Information For Teachers and Parents
Experiences that are provided to infants and young children can significantly enhance their intellectual development. These experiences can be organised into a developmental sequence. This sequence begins in infancy with the development of language. Talking to children from the time of birth can dramatically accelerate their intellectual development. When they reach 3-5 years, after they have developed some capacity with spoken language children begin to develop an awareness of the nature of language. Thus, the next critical step in the developmental sequence relates to an awareness of the sounds of language. This is followed by development of an understanding of the relationships between the sounds in language and the written letters. When children have developed some knowledge of letters and sounds, they can begin learning to read.
As with literacy generally, there is a sequence which characterises the development of phonological awareness. For most children rhyme is the first skill to develop. This is followed by awareness of onset and then initial and final phonemes.
When children can successfully use the activity cards ensure that children have mastery of the concept of rhyme using:
Children should complete all activities in the workbook.
Awareness of rhyme and onset is essential for children to be successful in becoming literate.
When children have completed GOLD Phonological Awareness Student Workbook 1: Rhyme, introduce the concept of onset using:
After they understand the concept of onset, children should work through the Onset section of:
When they have completed the Onset section of Workbook 2, introduce the concept of initial phonemes using:
This should be followed by completing the Initial Phoneme section of Workbook 2.
When children can work successfully with the cards, complete the Final Phoneme section of Workbook 2. This section is carefully structured so that initial activities simply require children to match words that have the same final sounds. Activities become more complex until children can match initial phonemes in words to final phonemes in other words. This is a very complex and sophisticated skill.
By the time children have completed Workbook 2; children will have high levels of phonological awareness and will have the skills they need to be successful in learning to read and write.
The reason that phonological awareness is so strongly related to the ability to learn to read, is that the ability to hear the sounds in language gives meaning to letter-sounds. If a child cannot hear that the word seal begins with the sound ssss and that house ends with the sound ssss, then when they are told that the letter ‘s’ represents the sound ssss, it makes no sense. It is impossible to remember all the letter-sound relationships, if the process has no meaning.
After children have developed phonological awareness and have completed GOLD Phonological Awareness Student Workbook 2: Initial Sounds they should learn the letter-sound relationship. This can be done by completing:
In addition to being able to decode regular words, children also need to sight recognise irregular words. Irregular words are words that do not follow the rules (eg said, the, two). Thus, the second element of an effective decoding program is to teach children how to recognise sight words (irregular words).
Finally, children need to use their decoding skills in context. They need sequenced readers where they can decode all the words. Thus, children need access to books in two distinct ways; first, if the children cannot decode the books themselves, parents should read books to children. Second, children need to have simple books to read independently. These books should correspond to their decoding skills, so that when children read books by themselves, they can decode every word with proficiency.
I really liked when they found the puppy. What was your favourite part?
I think I’d like to eat some green eggs. What do you think about eating green eggs?
Why do you think the giant was so mean?
Talking about the story should be done in an engaging and fun way to help children build a deeper understanding of the text you are reading together.
It can also be helpful to encourage children to talk about the pictures in books and to create their own pictures related to the stories they are reading.
Experiences that are provided to infants and young children can significantly enhance their intellectual development. These experiences can be organised into a developmental sequence. This sequence begins in infancy with the development of language. Talking to children from the time of birth can dramatically accelerate their intellectual development. When they reach 3-5 years, after they have developed some capacity with spoken language children begin to develop an awareness of the nature of language. Thus, the next critical step in the developmental sequence relates to an awareness of the sounds of language. This is followed by development of an understanding of the relationships between the sounds in language and the written letters. When children have developed some knowledge of letters and sounds, they can begin learning to read.
- Talk to infants and children. Research shows that talking to infants has profound effects in children’s intellectual development. New-borns and children who have talkative parents grow to have significantly higher achievement throughout school, higher levels of literacy, higher intelligence test scores and heavier, denser more highly developed brains. Thus, it appears that talking to infants facilitates the development of the brain which, in turn, enhances children’s intelligence. Consequently, children have higher achievement in school generally, and higher literacy, specifically.
- Read to children. Young children should be introduced to the joy of books by having parents read to them.
- Phonological awareness. When infants first learn to talk, they are aware only of the meaning of the language they hear. They are not aware that ‘language’ is something separate from its meaning. To become literate, children must develop an awareness of language as an object. Adults have a range of understanding about the nature of language. For example, adults are aware that language is made up of words and sentences; that words are reorganised so that they can convey different ideas. Infants do not have this awareness but it is essential that they build an understanding of what language is.
As with literacy generally, there is a sequence which characterises the development of phonological awareness. For most children rhyme is the first skill to develop. This is followed by awareness of onset and then initial and final phonemes.
