Phonological awareness in action

Phonological awareness involves the larger units of sound, such as rhyme and syllables. Research suggests that phonological awareness is important to develop in the prior-to-school years. As discussed in Week 1, it is easier for young children to attend to these larger units of sound than phonemic awareness.

There are many ways to increase a child’s phonological awareness. You could select a picture book containing lots of rhymes, read poetry, or sing rhyming songs. One of my favourite Australian poems to teach was Flies by Irene Gough. I introduced this poem during a hot summer, when we had lots of flies outside in the playground. The poem was contextual and had meaning to the children at the time. They loved it! When reciting this poem, I added actions and encouraged the children to predict the rhyming words.

Flies! Flies!
They take you by surprise,
They get in your mouth
And they get into your eyes.
…

Excerpt from Flies by Irene Gough from Beetle Soup: Australian Stories and Poems for Children (1996).

_{Reading together © Mangpor2004}

Share your favourite rhyming song, poem or story and tell us how you might incorporate fun actions with your children/students.

Note: Please respect the author’s copyright by not copying the whole text here. Just let us know the title and author, so we can search for it ourselves.