When we think about teaching children to read, we often imagine books, letters, and the alphabet. But what’s even more fundamental than letters? Sounds—specifically, phonemes.

Phonemic awareness is a child's ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. It’s not the same as knowing letters—it's all about hearing the sounds.

Research shows that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of how well children will learn to read.

If children can hear and work with sounds, they’re better prepared to connect those sounds with letters—a key skill called phonics.

Phonemic awareness may sound like a small skill, but it has a huge impact. By helping children understand how words are made up of sounds, we give them the tools to become confident, fluent readers—and set them up for success across all areas of learning.

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