PRAXIS 5025 · COURSE
Praxis 5025 Early Childhood Education course
13 guided lessons across 5 sections. Read the first chapter free — no account needed.
FREE CHAPTER
Early Language, Print Awareness, and Phonological Awareness
Language and Literacy is 30% of the 5025, the biggest section. It starts before children can read: with talking, listening, and noticing sounds and print.
Key words
- Print awareness
- Understanding how print and books work: print carries meaning, direction, and spacing. — e.g. Knowing to read left to right and where the title is.
- Phonological awareness
- The ability to hear and work with sound parts of spoken language: words, syllables, rhymes, sounds. — e.g. Clapping syllables in 'butterfly.'
- Phonemic awareness
- The ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. — e.g. Blending /d/ /o/ /g/ into 'dog.'
- Onset and rime
- The onset is the sound(s) before the vowel; the rime is the vowel and what follows. — e.g. In 'stop,' onset /st/, rime -op.
- Receptive language
- Language a child understands. — e.g. Following the direction 'Put the red block in the box.'
ORAL LANGUAGE COMES FIRST
Children build vocabulary and sentence structure by talking and listening. Rich conversation, read-alouds, and asking open-ended questions ('What do you think will happen?') grow language. Receptive language is what a child understands; expressive language is what a child can say.
PRINT AWARENESS (CONCEPTS ABOUT PRINT)
Knowing that print carries meaning, how to hold a book, where to start reading, reading left to right and top to bottom, the return sweep to the next line, and the difference between a letter, a word, and a space. Point to words as you read aloud to build one-to-one matching.
PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS
Hearing and working with the sound parts of spoken language, from big to small: words in a sentence, syllables (clap 'ba-na-na'), rhymes, onset and rime (/c/ + /at/), and individual phonemes. It's all done with the ears, no letters needed.
PHONEMIC AWARENESS
The most advanced part: hearing and changing the smallest sounds. Isolate ('first sound in sun?' /s/), blend (/m/ /a/ /p/ = map), segment (map = /m/ /a/ /p/), and manipulate ('say cat without /k/' = at). Blending and segmenting most strongly predict early reading.
TEACHING DIVERSE LEARNERS
Use visuals, gestures, and repetition for English learners and value their home language. For students with disabilities, break skills into smaller steps and add practice. For advanced learners, extend with more complex texts and tasks.
Remember this
- Oral language is the foundation.
- Print awareness: print has meaning, direction, spaces.
- Phonological awareness goes from big chunks to single sounds.
- Phonemic awareness: isolate, blend, segment, manipulate.
- Adjust instruction for ELs, students with disabilities, and gifted learners.
Phonological awareness is the umbrella; phonemic awareness is the smallest drop under it.
Every lesson in the course
I. Language and Literacy
30%- Early Language, Print Awareness, and Phonological AwarenessFree
- Phonics, Word Analysis, and Fluency
- Comprehension: Literature and Informational Text
- Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language Conventions
II. Mathematics
25%- Early Number Sense: Counting, Subitizing, Classifying, and Patterns
- Whole Numbers, Operations, and Fractions
- Algebraic Thinking, Geometry, Measurement, and Data
III. Social Studies
14%- Self, Culture, Community, and Civics
- Geography and Historical Thinking
IV. Science
14%- Scientific Inquiry, Physical Science, and Engineering
- Life Science and Earth and Space Science
V. Health and Physical Education; Creative and Performing Arts
17%- Health and Physical Education for Young Children
- Creative and Performing Arts