Teach critical phonological awareness skills with phonological awareness packs that include word, rhyme, onset and
rime, syllable, and phoneme instruction and practice. Each pack includes a lesson page for the tutor, templates for
making picture cards, a game, and a read-aloud book for developing awareness of sounds.
Phonological awareness addresses the sounds of language. Awareness of the words and sounds in spoken
language is the most important indicator of success in developing readers, according to research.
Word: Word awareness is the knowledge that words have meaning. Students with word awareness
can discriminate individual words in a passage read to them. Beginning readers must acquire this
skill before they can extract meaning from what they read.
Rhyme: Rhyme awareness is the understanding that certain word endings should sound alike and
therefore contain the same sounds.
Onset and Rime: Onset is the initial consonant sound in a one-syllable word. Rime includes
the remaining sounds.
Syllable: Syllable awareness is the understanding that words are divided into parts, each
part containing a separate vowel sound.
Phoneme: Phoneme awareness is the awareness of the smallest units of sound in a word. It is
important that students learn to segment, blend, and manipulate phonemes in the English language.
Use this tutor handout for instructional tips on teaching phonological awareness
Print, assemble, and train the tutors on the use of each pack.
Instructions contained in each pack have been specifically written for tutors from varying
backgrounds and with varying experience working with students.
Estimated time allotments are provided for each lesson step; tutors should follow the lesson
sequence as outlined in each lesson plan.
Specific resources used for each step are identified next to the instructions.
Identify and produce rhyme; discriminate sounds and words
