Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is an important part of literacy development. Since I am a Deaf Education major i have seen it's importance many times. Deaf and Hard of Hearing children that have low phonemic awareness have problems distinguishing between different words.
It is an important skill that can be very boring to learn. I loved the ideas of singing and reciting poetry.

Fluent Reading

The thing that stood out to me in these readings was the importance of fluency. The readings discussed how learning fluency is a constant ongoing process. If a child can read the words and read them very fast that doesn't necessarily mean that they understand the words. I feel that Understand what you are reading and writing is a crucial part of language acquisition.


If a child can read out-loud and follow all of the reading rules are they fluent? If a child doesn't understand what they are reading, are they actually reading?

Confidence in Reading

The thing that stood out the most to me in this reading is emphasis on being able to read. Many teachers approach young children thinking that they cannot read. This article talks about the fact that they can read. Even if that reading is just from a McDonald's Bag, an M&M candy, or a Lego box.

Letters are merely symbols that go together to form words. If children know how to look at a McDonald's bag and understand that the symbol on the bag stands for McDonald's then that child has done the first step in reading.

What are other ways that adults and teachers can reinforce a child's knowledge of reading? What is another way to show a child that they can read even if it isn't a full word or sentence?