PHONICS! i am a 4th year 1st grade teacher and i am ashamed to say that i don't quite understand phonics....i get the whole letter sounds and sounding out words, but i don't understand the rest of phonics.....what are initial phonemes? If you can break down phonics for me I would greatly appreciate it!
phonemes are individual sounds, so initial phonemes are the very first sounds in a word. phonological awareness is just the understanding that speech is made up of sounds. phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify, isolate and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) into spoken words. phonics is a kind of instruction that helps children see the relationships between letters and sounds Phonemic awareness instruction is not phonics unless it involves both sounds and letters.
I had a professor that always said, "If you can do it without any lights on, it's phonemic awareness. If you can't, it's phonics." If you can't invest in a book.... this is a great website. It not only explains the 5 components of reading, but gives you activities for each area http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/studentCenterActivities.shtm
There are about 45 sounds in the English language, but we have only 26 letters in our alphabet (most languages do not have as many sounds). Therefore, to make all the sounds, we have to combine letters. Take the word shake. It has five letters, but 3 phonemes. But the word cat also has three phonemes, but it only only has three letters as well.
Spell to Write and Read by Wanda Sanseri, or The Writing Road to Reading by Ramona Spalding. All-About-Spelling is another excellent choice.
