Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Reflections from ReadingRockets.org's Ms. Linda Farrell, M.Ed., Founder of Readsters

Interventions for Phonological Awareness:

1) Blending syllables

2) Blending onset and rime:  s - alt  (the sound before the vowel sound)

3) Blending individual sounds: s - i - t

Ms. Farrell said to make sure and break the kids from guessing and train them to ask for help.  She also stated, "The key is to give children the time they need to master each skill."

Now...

Reading words as a whole!

First, students should understand short vowel sounds.  Ms. Farrell had hand "signs" to use with her students as visuals.  

She stated that kids who see words as individual sounds need to learn words as a whole.