--- title: Phonemic Awareness description: Learn how Hoot Reading teachers phonemic awareness skills, such as blending, segmenting, deleting, and substitution, to help children build a strong foundation for reading. --- [Skip to content](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/pre-word-reading/phonemic-awareness#main-content) [Contact Us](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/kb-tickets/new?hsLang=en) [![logo-black-no-padding.png\]](https://www.hootreading.com/hs-fs/hubfs/logo-black-no-padding.png?width=100&height=83&name=logo-black-no-padding.png)](https://www.hootreading.com/?hsLang=en) - [Families](https://www.hootreading.com/family-memberships) - [Schools & Districts](https://www.hootreading.com/high-impact-tutoring) Show submenu for Schools & Districts - [High-Impact Tutoring](https://www.hootreading.com/high-impact-tutoring) - [Reading Intervention](https://www.hootreading.com/reading-intervention) - [Assessments & Reporting](https://www.hootreading.com/assessments-and-reporting) - [Our Impact](https://www.hootreading.com/our-impact) - [Blog](https://learn.hootreading.com/blog) - [Teach With Hoot](https://www.hootreading.com/teach-with-hoot) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Families](https://www.hootreading.com/family-memberships) - [Schools & Districts](https://www.hootreading.com/high-impact-tutoring) Show submenu for Schools & Districts - [High-Impact Tutoring](https://www.hootreading.com/high-impact-tutoring) - [Reading Intervention](https://www.hootreading.com/reading-intervention) - [Assessments & Reporting](https://www.hootreading.com/assessments-and-reporting) - [Our Impact](https://www.hootreading.com/our-impact) - [Blog](https://learn.hootreading.com/blog) - [Teach With Hoot](https://www.hootreading.com/teach-with-hoot) - [Contact Us](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/kb-tickets/new) Hello. How can we help you? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [Hoot Reading Support Hub](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub?hsLang=en) 2. [Families](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en) 3. [Hoot Pre-Word Reading Units](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#hoot-pre-word-reading-units) # Phonemic Awareness ## Learn how phonemic awareness skills help children hear, work with, and change sounds in words. An essential foundation for learning to read! ### What is Phonemic Awareness? Phonemic awareness is a child’s ability tohear and work with the individual sounds in spoken words. These sounds are called *phonemes*. Children develop this skill through listening, speaking, and thinking about how sounds come together in words. Hoot teaches phonemic awareness through four closely connected skills. Each one builds on the previous, helping children develop flexible control over sounds in words. **Phoneme Segmentation (pulling sounds apart)** In phoneme segmentation, your child hears a whole word and then **breaks it into its individual sounds**. For example: *step* → /s/ /t/ /e/ /p/ This helps children understand that words are made up of ordered sounds, not just letters.  ##### **Phoneme Blending (putting sounds together)** Phoneme blending is the opposite process. Your child hears individual sounds and **blends them together** to make a word. For example: /a/ /t/ → *at* Blending teaches children how sounds work together smoothly to form words.  **Phoneme Deletion (taking a sound away)** Phoneme deletion asks children to **remove one sound from a word** and say what word remains. For example: *tent* without /t/ → *ten* This is a more complex skill that combines segmentation and blending. Children learn to hold sounds in their mind, remove one, and then blend the remaining sounds into a new word. **Phoneme Substitution (changing one sound)** Phoneme substitution is the most advanced of the four skills. Children **remove one sound and replace it with a new one** to make a different word. For example: change the /c/ in *cat* to /h/ → *hat* ### What Phonemic Awareness Lessons Might Look Like In a phonemic awareness lesson, your child’s teacher will guide them through carefully structured listening and speaking activities. Lessons work through books with dots to help children track sounds visually by pointing or tapping with their Hoot Reading App Magic Finger. Teachers emphasize *sounds*, not letter names, and help children pay close attention to each sound from the beginning to the end of a word. Teachers model every step clearly and provide support when a skill feels challenging. ### Why this Skill Matters At Hoot, phonemic awareness instruction helps children understand that: - Words are made up of individual sounds - Sounds can be pulled apart, put together, removed, or changed - Changing one sound can change a whole word These skills help children understand how spoken words work and helps prepare them for successful decoding and word reading later on. ### Resources Used in Lesson to Teach Phonemic Awareness --- #### **[Hoot Pre-Word Exercises | Phoneme Segmentation](https://www.hootreading.com/hubfs/Parent%20Knowledge%20Base/Phoneme%20Segmentation%20book%201%20-%20preview.pdf?hsLang=en)** - [Families](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#main-content) - [About Hoot Reading](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#about-hoot-reading) - [Registration & Account Setup](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#registration-account-setup) - [Using the Hoot Reading App](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#using-the-hoot-reading-app) - [Lessons, Scheduling & Attendance](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#lessons-scheduling-attendance) - [Plans, Billing & Subscriptions](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#plans-billing-subscriptions) - [How Hoot Reading Works](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#how-hoot-reading-works) - [Hoot Pre-Word Reading Units](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#hoot-pre-word-reading-units) - [Hoot Early Word Reading Units](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#hoot-early-word-reading-units) - [Hoot Complex Word Reading Units](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#hoot-complex-word-reading-units) - [Hoot Text Reading Units](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/families?hsLang=en#hoot-text-reading-units) - [Teachers](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/teachers?hsLang=en#main-content) - [About Hoot](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/teachers?hsLang=en#about-hoot) - [Troubleshooting the App](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/teachers?hsLang=en#troubleshooting-the-app) - [Hoot Policies](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/hoot-policies?hsLang=en#main-content) - [User Policies](https://www.hootreading.com/support-hub/hoot-policies?hsLang=en#user-policies) [![logo-black-no-padding](https://www.hootreading.com/hs-fs/hubfs/logo-black-no-padding.png?width=100&height=83&name=logo-black-no-padding.png "logo-black-no-padding")](https://www.hootreading.com/?hsLang=en) www.hootreading.com Help Center Copyright © 2025, Hoot Reading Inc.