Phonemic Awareness

      Phonemic Awareness is something that took me by surprise. It's one of those concepts that I honestly never stopped to consider. I can't specifically remember how I learned phonemic awareness and now it seems so simple that it's almost hard for me to believe I never understood it - even though I know that's not true. Yopp & Yopp made three clear points to attack teaching phonemic awareness that I found very important.

1. Use child appropriate activities.
2. Phonemic awareness should be deliberate and purposeful.
3. Phonemic awareness instruction is only one part of a larger literacy program.

     I liked that the article was very child centered and "understanding" focused. The article gave many clear examples of how to teach this concept to chidlren in a way that is meaningful. I found that it strongly correlated with the "Sound it Out" article because this article emphasized coaching in creative ways. My overall impression from both readings was that as a teacher I need to be really emphasizing understanding alongside getting creative with my explanations. I think phonemic awareness is something that can very easily be turned into monotonous drilling exercises, and I like that we are being challeneged to think outside the box to help children understand. 

    This game reminded me of the lunchbox activity described in the article. The "real life" aspect to this method of teaching phonemes keeps kids engaged and on task.