Educating Young Children Volume 1 - Winter 2026 | Page 86

Educators do not expect preschoolers to fully master these skills, but it is important they begin developing an awareness of these processes and learning them in early childhood. Many state and national frameworks and standards include expectations that preschoolers will be able to engage in initial phoneme segmentation( identify the first sound in a spoken word, such as / b / in the word bus) and that they will be able to orally blend an initial phoneme with the rest of the word(/ b / + / us / = / bus /). These standards are created based on an understanding that, in English and other alphabetic languages, phonemic awareness in early childhood helps children connect the sounds of speech to letters so that they can learn to read and write.

( To read key ideas to remember as we support children’ s learning about sounds, click here.)

If we had to select just two words to describe how to explain phonological awareness and alphabet instruction, those words would be brief and clear. Here are some examples of brief and clear instruction for young children:

›“ Rhyming words have the same sounds at the end. Ball and tall rhyme. Ball and tall both have the-all sound at the end.”( phonological awareness)

›“ When you say fox, the first sound you say is / f /. Fffffox.”( phonemic awareness)

›“ Your name starts with the letter L. L stands for the / l / sound. That’ s the sound at the beginning of your name: Lllatrese!”( alphabet instruction / phonics)

›“ The letter o is a circle shape. The letter o stands for the / o / [ oh ] sound or the / o / [ ah ] sound.”( alphabet instruction / phonics)

Notice that these statements are brief and clear.