Sounds and rhyming – Phonemic awareness

Learning to read is one of a young child’s earliest accomplishments. Without being able to read efficiently, a child will struggle throughout his schooling. A great deal has been written about the science of reading and it has been found that a poor foundation in phonemic awareness is the most common reason why children struggle. Phonemic awarness is the understandeing that spoken words are made up of sounds called phonemes. Phonemic awareness concentrates on the sounds in words and not the letter/sound correspondences which children learn once they are introduce to phonics. These activities give children practice in counting, isolating, blending, substituting and manipulating sounds in words in a hands-on, enjoyable way. They added benefit of the cards is that they can also be used for practicing rhyming, all of which are crucial in teaching children to read.