Last Updated on October 2, 2023 by Editorial Team
The ability to identify phonemes, and further blend, add, subtract, delete, and modify them to sound out words is described as phonemic awareness. It is a parameter for assessing the reading skills of a child. Whether it is for reading the content on a website or in a book, this skill needs to be in a sound state.
Those people with reading difficulties are found with this ability conspicuously less developed or absent entirely. Thankfully, due to growing awareness, reading difficulties have been recognized as genuine problems (Extracted from the book, ‘Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children,’ by C.E. Snow, et al., 1998).
In response to these difficulties that prove perilous for young learners’ confidence, innovators have employed technological breakthroughs to offer high-quality learning support to all kinds of reading beginners.
That is why there is a surge in the numbers of websites, online forums, video streaming apps, etc., dedicated to the cause of providing phonemic awareness support. Of these platforms, listed below websites are the ones that have stood out in clarity, a wide choice of features, and user-friendliness.
Let’s explore other essential reasons why these websites are considered the best go-to phonemic awareness learners.
Top reasons to use websites that help build phonemic awareness
- A rich repertoire of words to practice
- Short and long reading lessons
- Story collection to give reading practice
- Games to build phonemic awareness proficiency
- Reviews of various other websites offering phonemic awareness help
- Offer the right environment for community learning through discussion forums
- Interactive lessons, including activities for phonemic awareness, to help children to help children
Who would say ‘no’ to amazing websites that can help parents and teachers provide the kids with a suitable platform for nurturing phonemic awareness skills? But, a plethora of such websites can make choosing part a bit difficult. So, here we have outlined for you the best websites that can help users master all levels of phonemic awareness.
Websites that help build phonemic awareness in reading beginners
1. Sight Words
It often happens that teachers find it difficult to explain the difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness. When the plan is to indulge the child in a technical way of ‘learning to read,’ this website offers the perfect go-to. It covers everything essential for teaching phonemic awareness in a well-structured manner. The reading beginners can assess their proficiency levels, pick lessons on the required aspects, and also do a lot of reading practice here. Important phonemic awareness lessons covered in this website are:
- Beginning Sounds
- Word Families
- Ending Sounds
- Digraph Sounds
- Consonant Blends
- Connecting Sounds
- Beginning Reading
Such comprehensive learning support is truly engaging and learning-driven, and is certainly a must-try!
2. Homeschooling with Dyslexia
It is a common observation that Dyslexia manifests into poor phonemic awareness. This website is designed keeping the requirements of dyslexic children who need cushioning support to overcome challenges associates with phonemic awareness.
It is a resource-enriched site and has curated almost every online medium that can be instrumental in building phonemic awareness. The users can find here information about websites, apps, games, lesson plans, and even assistive tools that can help build phonemic awareness, and ultimately, overcome reading difficulties. It is perfect homeschooling support that can be used in a self-paced manner to suit the learning and grasping power of the child.
3. The Measured Mom
How technology in education helps develop phonemic awareness can be best understood with The Measured Mom website? It is wholesome support that is designed for both the teachers and the students. The subscribers can get the firsthand feel of all the resources available here by referring to freebies.
Arranged in a grade-wise and topic-wise manner, the users can find activities like reading, writing, comprehension, spelling, etc., to do here. From Pre-K to higher elementary school levels, the study material, printable worksheets, games, etc., are provided. Further, a podcast covering important teaching challenges that mentors face offers paperless guidance support to knowledge seekers.
4. Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets is the ultimate, resource-rich website. It offers a learning-driven environment for both the early and advanced readers. The website offers reading guidance covering the reasons behind struggles face and ways to combat them.
It has an enriched repertoire of shows, blogs, videos, and various learning resources required for students who want to master phonemic awareness. PBS shows on this website highlight the ways children learn to read and prepare their mentors to handle expected challenges. Also, video collection featuring educators and experts is updated from time to time to add to the learning ease.
5. Teachable Teacher
Teachable Teacher offers ready-made support to access all materials contributing to developing phonemic awareness. This site has a dedicated section for learning materials required to enhance phonemic awareness. One can find here:
- Videos for blendings and segmenting phonemes
- Digital Syllables games teachers can use in Google Classroom
- Games to teach phonemic awareness basics
- Songs to teach phonemic awareness
- Youtube videos for syllables teaching
Also, if you are searching for some apps that can build phonemic awareness, you can find the best responses here.
6. K5 Learning
It is not just a website but the ultimate hub for phonemic awareness learners. Reading beginners can find lessons that address each aspect of phonemic awareness in all possible ways and in an in-depth manner. So, the path to attain fluency and confidence in phonemic abilities become easier.
When all resources are available in a sorted manner in one place, users can utilize time in actual learning. This ease of learning is provided by the K5 learning website that has loads of worksheets, lessons, tips, and activities to do with reading beginners.
7. Five from Five
Five from Five is an Australian venture that can help parents and teachers have the phonemic awareness teaching materials to guide reading beginners. This site provides learning resources for all levels of phonemic learning. Also, it guides how one can employ these materials to adopt a progressive teaching plan.
One can engage in actionable like testing and assessing the phonemic awareness proficiency level first. Users can then refer to resources like books, games, apps, worksheets, etc., according to the learning requirement available here. By establishing a premise that phonological and phonemic awareness are co-dependent skills, it encourages the users to pay equal attention to both of these.
8. Read Naturally
Reading is a basic skill that emanates from robust phonological awareness. This website uses phonological awareness as an aegis term and places phonemic awareness as its part. Thus, the approach of this website lays emphasis on phonics concepts which can strengthen phonemic awareness ultimately. It is a resource-abundant site, where the reading beginners can find various intervention programs like:
- One minute reader iPad app
- Word Warm-ups activity set
- Take aim at Vocabulary.
- Live sessions for reading practice and much more.
9. PBS Learning Media
This website provides a host of phonemic awareness resources for emergent readers under the banner of Reading Foundational Skills. Parents and teachers can engage students through interactive games and activities provided on the website.
The website also has a vast collection of videos that are meant to teach a variety of concepts that support kids in learning phonics, decoding, and other areas required to become proficient readers in the future. Besides catering to the youngest English learners, PBS Learning Media also has resources for older kids in grades up to 12.
10. National Center on Improving Literacy
Another useful resource for parents and teachers who want to learn about phonemic awareness so they can help their child or students imbibe good reading skills is the National Center on Improving Literacy website. The website covers all information related to phonological and phonemic awareness in the form of videos, tutorials, and support materials.
Valuable resources like lesson plans for teachers and strategies to support reading skills at home are available at your fingertips. By thoroughly accessing the shared resources, teachers and parents can prepare themselves to take on the task of creating expert readers.
How can you use websites focused on phonemic awareness?
Websites that offer resources to learn phonemic awareness are helpful in the following ways:
- Teachers can get access to free printables and worksheets dedicated to various levels of phonemic awareness. Thus, there is a variety of types of exercise, and it helps keep children engaged and curious.
- One-stop solution for students who search for various books, games, videos, apps., etc. available for learning phonemic awareness. Thus, the best of the best reaches students right at their desktops and tablets through these resourceful websites.
To sum up,
Websites and apps for phonemic awareness are the most compelling representative of the concept of technology in education. With support for learning the most basic phonemic awareness skills to the most complex ones like sentence formation, these websites can help overcome all reading difficulties and become fluent readers.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,