Adams, Marilyn Jager, Foorman, Barbara R, et al. (1997). Phonemic Awareness
in Young Children: A Classroom Curriculum.
Baltimore, MD : Paul H. Brookes.
Phonemic awareness refers to hearing and decoding spoken sounds rather
than the more familiar written representations of sounds learned in phonics.
Studies show that children who are attuned to listening to the different
sounds that form words have an easier time learning to read and write.
The book takes a very successful program developed by Lundberg, Frost and
Peterson (1988) for use in Sweden and Denmark and translates it for use
with the English language. This requires more than a literal translation,
since word sound correlations, such as rhyme, are often the whole point
of the exercises. The authors have tested this curriculum in
a number of schools and modified it for American children.
There are many (50+) activities presented here, all intended to be used
in frequent short bursts of practice. Many take the form of games. Most
activity is teacher directed and individual, although often performed in groups.
Taken as a whole the program presents a good exploration of the phonemic
issues of the English language, which could be useful for teachers even
if they chose not to utilize the curriculum.
