2006; Murray, 
2012; NICHD, 2000). Further, children who receive 
phonemic awareness instruction around the time 
when they begin to learn to read demonstrate more 
skillful abilities than children without this instruction 
(Armbruster, Lehr, Osborn, & Adler, 2009; Uhry, 
2011). Reciprocally, children with reading challenges 
often exhibit poor phonemic awareness skills (Abbott, 
Walton, & Greenwood, 2002; Manning & Kato, 2006). 
Phonemic awareness can contribute to later success 
in reading (Machado, 2013; Murray, 2012; NICHD, 
2000) and as such, teachers have a responsibility to 
ensure that each student has a strong foundation in 
phonemic awareness.

Embedding Phonological Awareness  
During Transitions
Opportunities to embed phonological awareness 
throughout the day abound. Below we consider 
the three subsets of phonological awareness: word 
awareness, syllable awareness, and phonemic 
awareness and provide examples for how teachers can 
easily integrate phonological awareness instruction 
during quick transitions (1-2 minutes) and longer 
transitions (3-5 minutes). Each activity is flexible and 
could be done at any convenient time during the day.

Subset: Word Awareness, Skill: Rhyming
Quick transitional activity. As the teacher calls 
students to line up individually, he/she provides a 
word (e.g., sat) and points to students individually to 
generate words that rhyme with the target word (e.g., 
mat, cat, bat). When the student provides a correct 
rhyme, the teacher provides positive feedback and the 
student moves to line up. When the students run out 
of rhymes, the teacher selects a new target word and 



GEORGIA JOURNAL OF READING 32 VOLUME 41, NUMBER 1   2018

continues until all students are lined up.

Longer transitional activity. The teacher gives each 
student a card with a different picture. The students 
have to identify the picture on their card and then find 
a classmate (or classmates) who have pictures that 
rhyme with their picture. For example, if a student 
has a card with a picture of a dog, they would identify 
that it was a dog and then find classmates who have 
pictures that rhyme (e.g., frog, log, hog).

When the students are in groups, the teacher leads 
the class in checking whether everyone is in the right 
place. If extra time remains, the teacher can challenge 
students to come up with more words that would fit 
in the group. At the culmination of the activity, the 
teacher calls each group to line up- collecting their 
picture cards as they move into line.

Subset: Syllable Awareness, Skill: Syllable 
Identification
Quick transitional activity. The teacher identifies 
objects around the room and gives students 
opportunities to count the number of syllables in the 
word. He/she points to the object, names it (e.g., 
calendar), and asks students to repeat the word. Then 
students clap the number of syllables in the word (/
cal/ /en/ /dar/) and then, on the teacher’s signal, hold 
up the fingers to show the number of syllables in the 
word. For example, the students would hold up three 
fingers for calendar. The teacher can then provide 
feedback on the responses. The activity can continue 
for as long as the transition lasts. As the students 
become proficient with this game, the teacher can 
select larger words with more syllables, give students 
the opportunity to “be the teacher”, and/or provide a 
number and ask students to identify objects around 
the room that have that many syllables.

Longer transitional activity. The teacher leads 
students in an activity focused on identifying and 
counting syllables. The teacher has a bag filled with 
small objects (e.g., eraser, pencil, crayon, block) and 
selects a student to close his or her eyes and select an 
object from the bag. The student has to feel the object, 
determine what it is, and then open his or her eyes. 
The teacher will provide feedback on their response, 
and ask the whole class to say the name of the object 
together. Then, the children will clap each syllable in 
the word and hold up their fingers to show the number 
of syllables in the word. If additional time remains after 
all the items have been selected from the bag, the 
teacher can lead the class in arranging the items from 
the least to the greatest number of syllables.

Subset: Phonemic Awareness, Skills:  
Phoneme Blending and Segmenting

Quick transitional activity. The teacher will use a big 
book for this activity. For example, the teacher could 
have Silly Sally (Wood, 1994) open to the page where 
Silly Sally and the pig are dancing. The teacher will 
say, “I see something on this page. Can you guess 
what I see? I want you to listen to these sounds and 
blend them together quickly to say the word. I see a 
/p/ /i/ /g/.  What do I see?”  The teacher provides a 
signal and then the group responds together, “pig”.  If 
the group gets the word correct, they can line up. The 
teacher will continue until all groups have had a turn.

