We believe child development is a dynamic and gradual process. Experience Curriculum uses open-ended activities that can incorporate the diversity of children’s skill levels. Experience Curriculum supports the development 35 skills across 7 domains of learning including Literacy and Language. This post will demonstrate teaching phonological awareness with Experience Curriculum from infancy to preschool.
Phonological awareness is one of the language and Literacy skills that lays the foundation for later literacy skills, including reading and writing. It’s a precursor to phonics, connecting sounds to written symbols (letters). Engaging preschoolers in playful and interactive activities can help children develop phonological awareness skills in a fun and effective way.
Key Components of Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is a child’s ability to hear small sound units and identify rhyme and alliteration. It is not concerned with the meaning of words but rather the individual sounds in spoken language.
Phonological awareness is a group of skills that include a child’s ability to:
- Identify words that rhyme
- Recognizing words that rhyme, such as “cat” and “bat.”
- Generating rhyming words or completing rhyming pairs.
- Count the number of syllables in a word or in familiar names
- Counting the number of syllables in a word (e.g., “but-ter-fly” has three syllables).
- Clapping or tapping out syllables in words.
- Recognize alliteration
- Words with the same beginning sound
- Onset and Rime Awareness
- Identifying the initial consonant sound (onset) and the remaining part of the word (rime).
- For example, in “cat,” “c” is the onset, and “at” is the rime.
- Phonemic Awareness
- Recognizing and manipulating individual phonemes, which are the smallest units of sound in a language.
- Activities may include isolating, blending, segmenting, and manipulating phonemes in words.
- Sound Discrimination
- Distinguishing between different sounds in words.
- Identifying which sound is the same or different in a set of words.
- Segment (break) a sentence into words
- Breaking a sentence into individual words helps children recognize word boundaries and understand the order of words.
Teaching Phonological Awareness with Experience Curriculum
The Experience Curriculum System supports children’s on-going growth and development along the Experience Early Learning Developmental Continuum of Skills with sequenced benchmark indicators from birth through level 8.
Experience Curriculum System includes the Experience Baby Curriculum, Experience Toddler Curriculum, and the Experience Preschool Curriculum. Each curriculum program is written to support a child’s development of the 35 skills along 2 developmental benchmarks within the Experience Early Learning Developmental Skill Continuum.
- Experience Baby Curriculum provides scaffolded supports for skill benchmarks 1 and 2.
- Experience Toddler Curriculum provides scaffolded supports for skill benchmarks 2 and 3
- Experience Preschool Curriculum with the content provided in the Little Learners Guide offers scaffolded supports for skill benchmarks 3 and 4.
Each program is based on developmental levels rather than age because age is not always an indicator of a child’s level.
Our programs intentionally overlap within the developmental continuum so that children have a smooth transition from one program to the next and can also be supported even if their development in one domain is different than another domain. This allows educators to select a curriculum level based on development rather than on age. This is important for educators serving multi-age groups or children with diverse needs, including dual-language learners, children with disabilities, or special needs.
Experience Baby
Benchmark 1: Babbles and vocalizes using sound, volume and inflection.
Benchmark 2: Imitates sounds and tones. Repeats the last word in familiar rhymes when prompted.
Read Phonological Awareness Activities for Baby
Experience Toddler
Benchmark 2: Imitates sounds and tones. Repeats the last word in familiar rhymes when prompted.
Benchmark 3: Shows awareness of separate words in spoken language. Suggests a missing
rhyming word within a poem or song.
Experience Preschool
Benchmark 3: Shows awareness of separate words in spoken language. Suggests a missing rhyming word within a poem or song.
Benchmark 4: Identifies words that have a similar beginning sound. Identifies when two words rhyme. Shows awareness of separate syllables in a word.
