Phonological Awareness includes hearing and playing with the smaller sounds of words and recognizing that words are made up of a number of different sounds.
Why Is It Important?
Children who can hear how words "come apart" into separate sounds will be more successful at "sounding out" words when they start to read.
What Can You Do to Help Build This Skill?
- Sing songs; most break words up into one syllable per note. Reading works with syllables also.
- Recite rhymes; rhymes depend upon ending sounds.
- Play with tongue twisters.
- Pick a sound for the day. Notice it at the beginning of words and at the end of words