So what is phonological and phonemic awareness?

Well, here is the order of skills from simple to complex.  You can & should work on more than one skill at a time.  It depends on the age & ability of your child/students of when you will introduce the next skill. So, if you are working on Syllables and Rhyming, you are not going to throw Phoneme Addition in there, as that is a more advanced skill.  But you can work on Word Awareness, Syllables, Rhyming, and Onset & Rime at the same time if it is not too much for the child.

Phonological Awareness:

• Word Awareness or Concept of Word
• Syllables*
• Rhyming*
• Onset & Rime

(the goal of the above skills is to get to the skills below)

Phonemic Awareness (the next part of phonological awareness):

• Phoneme** Isolation
• Phoneme Blending
• Phoneme Segmentation
• Phoneme Addition
• Phoneme Deletion
• Phoneme Substitution

*Some sources say rhyme before syllables, and some say syllables before rhyme.  I have done both at the same time and have not found any research that shows doing one before the other is crucial.

**Phoneme simply means SOUND. 

There are 44 phonemes in the English language.  /SH/ is a phoneme even though it has 2 letters because it only makes one sound.

Check out the FREE cheat sheet made for parents and teachers to better understand phonological and phonemic awareness.

Check out this starter pack that explains all of these skills in an easy-to-understand format with tips and tricks for each skill!

Maximize your instruction time by linking your phonemic awareness instruction with your phonics lessons!

Older students struggling to read may be missing phonemic awareness! Get back to the basics without making them feel like they are doing something meant for younger kids.

Knowing how sounds are spelled is another important foundational skill. We love using multisensory methods to practice this skill!