This activity works in the inverse as well. The teacher 
could tell students, as she points to the pig, “I’m going 
to name something I see and then you tell me all the 
sounds you hear in that word. I see a pig. What sounds 
do you hear in pig?”

Longer transitional activity. The teacher will provide 
each student with five counters for this segmenting 
activity. If it’s not feasible to use counters, students 
can use their fingers to tap each sound they hear. The 
teacher will provide each student with five counters for 
this segmenting activity. The teacher can again refer 
to the images in a big book and after choosing one will 
say, “I want you to move one counter for every sound 
you hear in the word “desk.” The student will move 
a counter for each sound that is heard. Once each 
student has their counters in place, the teacher can 
lead the class in segmenting the word, emphasizing 
each sound while touching each corresponding 
counter. Students would then blend the sounds 
together quickly to say the word while sweeping 
their finger from left to right under the counters. The 
teacher should begin with shorter words and increase 
in complexity as students get more familiar with the 
task.

Instructional Considerations                
All of the examples provided above can be adapted by 
teachers to fit their classroom schedule, teaching style, 
and needs of students. Table 2 includes additional 
resources related to phonological awareness, including 
more activities that can be incorporated into classroom 
transitions. Below we offer a few considerations for 
implementing phonological awareness practice and 
supporting the needs of all learners.

Error Correction
In order to keep these transitional activities efficient, 
it’s important to have clear error correction procedures 
in place. If an incorrect answer is provided, the teacher 
should model the proper response. For example, if a 
teacher is asking students to segment the sounds in 
the word pit and a student responds /pi/ /t/, the teacher 
would provide corrective feedback by first modeling the 
skill. For example, the teacher would respond, “Listen. 



GEORGIA JOURNAL OF READING 33 VOLUME 41, NUMBER 1   2018

The sounds in pit are /p/ /i/ /t/).” The teacher would 
then encourage the student’s participation, “Let’s do 
it together. The sounds in /pit/ are: /p/ /i/ /t/.”  The next 
step requires having the student complete the task 
independently, “Now it’s your turn. What sounds do you 
hear in the word pit?” The teacher could also decide to 
make error correction a whole group activity, instead 
of stating the correct answer singularly, the teacher 
could have the class respond in a choral manner. This 
could serve as a way to increase on-task behavior of 
the group and take pressure off students who make 
errors.

Using Pictures
Picture cards are useful tools for phonemic awareness 
practice. It is important to select pictures that are age 
appropriate, interesting, and clearly represent the 
target word. In some instances, the teacher may need 
to ensure the students know what is on their cards 
prior to the start of the activity. For example, there 
are some pictures students could name differently: 
plate/dish, rabbit/bunny, shoe/boot. Further, we do not 
recommend including labels with the pictures. Doing 
so could cause students to be right for the wrong 
reason. Specifically, a student may sort cards by 
beginning sound simply by looking at the first letter of 
the words, rather than saying the word and isolating 
the initial sound orally. Teachers can provide a preview 
of the words represented on the picture cards by 
quickly flipping through each picture card saying, “This 
is a ______.” After the teacher names the image, the 
students will repeat the name of the image, and then 
the cards are distributed before the activity begins.

Easy to More Difficult
When delivering phonemic awareness practice, 
teachers should move from easy to more difficult skills 
and should target one to two skills per instructional 
session. These decisions should be made based on 
students’ instructional needs. This guiding principle 
of easy to more difficult also applies to how teachers 
should select examples for students as they practice. 
Specifically, when working with syllable identification, 
blending, and segmenting, teachers should begin with 
compound words that can more easily be separated 
auditorily (e.g., /sun/ /shine/) then move to other 
types of words (e.g., /pen/ /cil/). When working with 
phoneme segmenting and blending, teachers should 
start with words that have a few sounds (e.g., vowel-
consonant (VC) and consonant-vowel-consonant 
(CVC) word types) and then move to more complex 
words as students demonstrate mastery.

