3 Important Skills Needed for Reading

Well, to be fair, there are really MORE than three important skills needed for reading. But these three really do build a solid foundation for early {or emerging} readers. As a matter of fact, many of the struggling readers I’ve worked with {we’re talking 2nd-5th graders} struggle with one or more of these important reading skills.

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The 3 Important Skills Needed for Reading

1- rhyming words
2- syllables
3- phonemes

Now, what exactly do we want kids to do with rhyming words, syllables and phonemes {what are phonemes, any way?}.

That’s what this 7-day series is all about! You’ll find practical definitions, hands-on activities, and FREE printables for these three important reading skills. {All links to this series can be found at the end of this post.}

Rhyming Words

Rhyming words are words like rat and cat or even head and red. Rhyming words are words that have ending sounds that are similar. While there is such a thing as imperfect rhymes {words like home and bone, found in the song, “This Old Man”}, I like to focus more on the rhymes that end the same, like house/mouse or dog/frog. Rhyming words are not always spelled the same; they just need to sound the same. Here are some things we want kids to be able to do with rhyming words:

• Recognize when words rhyme and when they don’t
• Produce rhyming words {You ask: “What rhymes with cat?” and they answer, “Rat.”}
• Play with rhyming words. Create a bunch of words that rhyme with the word, even silly ones.

Playing with rhyming words, especially for young children, can be as simple as integrating easy songs into your routine or playing with nursery rhymes.

Syllables

Syllables are the “big parts” in words. For example, words like cat or fish only have one syllable. Words like happy and table have two syllables. For those who find it tricky to hear syllables, I tell people to put their hand under their chin and count the times they “drop” their chin when they say a word. Generally, this is the number of syllables the word has. Here are some things we want kids to be able to do with syllables:

• Count the number of syllables in a word
• Combine syllables to form a word. Example: “What word do you get when you put together the two parts, hap {pause here} py?”
• Say the parts of a word when a syllable is dropped. For example, “What does it sound like when you say rainbow without the rain part?“

You can use every day objects, like LEGO DUPLO bricks to count syllables like we did in this post. We’ll explore more about syllables on day 3.

Phonemes

This is where I usually lose people. Phonemes. It sounds so teacher-y, doesn’t it? So, what exactly are phonemes? Phonemes are the individual sounds in words. For example, the simple word cat has three phonemes {or individual sounds} /k/ – /a/ – /t/.

What makes this one a little tricky, especially for adults trying to teach phonemes, is that some words have more letters than phonemes. Take the word light, for example. While it has 5 letters, it only has three phonemes {or individual sounds}: /l/ – /i/ – /t/. We will explore more about phonemes on days 4-6 of this series. But for now, let’s see what we want kids to be able to do with phonemes:

• Isolate phonemes, such as “What’s the first sound you hear in the word bear?”
• Blend phonemes. For example, “I’m going to say the sounds in a word very slowly. See if you can listen to what I say and tell me what word it is: /m/-/ee/.” {me}
• Separate phonemes. For example, “How many little sounds do you hear in the word bug?” {3}

Counting phonemes is a more advanced skill that typically comes AFTER kids have mastered rhyming and syllables. Many children will also be reading easy texts, like those found in Reading the Alphabet, before they have mastered counting and manipulating phonemes.

 

Phonological & Phonemic Awareness

Now the teacher terms used for all these activities is: Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness.

Phonological Awareness is a broad term. It refers to the awareness of sounds in a word. A child with phonological awareness can identify and create rhyming words, count syllables in a word, or (on the smallest level) identify and manipulate individual sounds in a word.

Phonemic Awareness fits under the umbrella of phonological awareness. It is an awareness of the smallest units of sound (or phonemes) in a word. For example, a child with phonemic awareness could hear that the word bat has the sounds:  /b/  /a/  /t/. A child with keen phonemic awareness could change /h/ at the beginning of hat to /c/ and know that now, it’s the word cat.

Phonological and phonemic awareness activities are things your child can do with their eyes shut.  They only need their ear as they identify and manipulate sounds within words. The visual letters are not needed. {By the way, when you add letters to the mix, it’s now called “phonics”.}

 

The Two Best Predictors in Learning to Read

Why are phonological and phonemic awareness important? Because they are two best predictors of success in learning to read! According to Share, et. al in Sources of Individual Differences in Reading Acquisition from The Journal of Educational Psychology, they are phonemic awareness and knows letter names.

Studies over many years have shown that children who possess high levels of phonemic awareness before beginning to read do better at reading than children with low levels of this skill. Phonemic awareness has been shown to be a more potent predictor of reading success than intelligence, vocabulary, or listening comprehension.

–Learning to Read: Beyond Phonics and Whole Language by Thompson & Thompson

So, now that we know what phonological and phonemic awareness are and that they are the building blocks of reading, I want to spend a few days putting some “meat on the bones”, if you please. What things can we do to model them? What kinds of texts and activities foster phonemic awareness?

 

More Links in the 7 Days of Phonological and Phonemic Awareness:

• Playing with Rhyming Words
• Playing with Syllables
• Playing with Sounds in Words (Part 1 – Phoneme Isolation)
• Playing with Sounds in Words (Part 2- Phoneme Blending)
• Playing with Sounds in Words (Part 3- Phoneme Segmentation)
• Why Nursery Rhymes are Important 

 

Find ALL our Reading Readiness printables.

 

Enjoy teaching!
~Becky