Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. Although we typically think of written letters and their coordinating sounds when children are learning to read, phonemic awareness is an essential component in learning to read or spell. 

Many children have a good grasp of phonemic awareness by ages 6 and 7, but some of the more tricky aspects of speech and sounds must be learned to support reading and spelling skills. This week, first graders focused on one category of speech sounds that are tricky to hear – nasal consonants. The sounds made by the letters N and M are created when air flows out the nose. (Think about if you tried to say “along” with a stuffy nose and it sounds like “alog”!) It is typical for students who are spelling phonetically to miss a consonant when it occurs with another consonant at the end of the word. For example, a typical first grade student may write “lap” for “lamp” or “sek” for “sink”. We have focused on listening for N and M sounds in these types of words because being aware of each sound helps a student to write and read more effectively. 

This week’s spelling pattern is Ending N Blends – a blend of N with another consonant at the end of the word. Examples of these words include: diamond, vigilant and backbend. We identified these sounds in words by focusing on the air coming out of our noses. Students first said the spelling words normally, and then tried it with their nose plugged. (Check out the example above of some students trying this with the word “bent”!) Having an advanced knowledge of nasal consonants helps first graders be more aware of the sounds and letters that exist in words with this pattern.