Phonological Awareness

I believe my kindergarten buddy is in the partial alphabetic stage of word learning. She knew the names and sounds of a little over half of the letters. I think she knows the concept of a sentence, but not the word for sentence. She called it a line. She had some rhyming awareness and some, but not as much awareness of beginnning sounds. Repetition really helped her in this area. I thought it was interesting to read and discuss in class  that re-reading is the single best strategy for improved reading skills. 

I really enjoyed chapter 2 of Fox, especially about the positive relationship between phonemic awareness and reading achievement.  Research has shown that this positive relationship is evident for children from economically advantaged households, children who are at-risk of reading difficulty, or who speak English as their second language. This knowledge of common ground gives teachers a place for focusing their energies. I am a little suprised at how much is involved in teaching literacy. It has been so long since I learned how to read and write and I haven't read much to children. Our class discussions, the readings and especially the emergent literacy work we are doing have really opened my eyes to how much is involved in teaching literacy. I realize too, that this is just the tip of the iceberg!