Structured Literacy Foundations: Phonemic Awareness & Phonics

In this micro-course, you’ll build a foundational understanding of the Science of Reading and what structured literacy really means for your instruction. You’ll start by unpacking phonemic awareness: what it is, why it matters for early reading development, and practical activities you can use to build it in your students. Then you’ll move into phonics, where you’ll explore how to teach the connection between sounds and letters through strategies like word chaining. Along the way, you’ll use tools like the PAST Test to check phonological and phonemic awareness and work with a small-group phonics lesson plan you can bring directly into your classroom. By the end of the course, you’ll have a clearer picture of how phonemic awareness and phonics work together as the building blocks of skilled reading, along with a concrete step for putting that understanding into practice.

FORMAT: Self-Directed

DURATION: 1 Hour

AUTHOR(S): Jennifer Herncane