Providing Support
There are several ways teachers can support students 
as they practice (McGee & Ukrainetz, 2009). To 
begin, teachers should model skills for students 

prior to independent practice. This may involve 
physical movement like stomping, clapping, jumping, 
finger tapping as well as the use of manipulatives 
like pictures and counters. These supports can be 
beneficial because they provide students concrete 
representations during practice. For example, when 
counting the number of sounds in a spoken word 
(e.g., /map/) students can use their fingers to tap each 
sound (/m/ pointer finger taps thumb, /a/ middle finger 
taps thumb, /p/ ring finger taps thumb). Tapping in this 
way can help students segment each sound and then 
they can look to their fingers to see how many sounds 
were represented in the word. Finally, consistent 
corrective feedback, like the procedure described 
above, provides continuous support for students as 
they develop proficiency.

Linking to Letters
While phonological awareness and phonemic 
awareness are auditory skills, research has indicated 
that phonemic awareness training can be enhanced 
in a developmentally appropriate manner by linking 
to letters (Ehri, 2013; NICHD, 2000). Letters are the 
visual symbols that bridge the gap between oral and 
written language.  When students understand that 
letters are the written representation of the sounds 
that they speak as they practice their phonological 
awareness activities, it enables them to put familiar 
sequences together to make words. For example, if 
a teacher engages students in blending onset-rime 
words, he could say the word /b/-/in/, ask students 
to indicate what word he said, and then show them 
the letter sequence with the onset letter on one flash 
card and the rime letter cluster on another flash card. 
The teacher would put the two cards together to 
show students how they work to make a word. As the 
teacher segues into linking letters to sounds, the use 
of environmental print and students’ names can also 
be effective as students are able to make personal 
associations with these words (Tompkins, 2015). This 
activity could be especially beneficial for students who 
are transitioning to formal reading instruction (see 
Appendix B).

Conclusion
With increased accountability measures and pressure 
to prepare more students with fewer resources and 
less time, teachers today can feel rushed to get 
through the curriculum. Therefore, providing students 
with opportunities to practice skills in a fun and inviting 
way requires taking advantage of every minute in the 
classroom. Phonemic awareness activities can be an 
effective use of time (Johnson & Keier, 2010) and can 
easily be integrated into transition times throughout 
the day. The practice of embedding phonological 
awareness activities in common transitions keeps 
students engaged, leads to improvements in 



GEORGIA JOURNAL OF READING 34 VOLUME 41, NUMBER 1   2018

student behavior, and increases students’ learning 
opportunities. Fisher et al. (2015) states that for 
learning to occur, students must, in some way, be 
paying attention, and each of these transitional 
activities enable teachers to maximize the amount of 
on-task experiences that students have throughout 
the day. Each of the activities provided are also 
straightforward, inexpensive, effective, and engaging. 
While the ideas and examples discussed above are 
by no means exhaustive, we offer them as a way to 
provide teachers with a starting point for examining 
and expanding their current practices, specifically as it 
relates to maximizing students’ opportunities to learn.

References
Abbott, M., Walton, C., & Greenwood, C. R. (2002). 

Phonemic awareness in kindergarten and first 
grade. Teaching Exceptional Children, 34(4), 20-26.

Adams, M. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and 
learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 

Amadio, M. (2004). Instructional time: Introduction to 
the open file. Prospects, 34(3), 267-270.

Armbruster, B. B., Lehr, F., Osborn, J., & Adler, C. 
R. (2009). Put reading first: The research building 
blocks of reading instruction: kindergarten through 
grade 3, (3rd ed.). [Washington, D.C.]: National 
Institute for Literacy.

Callaghan, G., & Madelaine, A. (2012). Levelling 
the playing field for kindergarten entry: Research 
implications for preschool early literacy instruction. 
Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 37(1), 13-23.

Ehri, L. C. (2013). Grapheme-phoneme knowledge 
is essential for learning to read words in English. 
Word recognition in beginning literacy (pp. 3–40). 

Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Fisher, C., Berliner, D., Filby, N., Marliave, R., Cahen, 
L., & Dishaw, M. (2015). Teaching behaviors, 
academic learning time, and student achievement: 
An overview. Journal of Classroom Interaction, 
50(1), 6-24.

Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, 
M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., Wissel, S. (2016). 
Foundational skills to support reading for 
understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade 
(NCEE 2016-4008). Washington, DC: National 
Center for Education Evaluation and Regional 
Assistance.

Greenwood, C. R. (2002). Academic engagement: 
Current perspectives on research and practice. 