- Rhyme is usually the first phonological skill to develop. It emerges from experience with nursery rhymes. Therefore, young children should be introduced to rhyme through nursery, verse, songs and games involving rhyme. After children become familiar with rhymes, they can be given more formal experiences with rhyme. First, consolidate their awareness of rhyme using:
- GOLD Phonological Awareness Activity Cards: Rhyme.
When children can successfully use the activity cards ensure that children have mastery of the concept of rhyme using:
- GOLD Phonological Awareness Student Workbook 1: Rhyme.
Children should complete all activities in the workbook.
- Onset. When children can rhyme, they can hear the rime in words. The rime is the vowel and final consonant or consonant blend in words (eg the rime in catisat: the rime intrainisain). After children can hear the rime, they learn to split (or segment) the rime from the rest of the word. For single syllable words when children segment the rime, they are left with the initial sounds. Awareness of initial sounds is particularly important in learning to read.
Awareness of rhyme and onset is essential for children to be successful in becoming literate.
When children have completed GOLD Phonological Awareness Student Workbook 1: Rhyme, introduce the concept of onset using:
- GOLD Phonological Awareness Activity Cards: Onset.
After they understand the concept of onset, children should work through the Onset section of:
- GOLD Phonological Awareness Student Workbook 2: Initial Sounds.
- Initial Phonemes. A phoneme is a single speech sound. It is the smallest unit of language. Language cannot be broken into anything smaller than a phoneme, For example, the sounds mmmm (as in monkey), rrr (as in run), iiii (as in ink) are phonemes. After children learn to hear onset, they learn to split consonant blends into their phonemes. For example the onset in train (tr) can be split into two phonemes t and r.
When they have completed the Onset section of Workbook 2, introduce the concept of initial phonemes using:
- GOLD Phonological Awareness Activity Cards: Initial Phoneme.
This should be followed by completing the Initial Phoneme section of Workbook 2.
- Final Phonemes. Many children find it very difficult to hear the final sound in words. Research shows that high achieving readers can hear all the sounds in words. Therefore, it is very important that children learn to hear both the initial phoneme and the final phoneme.
- GOLD Phonological Awareness Activity Cards: Final Phoneme.
When children can work successfully with the cards, complete the Final Phoneme section of Workbook 2. This section is carefully structured so that initial activities simply require children to match words that have the same final sounds. Activities become more complex until children can match initial phonemes in words to final phonemes in other words. This is a very complex and sophisticated skill.
By the time children have completed Workbook 2; children will have high levels of phonological awareness and will have the skills they need to be successful in learning to read and write.
- Letter knowledge. To become proficient readers, children must be able to instantly recognise approximately 200,000 words. It is virtually impossible to do this by recognising each written word as a unique spoken word. Recognising whole words is often called sight-word recognition. Research consistently shows that programs that attempt to teach beginning readers by relying on sight-word recognition are ineffective. Effective programs to teach beginning reading focus on teaching children to use their knowledge of letter and sounds to work out words.
The reason that phonological awareness is so strongly related to the ability to learn to read, is that the ability to hear the sounds in language gives meaning to letter-sounds. If a child cannot hear that the word seal begins with the sound ssss and that house ends with the sound ssss, then when they are told that the letter ‘s’ represents the sound ssss, it makes no sense. It is impossible to remember all the letter-sound relationships, if the process has no meaning.
After children have developed phonological awareness and have completed GOLD Phonological Awareness Student Workbook 2: Initial Sounds they should learn the letter-sound relationship. This can be done by completing:
- GOLD Letter Knowledge Student Workbook.
- Decoding refers to the process of turning written letters and words into spoken language. There are 26 letters and 44 sounds. The core of an effective decoding program is to teach students to use their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences to work out regular, unfamiliar words. Eighty two per cent of words in English are regular words and can be worked out using knowledge of letters and sounds. Regular words are the words that follow the regular rules (eg cat, train, play).
In addition to being able to decode regular words, children also need to sight recognise irregular words. Irregular words are words that do not follow the rules (eg said, the, two). Thus, the second element of an effective decoding program is to teach children how to recognise sight words (irregular words).
Finally, children need to use their decoding skills in context. They need sequenced readers where they can decode all the words. Thus, children need access to books in two distinct ways; first, if the children cannot decode the books themselves, parents should read books to children. Second, children need to have simple books to read independently. These books should correspond to their decoding skills, so that when children read books by themselves, they can decode every word with proficiency.
- Comprehension refers to the ability to understand the text that is being read. Parents can enhance comprehension when reading to their children by talking about the story. Care should be taken to ensure that this does not become an interrogation. Reading should always be an enjoyable experience for the child. Questions and comments such as:
I really liked when they found the puppy. What was your favourite part?
I think I’d like to eat some green eggs. What do you think about eating green eggs?
Why do you think the giant was so mean?
Talking about the story should be done in an engaging and fun way to help children build a deeper understanding of the text you are reading together.
It can also be helpful to encourage children to talk about the pictures in books and to create their own pictures related to the stories they are reading.
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