Phonemic Awareness

The ability to separate, manipulate, and distinguish individual phonemes (individual sounds) within spoken words is referred to as phonemic awareness (Ehri, 2022). Although phonemic awareness is considered an essential foundational reading skill, it is not adequately addressed in many reading curricula (Lane et al., 2025). Phonemic awareness supports the acquisition of letter-sound knowledge, which in turn facilitates the ability to read words (Clayton et al., 2020). Phonemic awareness skills are directly tied to future reading ability (Piasta, 2022).

Not only should phonemic awareness instruction be explicit (Antonacci & O’Callaghan, 2011), but it also needs to be taught with fidelity to be effective. My tool for teaching this foundational reading skill is the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness curriculum (Heggerty, n.d.). Using a research-based curriculum will enable your students to learn the skills they need. Here is what it looks like in action:

• 10-minute daily whole-group lesson

• Assessments for progress monitoring and skill grouping

• Using assessment data to review and reteach necessary skills in small-group settings as needed

(Heggerty, n.d.)

References

Antonacci, P. A., & O'Callaghan, C. M. (2011). Promoting literacy development: 50 research-based strategies for K-8 learners (1st ed.). SAGE Publications.

Clayton, F. J., West, G., Sears, C., Hulme, C., & Lervåg, A. (2020). A Longitudinal Study of Early Reading Development: Letter-Sound Knowledge, Phoneme Awareness and RAN, but Not Letter-Sound Integration, Predict Variations in Reading Development. 

Scientific Studies of Reading, 24(2), 91–107. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2019.1622546

Ehri, L. C. (2022). What teachers need to know and do to teach letter-sounds, phonemic awareness, word reading, and phonics. Reading Teacher, 76(1), 53-61. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2095

Heggerty (n.d.). Kindergarten Curriculum. Phonemic Awareness Kindergarten Curriculum. Retrieved July 23, 2025, from https://heggerty.org/programs/phonemic-awareness/kindergarten/#section-1

Lane, H. B., Contesse, V. A., Gage, N. A., & Burns, M. K. (2025). Effect of an instructional program in foundational reading skills on early literacy development of students in kindergarten and first grade. Reading Research Quarterly, 60(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.607

Piasta, S. B., & Hudson, A. K. (2022). Key knowledge to support phonological awareness and phonics instruction. Reading Teacher, 76(2), 201-210. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2093