Teacher Tip Tuesday

Phonemic awareness—the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words — can be practiced entirely out loud, without books, paper, or screens.

Here are practical, easy-to-implement strategies parents can use at home:

Everyday Games & Activities: "I Spy" with Initial Sounds: Play I Spy, but focus on the starting sound rather than color. Example: "I spy with my little eye something that starts with the /m/ sound... milk!"

Say It Slow, Say It Fast (Blending): Stretch words out like a rubber band, then have your child push them back together. Parent: "What word am I saying? /c/ - /a/ - /t/?" Child: "Cat!"

Robot Talk (Segmenting): Practice breaking words apart into individual sounds. Parent: "How many sounds are in dog? Let's talk like robots: /d/ - /o/ - /g/—that’s 3 sounds!"

Rhyme Time: Build rhyming chains during car rides or walk-and-talks. Parent: "What rhymes with hop?" (top, pop, stop)

Note: Nonsense words count, too! If they say "zop," it still proves they understand the rhyming pattern.

- WP Kindergarten Teacher