Phonological awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in spoken words. It's an important first step in reading acquisition because before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of speech sounds. Children who have phonemic awareness skills are more likely to have an easier time learning to read and spell than children who have few or none of these skills. Phonemic awareness differs from phonics in that it is the understanding of the sounds of spoken language whereas phonics is the understanding of the relationship between those sounds and written language. (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: an evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Retrieved May 5, 2011, from http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/smallbook.htm.)

In this video, teacher Diane Rasner (Owsley Co. Elementary, Owsley Co., Ky.) leads a small group of kindergarten students in activities to increase their phonological awareness.

This video was originally part of the multimedia resource Literacy Strategies in Action produced in 2006 by KET in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education.

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