Hi ~ I’m looking for information on phonemic awareness activities that can be done with older students (grades 4-6) who are not special ed. that can be done by the classroom teacher. I’m hoping to do an inservice for the teachers at our school on this later this year. I have lots of information on activities for the K-3 crowd, but have very little information on older students. We’re not planning on purchasing a curriculum or any type of program, but if you can recommend a book to read or something similar I’d appreciate it. Thanks!
Re: Phonemic awareness with older students
Hi Jenn,
What is your main objective? Are you trying to improve their reading skills? I don’t believe in just doing phonemic awareness activities but PA and phonics, PA, segmenting words and phonics blending words. I am teaching both 11th grade self-contained and teamed English and I’m teaching PG as warm-ups for all of the students. PG really lends itself to this. I will be showing the students the combinations that represents a sound, probably 5 sounds a period. We have a lot of reading and writing to do this year and they have to take the SOLs writing and editing test in March and the critically reading test in May. Our kids have no choice but to pass the test becauce they have to pass the test in order to receive a diploma. Most of my kids, reg and sped, have problems with MS words. I have even taught an abbreviated PG program to the GT kids because very few of them are above grade level reading and they have to be to pass the AP (advanced placement).
Sounds and Letters...
Sopris West publishes Sounds and Letters for Readers and Spellers. This book has about 18 units of scripted phonemic awareness activities. The book was written to go along with the LANGUAGE! curriculum written by Jane Greene, however it can easily be used by itself. Each unit focuses on a specific sound/letter concept. Older students will love the pig latin exercise near the end of each unit. Activities include segmenting, blending, deleting, and changing sounds in words.
First, here is a nice article by Dr. Hallie Yopp that gives a good run-down of what having this skill entails. http://www.psy.utexas.edu/psy/klarson/recife.html
More recent literature seems to point to great efficacy using letters in PA activities rather than another sound symbol. Certainly I see that in the regular classroom.
Word building activities are PA activities. You can use Pat Cunningham’s ideas, as an example. You can also make your own based on the skills you wish to teach and practice.
Phonological awareness also includes syllabication and that’s important for upper elementary students and beyond. Counting syllables is an example of an activity that encompasses this skill. Identifying accented syllable is another.
Basically, one can only clearly hear *all* sounds consistently in an accented syllable—so watch those multi-syllable word games.
Nothing beats Patricia Lindamood for PA activities. Her Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing (LiPS) manual is pricy at $100 or so; however, gives step-by-step scripts for segmenting, adding, deleting, and shifting individual letter sounds. You wouldn’t have to use the “label names” like poppers and “tappers” if you don’t wish to. The error handling method alone is truly priceless.
Since these are method-based activities, it pays to invest a little in learning the method at some level.