Phonemic+Awareness

   
 * **What is phonemic awareness? **
 * Phonemic awareness is an understanding that the language we speak is made up of units of sound called phonemes.
 * **Why do we assess it? **
 * To make sure that children are able to hear the separate sounds that make up individual words before they start to read and write. if they do not know the separate sounds the life of literacy will be difficult. The three kinds of phonemic and phonological awareness tests are:
 * Rhyming
 * Children need to be able to hear and make rhymes so they can make new words from words that they already know.
 * Blending
 * Helps children with the connection of sounds in words they see but do not know.
 * Segmenting
 * Children learn to separate and say all the sounds heard in a word. This also helps children separate sentences into words, and words into sounds.
 * **Ways to help a child develop phonemic awareness. These different ways can be used by a teacher or a parent. **
 * Reading tongue twisters that have "alliteration" (repeated consonant sounds, like "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers") is a great way to emphasize initial sounds in words.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Help the child listen for the sounds within words. Once in awhile ask, "Do you hear the sound at the beginning of that word? Can you make that sound?"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Read books to the child every day. Make it a time you both look forward to. Look for ABC books, rhyming books, nursery rhymes, and books that have repeating patterns.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">References: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">(2001). //The Michigan Literacy Progress Profile//: State of Michigan Department of Education.

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