Phonemic awareness is the ability to understand that spoken words are made up of individual sounds called phonemes, and is one of the best early predictors for reading success.  

Phonemic awareness is oral and auditory, and the focus is on the SOUNDS in words.  Phonemic awareness is often confused with phonics.   Phonemic awareness does not involve print or letter names, but it makes the teaching of phonics more effective and therefore the two skills are combined in this powerful class.

There are 8 critical skills that will be practiced 3 days per week in this class because studies show that students who are explicitly taught these skills and practice them regularly, outperform students who do not.  (Dr. Roland Good, University of Oregon)

Phonics is more widely understood.  The focus is on the letters in print and the sounds they make.  Both skills are foundational to learning to read well.

This 1:1 tutoring format allows your learner to experience a consistent, repetitive, program that insures success in phonemic awareness and phonics skills that build the foundation for reading, and that students often struggle with.  Skills are presented systematically using a multi-sensory approach including a variety of age appropriate activities and games to help EVERY learner achieve success.  Curriculum is based on the science of reading and lessons by Dr. Michael Heggerty, a leading expert in the field.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS SKILLS introduced and/or practiced in this class (based on readiness) include:
- Rhyme
- Initial phoneme (sound) isolation
- Blending
- Phoneme isolation: Final or Medial sounds
- Segmenting phonemes
- Adding phonemes
- Deleting phonemes
- Substituting phonemes

PHONICS SKILLS introduced and/or practiced in this class (based on readiness) include:
- all basic letter sounds
- digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ck, ng)
- trigraphs (tch, dge)
- blends
- complex vowels and vowel teams (ai, ee, ow, ou, etc.)

WHAT TO EXPECT in each session:

FIRST SESSION
*Get to know you
*Introduction of class routines and motivational rewards
*Assessment

IN EVERY SESSION THEREAFTER
-Phonemic Awareness - 8 listening activities based on your child's needs 
-Phonics - flash cards or games with pictures and letters 
-Decoding - word lists, sentences, or games
-Sight Words - common high frequency word cards and games using pictures and physical actions (SNAP words system)
-Connected Text - books and stories to practice the skills introduced in a "real" reading format