Florida Department of Education
Phonemic Awareness
Build your library of strategies and activities for teaching phonemic awareness with the ideas provided in this resource. Described here are five different activities to try out with your class.
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Cats, Cats
Students complete a variety of activities related to the short /a/ sound. As a class they recite a tongue twister, then trace and write the letter A. Students then spell different words containing the short /a/ sound, listen to the book...
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"Arrrrr" said the Pirate
Students practice decoding r-controlled vowels. Through various activities, they identify the change made to a vowel sound by adding "r." They decode words and spell them using Elkonin boxes. To conclude the lesson, students identify...
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Astonishing "A"
Young learners gain phonemic awareness with this quick activity. First, point out what sound you’re focusing on today: /a/. Then spell basic words that use this sound, like fat, bat, cat, etc. As a culminating activity, the whole group...
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The Crying Baby
Students practice recognizing phonemes with letters emphasizing the /a/ in spoken words and by letter symbols. They interact with Elkonin boxes, letter manipulatives, the book, "A Cat Nap," and a poster with a tongue twister on it.
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Cry Baby
Students complete a variety of activities related to the short /a/ sound. As a class they recite a tongue twister, then trace and write the letter A. Students then listen to the book "A Cat Nap" and identify the words containing the...
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Copycat, Copycat!
Young scholars observe that sometimes the letter "c" is a copycat letter and sometimes acts like a "k" or an "s" like in the words "cat" and "race". They use Elkonin letter boxes and letters to spell words as they are called out by the...
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Blake's Brave Race
Students distinguish the difference between the short and long vowel sounds. They practice correspondences that are spelled and pronounced differently working with a_e=/A/ vowel sounds. Elkonin Letter boxes and class set of books are...
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Aaa! A monster
Young scholars practice the strategy of phonemic awareness to become better fluent readers. They grasp the concept of short vowels and identify the sound of /a/ in reading and spelling words. A letterbox is utilized within this lesson...
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Casper the Cat
Learners examine the letter 'a'. Through instruction and modeling and a variety of practice activities, they explore the sound the letter makes and how the letter is written. They recite tongue twisters, read stories and use letterboxes...
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Crying Baby Sound
Students recognize the short vowel a in written and spoken language. Through matching and listening activities, they discriminate the vowel sound /a/ from other phonemes. Students identify the phoneme and letter in words from the story...
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Iggy is Icky Sticky
Second graders explore short vowels and their help in the development of phonemic awareness. They gain experience of the correspondence /i/. Students illustrate the correspondence by using memorable techniques used in showing /i/ in...
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Aaa! It's a Rat!!
Students answer a series of questions about the different sounds that the letter A makes. They practice saying a tongue twister about the letter A. They write the letter A and attach different words with the letter sounds. They listen...
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"Aaaaaa!!!!" Please Don't Cry Baby!
Students complete a variety of activities as they examine the letter 'a' as it makes the short /a/ sound. Through instruction and modeling, they explore the sound the letter makes and how the letter is written. They recite tongue...
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Adam's Apples
Students recognize the short vowel "A" in written and spoken language. Through matching and listening activities, they discriminate the short vowel /a/ from other vowel phonemes. Students associate the phoneme with its letter...
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Allie The Alligator
Students recognize the short vowel a in written and spoken language. Through listening activities, they discriminate the vowel sound /a/ from other phonemes. Students associate the phoneme with its letter representation and identify them...
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Ashley's Apples
First graders compare the /a/ sound to that of a baby crying. They practice making the sound and then say the tongue twister as it is written on a sentence strip and then using the overhead and letters, name words with that sound in them.
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Say Aaaaa for Apple
Students say words by blending sounds and phonemes. They decode words in order to read and identify and understand the letter a. This phoneme /a/ is one of the short vowels that are needed to read and write. They will show example of...
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Pooh's Rumbling Tummy
Students recognize the short vowel u in written and spoken language. Through matching and listening activities, they discriminate the vowel sound /u/ from other phonemes. Students identify the phoneme and letter in words and pictures.
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Aaaa! Don't Scare Me Like That!
Learners practice saying each letter of the alphabet to determine the different sounds from each letter. As a class, they are given a tongue twister to practice making the "a" sound and spelling the words. To end the lesson, they...
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Shhh...the Baby is Sleeping
First graders identify the digraph /sh/ in written and spoken language. After a brief discussion of the independent and combined sounds of the phonemes /s/ and /h/ students practice identifying initial and final placement of the new...
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Fish Wish
Students identify the digraph /sh/ in written and spoken language. After a reading of a decodable story containing the digraph, students practice identifying the initial and final placement of the new digraph /sh/ in words using a...
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Fish Wish
Students identify /sh/ sound when reading and writing words with the /sh/diagraph. They practice saying "Shhhh" and then read the tongue twister "She sells sea shells and fish by the sea shore." They complete a worksheet circling...
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Aaaaa! A Monster!
Students complete a variety of activities as they examine the letter 'a' as it makes the short /a/ sound. Through instruction and modeling, they explore the sound the letter makes and how the letter is written. They recite tongue...