Phonological Awareness Assessment

A childs level of phonological awareness on entering school is widely held to be the strongest single determinant of the success that she or he will experience in learning to read. The purpose of the Phonological Awareness Assessment is to evaluate how well students hear the sounds of language. It includes assessments for phonological awareness and phonemic identification that ask students to listen for individual words, syllables, rhymes and onsets and rimes in words. It will also help you determine a students ability to hear individual phonemes in words and to blend, segment, and manipulate these sounds. Use the Phonological Awareness Assessment as an ongoing observational tool to record and monitor students growth in and development of phonological awareness. Analysis of the results of this assessment will provide information for individual, small group and whole class instruction.

Scoring:
To determine the average score for a subtest, add together the scores from each child who took that subtest and then divide that sum by the total number of children who took the subtest. Bear in mind that the maximum possible score on each subtest is 6.0. If the average score of your students is less than 4.0 the corresponding section of the curriculum warrants more serious attention. Also, find time to sit down with any children whose score falls 2 or more points beneath the class average on any given subtest so that you can discover whether they are indeed in need of extra help and practice. For individual students a score of 6/6 or 5/6 is acceptable
4/6 is considered marginal 3/6 or below would indicate that the child is experiencing difficulty with that particular phonological task.

Word Awareness
1. Clapping words in a sentence. Read the short sentences. Have the student repeat the sentence and clap on every word. Example: This is my dog. [4 claps] That book was really good. [5 claps]

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

This is fun. I like to play ball. I like to read at home. Can you jump? My dog has little paws. The children are running.

[3] [5] [6] [3] [5] [4]

Syllable Awareness
2. Clapping Syllables Have the student say the following words slowly after you. Ask the student to clap one time for each syllable in the word. Example: Window - win-dow [2 claps] Alligator al-li-ga-tor [4 claps]

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

pencil elephant motorcycle bow helicopter dinosaur

[2] [3] [4] [1] [4] [3]

Blending Spoken Syllables Say the word, pausing between each syllable. Ask the student to state the word. Example: child-ren pur-ple

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

kang-a-roo ca-ter-pil-lar yel-low al-li-ga-tor puz-zle sleep-ing

Manipulating Syllables Say the word to the student. Ask the student to tell you what part is left if one is taken away. Example: Cupcake You say it. (cupcake) Say it again without cup. [cake] Playing You say it. (playing) Say it again without ing. [play] 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. raincoat without rain [coat] doghouse without dog [house] playground without ground [play] lipstick without stick [lip] pencil without cil [pen] curtain without cur [tain]

Rhyme Awareness
3. Recognizing When Two Words Rhyme Ask the student if the following words rhyme. Example: Say: Do soap and sun rhyme? Do book and look rhyme? [no] [yes]

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

tree - bee hat - cat ring - pan snake - cake frog - fish supper - carpet

[yes] [yes] [no] [yes] [no] [no]

4. Producing Rhyming Words Say the following rhyming word pairs. Ask the child to provide another rhyming word. (Non-sense words are acceptable providing the rhyme is followed. Example: pop, hop, _____ wing, king _____

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

man, fan,.. look, took, cat, mat, make, lake, hill, will, .. rack, sack.

5. Blending the Onset and Rime to Make a Word Ask the student to guess the secret word. Say the following words, pausing between the onset and rime. Example: chair (chair) goat (goat)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

f-at t-ub tr-uck sm-ile sw-ing d-ish

Phonemic Awareness
6. Matching Initial Sounds Show the student the pictures. Name each picture as you put it in front of the student. Ask the student to show you the pictures that begin with the same sound. Example: car brush cat Show me the pictures that start with the same sound. Yes. They both start with /k/. (Say the sound, not the letter name.) If incorrect (for example only) repeat the words and show the pictures of the words that begin alike, emphasizing the initial sounds. Repeat with banana balloon spoon

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

house horse fish snake wagon whistle turkey moon turtle cat can hat egg pig pumpkin coat boat bat

7. Isolating Beginning Sounds Say each word. Have the student repeat the word and say the first sound he/she hears in the world. Example: Im going to say a word and I want you to tell me what is the first sound that you hear. Cat You say it. (cat) What is the first sound you hear?[/k/]
Happy You say it. (happy) What is the first sound you hear? [/h/]

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

bike see rabbit fun little carrot

[/b/] [/s/] [/r/] [/f/] [/l/] [/k/]

8. Isolating Final Sounds Say each word. Ask the student to repeat the word and say the last sound he/she hears. Example: Im going to say a word and I want you to tell me what is the last sound that you hear. home You say it. (home) What is the last sound you hear? [/m/] fish You say it. (fish) What is the last sound you hear? [/sh/]

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

nose food bell we shop bat

[/z/] [/d/] [/l/] [/e/] [/p/] [/t/]

9. Blending Sounds Say the following words, pausing between each sound. Ask the student to identify the mystery word. Example: Im going to say a word slowly. I want you to tell me what the word is that I am saying. n-o (no)
k-a-t (cat)

1. t-oy 2. m-e 3. it 4. s-k-y

5. p-i-ck 6. r-o-ck-s

10. Segmenting Sounds Ask the student to tell you each sound in the following words.
Example: I want you to stretch these words out so I can hear each sound. If I say go you would say /g/ /o/. Now you try it. dog (/d/ - /o/ - /g/)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

to day feet cake sat tub

11. Manipulating Sounds Say the word. Then ask the student to change one of the sounds and tell you the new word. Example: boat change /b/ to /k/. What do you get? coat mat change /t/ to /p/. What do you get? .map

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

got man mitten like lake leaf

change /g/ to /d/. change /m/ to /p/ change /m/ to /k/ change /k/ to /t/] change /k/ to /t/ change /e/ to /i/

[dot] [pan] [kitten] [light] [late] [life]