 School Psychology Review, 31(3), 328-349.

Johns, B. H., Crowley, E. P., & Guetzloe, E. (2008). 
Engaged time in the classroom. Focus on 

 Exceptional Children, 41(4), 1-6.

Johnson, P., & Keier, K. (2010). Catching readers 
before they fall: Supporting readers who struggle, 
K-4. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Manning, M., & Kato, T. (2006). Phonemic awareness: 
A natural step toward reading and writing. Childhood 
Education, 82(4), 241-243.

Machado, J.M. (2013). Early childhood experiences 
in language arts: Early literacy (10th ed.). Belmont, 
CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

McGee, L. M., & Ukrainetz, T. A. (2009). Using 
scaffolding to teach phonemic awareness in 
preschool and kindergarten. The Reading Teacher, 



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62(7), 599-603.

Murray, B.A. (2012). Tell me about Fred’s fat foot 
again: Four tips for successful PA lessons. The 
Reading Teacher, 66(2), 139-144.

National Early Literacy Panel. (2008). Developing early 
literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. 
Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development, NIH, DHHS. (2001). Put reading first: 
The research building blocks for teaching children 
to read. Kindergarten through grade 3. Washington, 
DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 
from: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/
prf_k-3/documents/PRFbooklet.pdf

National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading 
Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based 
assessment of the scientific research literature on 
reading and its implications for reading instruction 
(NIH Publication No. 004769). Washington, DC: 
U.S. Government Printing Office.

Pfost, M., Hattie, J., Dorfler, T., & Artelt, C. (2014). 
Individual differences in reading development: A 
review of 25 years of empirical research on Matthew 
Effects in reading. Review of Educational Research, 
84(2), 203-244.

Price, K. M., & Nelson, K. L. (2011). Planning effective 
instruction: Diversity responsive methods and 
management, (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth 
Cengage Learning.

Tompkins, G. E. (2015). Literacy in the early grades: A 
successful start for preK-4 readers and writers (4th 
ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Uhry, J. K. (2011). Teaching phonemic awareness. 
In J. R. Birsh (Ed.), Multisensory teaching of basic 
language skills (3rd ed.) (pp. 113-143). Baltimore, 
MD: Brookes.

Yopp, H. K., & Yopp, R. H. (2000). Supporting phonemic 
awareness development in the classroom. The 
Reading Teacher, 54(2), 130-143.

Zeece, P. D. (2006). Sound reading and reading 
sounds: The case for phonemic awareness. Early 
Childhood Education Journal, 34(2), 169-175.

Literature Cited
Wood, A. (1994). Silly Sally. Boston, MA: Houghton 

Mifflin Harcourt.

A B O U T  T H E  A U T H O R S

Marisa Gonzales is a student in the M.Ed. Reading 
Program at the University of West Georgia. She 
may be reached at mgonzal7@my.westga.edu

Robert A. Griffin is an Adjunct Faculty member at 
the University of West Georgia in the Department 
of Literacy and Special Education. He may be 
reached at rgriffin@westga.edu.

Shawnna Helf, PhD, is an associate professor 
of Education at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, 
South Carolina where she teaches graduate and 
undergraduate courses in literacy. She can be 
reached at helfs@winthrop.edu.

Katie Stover Kelly is an associate professor of 
education at Furman University in Greenville, SC, 
and coauthor of From Pencils to Podcasts: Digital 
Tools to Transform K-6 Literacy Practices (Solution 
Tree, 2017) and Smuggling Writing: Strategies 
That Get Students to Write Every Day, in Every 
Content Area, Grades 3-12 (Corwin, 2016).Her 
new coauthored book with Lester Laminack will 
be published by Heinemann this fall. Find her on 
Twitter @ktkelly14.

Kavin Ming is an associate professor of Education 
and Director of the M.Ed. in Literacy Program at 
Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina 
where she teaches undergraduate literacy methods 
courses and graduate content area literacy and 
practicum courses. She can be reached at mingk@
winthrop.edu.

Melissa Mitchell, M.Ed., is a doctoral student in the 
Reading Education Track in the School of Teaching, 
Learning, and Leadership at the University of 
Central Florida. She may be reached at Melissa.
Mitchell@ucf.edu. 

