Is your kindergartner or first grade student having trouble with Phonemic Awareness? Do they need understanding that speech is made up of distinct yet identifiable sounds.   Well, I used these methods when I taught, and I hope it will help you in the classroom. For those who don’t remember, I’ve provided pictures to help. These are some scaffolds used for students who were having difficulty hearing sounds in words. Although these strategies are dated, they worked! Do you remember?Elkonin Box-Used individually or with small groupHow to use Elkonin Boxes

1. Pronounce a target word slowly, stretching it out by sound.

2. Ask the child to repeat the word.

3. Draw "boxes" or squares on a piece of paper, chalkboard, or dry erase board with one box for each syllable or phoneme.

4. Have the child count the number of phonemes in the word, not necessarily the number of letters. For example, wish has three phonemes and will use three boxes. /w/, /i/, /sh/

5. Direct the child to slide one colored circle, unifix cube, or corresponding letter in each cell of the Elkonin box drawing as he/she repeats the word.

The example below shows an Elkonin Box for the word "sheep," which consists of three phonemes (sounds): /sh/ /ee/ /p/  Mirror to see shape of mouth- Use a small hand mirror, so the student can ‘see’ how they are making the sound. The phrase ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ or in this case ‘a reflection is worth a thousand words’ applies to speech instruction. A small hand mirror is an effective tool.

• /th/ and /th/: “Stick your tongue out!” For both the hard /th/ and the soft /th/ sound the student needs to stick their tongue out. Exaggerate sticking the tongue out to teach the sound. A mirror is particularly helpful so the student can see their tongue sticking out between the teeth. Both the /th/ and /th/ sounds are made by sticking the tongue out. The only difference is the ‘voice on’ ‘voice off’. With the hard /th/ the student vibrates the tongue.

Phoneme Phone- These phones are used to help students improve their skills in phonemic awareness. Pronunciation of each sound allowing time for you to repeat the sound.      Proximity- This is simply taking notice, and taking notes. Engage when you circulate, touch/non-verbal techniques, glancing closely, and thumbs up for progress. This all matters in supporting student interaction.     Counting Sounds- How many speech sounds are there in the words below? Click the link for the answers and more practice words. For example, the word “note” has four letters but just 3 speech sounds; the word “know” has four letters but just two speech sounds. This is key to hearing the sounds and separating them.Cough__This__       Color coded manipulatives also help when reinforcing a sound (one color for consonants and one color for vowels) or phonics pairs together that help them know their diphthongs, vowel pairs, and trigraphs.  You can always run through the sound spelling cards.                  Well, I hope this helps remember, these are scaffolds for all students when one way is not working! Good luck!