Early Literacy Skill Set 6: Phonological Awareness

Researchers say that there are six skills that are important for children to learn before they are ready to read: Print Motivation, Print Awareness, Narrative Skills, Vocabulary, Letter Knowledge, and Phonological Awareness (Source: Every Child Ready to Read via Saroj Ghoting).  These are known as early literacy skills, sometimes referred to as emergent literacy skills.

Phonological awareness indicates an understanding of the smaller sounds (syllables) in words, which leads to being able to sound out words when children begin to read.


Many different reading activities can aid in developing phonological awareness. Here are a few to get you started:

• Read a book with animal sounds, like Bark, George by Jules Feiffer. Animal sounds like baa, moo, and woof help children understand the smaller sounds in words since they are one syllable and are easy to repeat.

• Sing a song like "Twinkle, Twinkle. Little Star" with your little one, or read a book that can be sung, such as The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani. Singing helps slow down language so that little ones can hear the smaller sounds in words. When each syllable has a different note, you are breaking down words into parts, which helps with sounding out words.

• Read a book that encourages your child to make sounds or noises along with the story, like Down by the Station by Jessica Stockholm. Getting children engaged with participating during reading enhances early literacy skills.

• Practice reading rhyming books, as little ones learn best by repetition. The repeated sounds will help them understand the sounds in words. Even better is a book that rhymes and has word play such as alliteration, such as Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino.

• If you choose a book with great rhythm like Chuck's Band by Peggy Anderson, chant it rather than just reading it. Pat a drum (or just your lap) along to the beat. 

Say It Again!

Early Literacy Skills are competencies that children need to develop before they begin reading and writing.*

Choosing books to read with your child that have a repetitive phrase can aid in the development of many of the early literacy skills that children need in order to be ready to read: **

Print Motivation
Print Awareness
Narrative Skills
Vocabulary
Letter Knowledge
Phonological Awareness

Hearing a repeated phrase over and over again will help children recognize sound patterns and develop phonological awareness (understanding the smaller sounds in words).

Reading books with repeated phrases also helps children develop narrative skills (the skills needed to tell stories and describe events). In telling a story, pause and let your child complete the repeated phrase. Your child will gain confidence in participating and helping to tell the story.

Print awareness (noticing the fact that printed letters and words have meaning) can be developed by running your finger along the repeated phrase in a story.

As the old adage goes, practice makes perfect! Hearing these repeated phrases is wonderful practice for learning early literacy skills. Read these books with repeated phrases and remember it’s never too soon to be ready to read!

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

Shake your fists, and stamp your feet along with the peddler as he sells his caps and meets some silly and naughty monkeys along the way!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archaumbault

This classic and lively alphabet rhyme will have you chanting its memorable verses long after finishing the cheerful story. Lois Ehlert’s vibrant illustrations are not to be missed.

The Chick and the Duckling by Vladimir Suteev

This sweet mimicking tale of the newly hatched chick and duckling will delight little ones who are also exploring and discovering the world around them.

Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee

Who wants to go for a ride with Mr. Horse? Children will love being bounced on your lap as you repeat “Clip-clop, clippety clop!” in this rhythmic tale of a horseback ride with barnyard friends.

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
Delight in the surprise of lifting the flaps to reveal who from the menagerie the zoo sends as a possible pet in response to a young child’s letter.

Have You Seen my Cat? By Eric Carle

Let’s help the little boy find his missing cat and meet helpful friends and other members of the cat family along the way! Children will love participating by repeating, “That is not my cat!”

I Went Walking by Sue Williams

In this repetitive question and answer book about the friends we meet when we go for a walk, children can participate by identifying each colorful animal.

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw

The repetitive and simplistic nature of this picture book will keep children engaged and curious as they guess what each simple shape is illustrating.

The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood

Read this gentle, cozy, cumulative rhyming story at bed time to ensure sweet dreams!

Pete the Cat: Old MacDonald Had a Farm by James Dean

Classic songs with repeated refrains are always a hit and children will enjoy seeing their cool friend Pete the Cat give an old song a new spin!

*(Source: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, www.zerotothree.org).
** (Source: Every Child Ready to Read via Saroj Ghoting)

Early Literacy Skill Set 1: Print Motivation

Researchers say that there are six skills that are important for children to learn before they are ready to read: Print Motivation, Print Awareness, Narrative Skills, Vocabulary, Letter Knowledge, and Phonological Awareness (Source: Every Child Ready to Read via Saroj Ghoting).  These are known as early literacy skills, sometimes referred to as emergent literacy skills.

Let's talk about Print Motivation.  Put simply, print motivation is a love of reading.  Children showing interest in and enjoying books is the first stepping stone towards being ready to read, and this skill can be developed from birth.

Reading aloud is widely recognized as the single most important activity that aids in language development for your child.  It also starts the process of print motivation: showing that reading is an enjoyable activity.  Pick a cozy, comfortable spot for reading at home.  Take your children to the library. Store books in the same area as your little one's toys.  Choose age-appropriate books and when he/she is ready, let your child join in on the book choosing process!

Not sure where to start?  In general, babies who are less than 12 months old like seeing simple, colorful books with large, high contrast pictures.  Books with black and white pictures or patterns make it easier for little developing eyes to focus, such as Black on White by Tana Hoban.  Books with photographs of babies are very engaging to these little ones.  Start looking in the board book section of your library for these books.

Babies who are 12-24 months old enjoy rhyming books and repetitive language.  They also like books about animals, saying hello and goodbye, bedtime, and nursery rhymes. Try reading a book about animals such as Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathman and get them engaged by asking them to point to a specific animal in the book.

Toddlers aged 2-3 are starting to memorize books.  Get them even more engaged with interactive books like pop-ups, lift the flap, pull the tab, or touch and feel.  Books with a repeated phrase like Silly Sally by Audrey Wood are great for this age, and traditional songs made into books are always a hit.

As your 4 or 5 year old is getting into preschool, he/she is ready for a more advanced books with a plot.  Silly or funny books like We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems are huge for print motivation and it is likely that these are the books that the little ones will ask to borrow from the library over and over again.

Bonus: even the simple pattern of seeing you read on a regular basis can motivate a child to want to read.  Remember, babies and children are very interested in what you are doing.  Your behavior and activities serve as a model for them, so go check out that book you've been wanting to read and let your "me-time" motivate your baby to be just like his/her most beloved role-model: you!

The Five Finger Rule

I get a lot of children and parents who come in and have no idea where to start in terms of picking out a book that is appropriate for the child's reading level. (The fact that the child is in "second-grade" tells me nothing... there is a huge range of reading ability at this age and frankly at any age).

This is especially frequent among those who are perusing the "Easy Readers" section, a section of books that is devoted to introducing children to reading on their own.  They are arranged in a chapter book format, with large font sizes and pictures throughout the book so as to not be too daunting for the early reader.  They also range in difficulty level from levels one through four.  When a child needs help determining his or her reading level, I like to introduce the "Five Finger Rule", something I found to be quite useful during my time student-teaching in a school library.

Basically, you tell the child to open up to any page in the book.  Have the child begin reading that page.  For every word that the child needs help with, the child puts up a finger.  Zero to one fingers means this book is too easy.  The reader should challenge him/herself a little more.  Two to three fingers indicates a "just-right" book: the reader will be learning new words without the book being to overwhelming.  Four or more fingers shows that this book might be too challenging for independent reading, so the reader may need a reading buddy to help.  I created a poster to put near our easy readers that would hopefully help our patrons with this "rule", which is not necessarily a rule per-say, but rather an easy way of determining a general appropriate reading level for beginning readers.