2021 - Page 2 of 3 - Tales from Outside the Classroom

18 Non-Print Phonemic Awareness Activities for Early Readers

In continuing my posts on phonological awareness, we’re focusing on phonemic awareness activities. If you missed my posts on What is Phonological Awareness and What is Phonemic Awareness, you might find it helpful to begin there. All of the activities in this post are without letters/print. When working on beginning phonemic awareness tasks, I believe it’s beneficial to do some practice without letters. The cognitive load required to do the phonemic awareness task and connect

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What is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in words. It is the final component of phonological awareness. These two terms are sometimes incorrectly used interchangeably. The important distinction between the two is that phonemic awareness is on the phoneme level. It is under the umbrella of phonological awareness. Thus, a phonemic awareness task is a phonological awareness task but the inverse may not be true. Let’s start with a few key

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What is Phonological Awareness?

Phonological awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds of language. As students begin to understand the connection between speech and print, they are able to segment sentences into words, then syllables, and finally to phonemes, or the sounds in our language. Alliteration and rhyming are also two phonological awareness tasks. Phonological awareness is often referred to as a continuum, however, not all skills are developed sequentially. While students need to be able

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Mondrian art image and "Mondrian Inspired Area and Perimeter Art Project" text

Mondrian Area and Perimeter Art Project

A few years back I came across this fun Piet Mondrian abstract art project that reviewed area and perimeter. Working at an arts integration school, it’s a perfect area and perimeter art project. We could explore a new artist and art style while also using the project to showcase our math learning. Bonus- I was able to use the activity as a formative check on area and perimeter. I could also use the project to

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$Math Test Prep text on image with math manipulatives, protractors, fraction tiles, base ten blocks, and dice$

Math Test Prep

The spring, especially in March, teachers in testing grades start really stressing the upcoming state testing. This year being everything it is, that state testing feels like a bigger beast in normal. The reality is, the work you do day in and day out each and every day prepares your kids for the test. You don’t need to do a ton of cramming or review just before the test. With that said, students need to

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Hi! I’m Tessa!

I’ve spent the last 15 years teaching in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades, and working beside elementary classrooms as an instructional coach and resource support. I’m passionate about math, literacy, and finding ways to make teachers’ days easier. I share from my experiences both in and out of the elementary classroom. Read more About Me.