Lindsay Yearta is an assistant professor of literacy 
and educational technology at Winthrop University 
in Rock Hill, South Carolina. She has several peer-
reviewed publications on digital literacies in the 
k-12 classroom and has co-authored the book From 
Pencils to Podcasts: Digital Tools for Transforming 
K-6 Literacy Practices with Katie Kelly.  She may be 
reached at yeartal@winthrop.edu.

Vassiliki Zygouris-Coe is a Professor in the School 
of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership, University 
of Central Florida. She may be reached at Vassiliki.
Zygouris-Coe@ucf.edu.   



GEORGIA JOURNAL OF READING 36 VOLUME 41, NUMBER 1   2018

APPENDIX A
Table 1. Phonological Awareness Skills Arranged from Easier to More Complex

Phonological Awareness Skill The ability to…

Word Awareness Word comparison Identify specific characteristics of words
  “Listen to the following words:
  met, happy. Which word is longer?”

 Rhyming Identify and create oral rhymes
  “Listen to the following words:
  glad, sad. Does glad rhyme with sad?” -or-
  “Listen to the following word: boy. Can you 
  think of two other words that rhyme with 
  boy?”

 Sentence segmentation Identify specific words in spoken sentences
  “Listen to the following sentence: Today, we 
  had pizza for lunch. I will say the sentence  
  again. This time I want you to use your   
  counters. Move one counter for each word 
  that you hear.”

Syllable Awareness Syllable blending Identify and blend units of sound in spoken  
  language
  “Listen to this name that has more than one 
  syllable: /A/-/lan/. Whose name did I say?”

 Syllable segmenting Identify and segment units of sound in 
  spoken language
  “This object in our classroom has more than 
  one syllable: table. Can you tell me how 
  many beats it has? Can you stretch the word 
  so that I can hear the beats?”

 Syllable identification Identify units of sound in spoken words
  “I am going to say a word: closet. Can you 
  clap the number of syllables that you hear?”

 Syllable deletion Delete units of sound in spoken words
  “Listen to the following word: birthday. If I 
  take away the birth, what do I have left?”

 Onset-rime blending Combine the beginning and ending parts in 
  spoken words
  “Listen. If I say the word: /s/-/it/, what word 
  did I say?”

 Onset-rime segmentation Stretch spoken words to hear its beginning 
  and ending sounds
  “Listen to the following word: broom. I will say 
  the beginning of the word, br-. Can you say 
  the ending?”

Phonemic Awareness Phoneme blending Hear the individual sounds of the word 
  sounded out slowly and then combine the 
  sounds together to say the word aloud



GEORGIA JOURNAL OF READING 37 VOLUME 41, NUMBER 1   2018

Phonological Awareness Skill The ability to…

  “Listen to the following sounds, 
  /d/-/e/-/sk/. What word do these sounds 
  make?

 Phoneme segmentation Hear a whole word pronounced and isolate 
  its individual sounds
  “Listen to the word, book. Say the word 
  slowly and take a breath between each 
  sound.” 

 Phoneme identification Identify the individual sounds in spoken 
  words.
  “Look at the picture of this trashcan. What is 
  the first sound that you hear in can?”

 Phoneme deletion Delete individual sounds in spoken words
  “Listen to the word, box. Can you say box 
  without the /b/?”

 Phoneme manipulation Identify and work with individual sounds in 
  spoken words
  “Listen to the word, pen. Can you change the 
  /p/ in pen to /h/?”
  “Listen to the word, pen. Can you change the 
  /e/ in pen to /a/?”
  “Listen to the word, pen. Can you change the 
  /n/ in pen to /t/?”

 

APPENDIX B
Table 2. Additional Resources Related to Phonological Awareness

What phonological difficulties might look like from the 
perspective of the parent, student, and teacher:

Phonological activities from the Florida Center for 
Reading Research: 

Internet-based phonological awareness games, 
created by Paws Inc and Ball State University: 

Phonological awareness mini lessons that target 
specific skills:

Phonological awareness activities across multiple 
skill areas:

http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/
phonologicalphonemic

http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/pdf/GK-1/PA_Final_
Part3.pdf

http://www.professorgarfield.org/Phonemics/
farmIntro2.html

https://www.readinga-z.com/phonological-awareness/
phonological-awareness-lessons/

http://www.phonologicalawareness.org/


