Phonological Awareness - Language and Literacy: Ages 3-5

Widely Held Expectations

• Child shows knowledge of phonological awareness (the ability to hear and understand the different sounds of language)
  
  • Recognizes matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories and poems
  • Spontaneously repeats songs, rhymes and chants, and creates nonsense words
• Child progresses in listening and telling differences in phonemes (smallest parts of sound in a spoken word)
  
  • Identifies words that begin with the same sound
• Child recognizes the connection between spoken and written words
• Shows growing ability to hear and discriminate separate syllables in words
• Isolates beginning and ending sounds of printed or spoken words

Learning in Action: Examples

The Child

• Listens to two words and determines whether or not they rhyme
• Notices that several words or names begin with the same sound (Marcus, Maria, Matthew, etc.)
• Claps hands for each syllable in words
• Plays with sounds to create new words

The Adult

• Provides opportunities for children to hear sounds in their native language
• Gives children the opportunity to repeat sounds in their names and other words
• Draws children’s attention to the separate sounds of spoken language through playful songs, games and rhymes
• Models appropriate language, communication, reading and writing
• Provides literacy rich environment

The Environment Includes

• Children’s music and a quiet place where children may listen to a variety of story and sound tapes
• Many books, pictures and visual examples of written words, as well as those that are non-print based