Phonemic Awareness Assessment

Download this PDF to perform a phonemic awareness assessment:

Instructional video to take you through the assessment process

Identifying First Vowel Sounds (also called Short Vowel Sounds)

Introduction video to the first vowel sounds video and activities

VIDEO

Help Your Child Make First Vowel Sounds (Short Vowel Sounds)

Identifying first vowel sounds is one of the most challenging phonemic awareness activities for children. Children need to learn to distinguish first vowel sounds to advance their reading skills.

In this 7 1/2 minute video I demonstrate how to make each first vowel sound (A E I O U, as in bat, bet, bit, bot, but) by using the size of your open mouth and picture clues as guides. I learned this strategy several years ago through a program called Foundation in Sounds, “a pre-reading program for dyslexic children and adults, preschoolers, and struggling students.” I continue to use the technique extensively with all of my students to teach them how to identify and differentiate vowel sounds with consistently positive results.

Activity

Practice Making First Vowel Sounds (Short Vowel Sounds)

This is a short flashcard style activity with 10 questions which will help you review the first vowel sounds with your child. It is based on the video above, Help Your Child Make First Vowel Sounds, and will not make sense if you haven’t watched the video.

Directions: Have your child say the sound phrase that matches the picture and demonstrate the size of the mouth opening for the sound by using the appropriate number and position of fingers. Then flip the card to see if they answered correctly.

First Vowel Sound Phrases

Quick reference of the phrases used for first vowel sounds from smallest to largest size of mouth opening:

Itchy, itchy, /i i i/ (as in bit)
Eddy, Eddy, /e e e/ (as in bet)
Upper, upper, /u u u/ (as in but)
Apple, apple, /a a a/ (as in bat)
Olive, olive /o o o/ (as in bot)

Remember, the vowel sounds are arranged in order by how far apart your teeth are when you make each sound. We use our fingers to measure the size of the mouth opening for each vowel sound.

The First Vowel Sounds Poster.pptx, based on the video above, Help Your Child Make First Vowel Sounds, is a Google slides document that you can view and/or download as a visual reminder of how to make first vowel sounds. Use it with your child to help teach and guide them when they need support.

If your child’s response is incorrect or they are confused, say, “Sounds can be confusing. Let’s do a quick review.” Review the sounds and first vowel sound phrases with them using the First Vowel Sounds Poster.

First Vowel Sounds Games

Use the activity links below to play games with your child to improve their reading skills

Suggestion: Keep the vowel sounds poster visible or quickly accessible at all times. Open it in a separate tab or print it off for your child to refer to while you play the games. At any time during the activities, don’t hesitate to refer your child to the poster and review with them the vowel sounds or review which vowel sound = “X” numbers of fingers, and which picture goes with each vowel sound. “Vowel sounds are tricky. Let’s do a quick review.”

Activity

1: Matching Pairs: Identify first vowel sound (AEIOU as in bit, bet, but, bat, bot). Match the open mouth size to its sound picture.

Matching Pairs is an engaging activity that parents can play with their children or children can play by themselves. It is based on the video above, How to Make Vowel Sounds, and won’t make sense if you haven’t watched the video.

Directions: Say the vowel sound picture (itchy, eddy, upper, apple, olive) and match it to the mouth picture of the vowel sound. The sounds can also be reinforced by saying the first vowel sound phrase (noted above) for the vowel when you get a pair.

Activity

2: Game Show: Identify First Vowel Sounds (AEIOU as in bit, bet, but, bat, but) using picture clues

Gameshow is a fan favourite with my my students. It is a solo multiple choice quiz-type activity where the child selects an answer to a question. In this case the goal is to identify the first vowel sounds in the middle of words using picture clues. It is the points accrued for each correct answer and the bonus round after every third question that hooks them.

Correctly identifying the middle vowel sound is one of the most challenging phonemic awareness activities for children. This is an ear training activity to train your child to identify the middle vowel sounds in words. (e.g. bit, bet, but, bat, bot

The goal is to identify the middle vowel sound of the word picture and match the sound to the correct symbol (letter). Identify the picture without using letter names. Also, just say the sound of the vowel for the answer (not the name of the vowel). Remember, it is the sounds children need to learn in order to read. As well, the brain stores the majority of words by sound not by sight.

Power Point Slides

Download or view online Gameshow Notes.pptx for a detailed description of the game.

Words for the pictures in the Game Show:

Brag – proud look on face of boy pointing thumb toward himself
Snack – plate with fruit displayed in a happy face
Cat
Web – spider’s web
Shed – wooden shed
Neck – arrow pointing to neck
Shock – shockwaves through skeleton
Stomp – boy stomping his feet
Fox
Wrist – circle around wrist
Pitch – baseball being pitched by pitcher
Kit – toolkit
Stuck – Winnie the Pooh stuck in a hole
Slug
Submarine

How To Work With Your Child During the Game Show First Sounds Activity

1: Sit with your child to help them identify the picture.

At any time during the process, don’t hesitate to refer your child to the first vowel sounds poster to review the vowel sounds or review which vowel sound = “X” numbers of fingers. In fact, having the vowel sounds poster visible at all times is a great idea.

2: After your child says the name of the picture, ask them what vowel they hear (or what sound they hear in the middle). A correct answer for the vowel sound in “buck” would be “upper upper /u u u/.” If they are able to easily identify the vowel sound, go to step 3.

If they need help identifying the vowel sound, A) stretch the vowel sound as you say the word (e.g. /ffooooox/. Make sure your mouth opening for the vowel sound matches the vowel poster. Still struggling? B) Ask them to try the different vowel sounds with you and see which one matches “buck.” e.g. biiiiick/ buuuuck, beeeeeck/ buuuuck, buuuuuuuck/ buuuuck, baaaaack/buuuuck, boooooock/buuuuck. (Again, stretch the vowel sound and make sure your mouth openings match the vowel poster.)

3: Have your child identify the symbol for the vowel sound. “Which of these says /u/ as in ”buck”? If their response is incorrect or they are confused, say, “Those sounds and symbols are tricky. Let’s do a quick review.”

Point to each symbol one at a time and say the vowel sound phrase for each one. Model the open mouth size and number of fingers on the /i i i/ /e e e/ /u u u/ /a a a/ /o o o/ at the end of the phrase. Vowel Sound Phrases:

Itchy, itchy, /i i i/ (as in bit)
Eddy, Eddy, /e e e/ (as in bet)
Upper, upper, /u u u/ (as in but)
Apple, apple, /a a a/ (as in bat)
Olive, olive /o o o/ (as in bot)

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