Before students can decode words, they need to be able to hear and manipulate the individual sounds that make up those words. That’s where phonemic awareness skills come in—they’re the foundation of early reading success and a critical part of structured literacy instruction.
Wondering how to support your students’ phonemic awareness skills? Here’s what you need to know, including which skills to target and practical ways to build them into your day.
What Is Phonemic Awareness?
Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual phonemes—the smallest units of sound in spoken language. It’s a key part of early reading development and sits under the larger umbrella of phonological awareness, which includes broader skills like rhyming, syllables, and onset-rime.
What sets phonemic awareness apart is its focus on individual sounds. Students with strong phonemic awareness can isolate the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in a word, blend sounds to form words, segment a word into its individual sounds, and even change one sound to make a new word.
It’s important to remember that phonemic awareness is a completely oral skill—students don’t need to see or use letters to develop it. This is where it differs from phonics, which connects those sounds to printed letters and focuses on decoding and spelling.
Students with strong phonemic awareness skills can:
- Isolate the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in a word
- Blend sounds to form words
- Segment words into individual sounds
- Add, delete, or substitute phonemes to make new words
If you’d like a refresher on how phonemic awareness fits into the broader scope of early literacy, check out my post on Phonics vs. Phonological Awareness. It breaks down how these skills work together to support decoding and spelling.
Why Phonemic Awareness Matters
According to the Science of Reading, phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of future reading success. Without it, students struggle to connect sounds to letters and decode unfamiliar words. It’s a skill that needs to be taught explicitly, practiced frequently, and reinforced alongside phonics instruction.
In this post on best practice in literacy instruction, I explain how explicit, systematic instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics is a core component of structured literacy.
Key Phonemic Awareness Skills to Teach
Here are the essential phonemic awareness skills your students need to develop:
- Sound isolation: Identifying the first, last, or middle sound in a word
- Blending: Combining individual sounds to say a whole word
- Segmenting: Breaking a word into its separate sounds
- Deletion: Removing a sound from a word (e.g., say stop without the /s/)
- Substitution: Replacing one sound with another (e.g., change the /c/ in cat to /h/)
These skills build on each other and should be taught in sequence. Early learners may start with isolating beginning sounds, while older or more advanced students can move into segmenting and manipulating phonemes.
Activities That Support Phonemic Awareness
You don’t need a stack of worksheets to practice these skills—simple, hands-on games and oral activities are the most effective approach. Here are a few of my favorite ways to build phonemic awareness in the classroom:
1. Word Sorts with a Twist
While word sorts are usually thought of as a phonics tool, they also build phonemic awareness by helping students focus on the sounds in words. Try using my No-Prep Word Sorts to guide students in grouping words by beginning or ending sounds before moving into print-based pattern recognition.
2. Roll and Cover – Sound Discrimination Practice
Roll and Cover helps students differentiate between sounds like F, V, and TH. It’s a great way to sharpen listening skills while keeping students engaged with a simple game format.
3. Word Bump – Oral and Visual Sound Practice
In Word Bump, students roll, read, and match words with corresponding sounds. While it reinforces phonics on the surface, it also gives students opportunities to practice blending and segmenting in context.
Bringing It All Together
Phonemic awareness is a small skill with a big impact. When we teach it explicitly, reinforce it with engaging activities, and connect it to print-based phonics instruction, we help students become confident readers with a solid foundation.
If you’re looking for no-prep, classroom-tested resources to support phonemic awareness and phonics together, check out my Phonics Games & Word Sort Bundle. It’s packed with hands-on activities designed to align with structured literacy best practices.
Explore My TPT Store
Looking for tools that support both phonemic awareness and phonics instruction? Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store, Primed for Primary, , for printable games, word sorts, and engaging activities designed to build strong foundational reading skills.
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