Dr. Diana Sharp has devoted her professional and much of her personal time instilling a lifelong passion of reading into children.  Diana served as Sabi’s  children’s reading specialist. Diana blogs regularly for us with advice for parents and teachers about reading development. As the “Tampa Reading Examiner,” she also writes articles for Examiner.com, searching for ways to help Florida families read more, laugh more, and live better.

Dear Dr. Sharp –

I love how ItzaBitza helps my preschooler explore words inside sentences. But what’s the best way for me to make sure she’ll be able to “crack the code” and sound out words herself when she’s learning to read?

One of the things that children need to successfully crack the reading code is an oral language ability called phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear the individual sounds in spoken words and the ability to do things with spoken sounds, like blend them together into a word.

Children without phonemic awareness have trouble, for example, hearing three separate sounds in the spoken word “cat.” That makes it hard for them to know which letters to use for writing the word, even if they know the sounds that letters make. It also makes it hard for them to figure out what the teacher is talking about when he or she explains the way readers blend sounds together to read words.

Phonemic awareness is closely related to another early reading skill: knowledge of the alphabetic principle. Children who have developed this knowledge understand that reading and writing work like this: (1) Printed letters stand for sounds. (2) When we see a new word, we can say the sounds for the letters and blend them together to help figure out the word. (3) When we want to write a word, we can say the word slowly and use letters to write each sound.

Fortunately there are lots of fun and easy ways that parents can help children develop phonemic awareness and deep knowledge of the alphabetic principle. Here are my top ten favorites:

1. Read rhyming poetry and rhyming stories.

Rhyming is an early skill that children develop on the road to phonemic awareness. Ask your librarian for some great rhyming classics. Be enthusiastic about rhymes and your child will be too. If you read about a green mouse in a purple house, get excited and say, “Hey, look at that! Mouse rhymes with house!”

2. Celebrate rhymes in everyday talk.

If you happen to say to your child, “Come here, my dear,” stop right there and say, “Did you hear that! Here rhymes with dear!”

3. Play word-sound games

In the car, while you’re fixing meals, or while eating breakfast together. Make them up yourself, or use these examples: Rhyme Riddles. “I’m thinking of a rhyme for like. The clue is that it’s something you ride.” Part-of Party: What’s yo? “Part of the word Yogurt!” “What’s li?” “Part of the word library — and also part of the word like!” Beginning-Sound Riddles. “I’m thinking of something that starts with the [mmmm] sound. The clue is that it’s one of your favorite foods.”

4. Name toys artfully

If your child likes to give toys personal names, suggest names with minimal contrasts that will focus attention on individual sounds. For example, two dolls might be named Sally and Tally. Two stuffed dogs might be Ritto and Rotto.

5. Get a set or two of magnetic letters for the refrigerator for kitchen games.

Research shows that letter-sound instruction doesn’t have to wait until children fully develop phonemic awareness; in fact, it can help this development. Here are a couple of fun games you can play with your letters.

- Letter-Picnic. “Boy I’m hungry. Please pass me some peaches.” When your child hands you a ‘p’, say, “That’s great! Peaches starts with the [pppp] sound!”

- Presto-Chango. Look! I can change ‘cat’ to ‘bat’ and ‘bat’ to ‘bit,’ like magic!

6. Use bath time for sound play.

We used to have a ritual where each bath ended with announcement “Attention! The toys are leaving the tub!” Then the floating foam letters would each make their sound as they marched out of the tub. “Here goes the ‘F’! [fff] [fff] [fff]!” Each toy object would make the first sound in its name too. “Here goes the car! [c] [c] [c] [c] car!”

7. Explore words in the world.

Talk about the letters and words on signs and buildings, newspapers, magazines that you and your child see together.

8. Make everyday writing fun.

Let your child watch as you write things down. Point out how the different letters make the sounds in the words. Give your child writing materials to use in playing store, office, or restaurant. Encourage your child to make cards for family members, even if the child can’t really write yet.

9. Write and make memories.

Find a small box and use an index card or piece of paper for each day of the year. At the end of each day, write together a couple of short sentences about something that happened in your family. Talk about how the letters make the sounds in the words you’re writing.

10. Sing songs that play with sounds .

Here are some twists on folk songs, as suggested by researcher Hallie Yopp and used by kindergarten teachers I’ve worked with:

– Tune: “Jimmy Cracked Corn.” (Say the sound, not the letter name): Who has a /d/ word to share with us? Who has a /d/ word to share with us? Who has a /d/ word to share with us? It must start with the /d/ sound. Dog is a word that starts with /d/ Dog is a word that starts with /d/ Dog is a word that starts with /d/ Dog starts with the /d/ sound.

– Tune: “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” Again, sing the sound, not the letter name. What’s the sound that starts these words Daddy, duck and deep. (wait for a response) /d/ is the sound that starts these words: Daddy, duck , and deep With a /d/, /d/, here, and /d/, /d/, there Here a /d/, there a /d/, everywhere a /d/, /d/ /d/ is the sound that starts these words: Daddy, duck, and deep. At a more advanced level: What’s the sound at the end of these words Duck and cake and beak /k/ is the sound at the end of these words Duck and cake and beak With a /k/, /k/, here and a /k/, /k/ there Here a /k/, there a /k/, everywhere a /k/, /k/, /k/ is the sound at the end of these words: Duck and cake and beak!

– Tune: “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” If you think you know this word, shout it out! If you think you know this word, shout it out! If you think you know this word, Then tell me what you’ve heard If you think you know this word, shout it out! (Say a segmented word such as [c] [a] [t], and have children respond by saying the blended word. Later children can contribute the segmented sound for you to blend).

– Tune: “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah” I have a song that we can sing I have a song that we can sing I have a song that we can sing It goes something like this: Fe-Fi-Fiddly-i-o Fe-Fi-Fiddley-i-o-o-o-o Fe-Fi-Fiddley-i-o Now try it with the /z/ sound Ze-Zi-Ziddly-i-o Ze-Zi-Ziddley-i-o-o-o-o Ze-Zi-Ziddley-i-o Now try it with the /h/ sound

Songs from: Yopp, H. K. (1992). Developing phonemic awareness in young children. The Reading Teacher, 45, 696-703.