Gamifying phonemic awareness in Early Years

At Bogaerts International School North Campus, we have adopted the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI, pronounced “you fly”) foundations to support our students in the development of their phonemic awareness. In Early Years, working on phonemic awareness is not just a matter of constant repetition. 

Students in EY1, typically  engage in preparatory activities suitable for their age. During one of these sessions, they explore sounds and letters in a variety of ways.  This routine, tied with elements of our  Reggio Emilia-inspired approach allows us to create experiences to stimulate children's curiosity and to engage them through multiple senses.

I wanted my students to understand different ways of producing shapes. This led me to invite them to use their bodies to represent letters. Later on, I invited them to use  different materials such as clay to shape the form of letters. 

While I was delighted to see how my young students  grasped the concept and actively participated by using themselves as learning tools, I was mostly captivated by the joy in their faces. I guess phonemic awareness can also be fun.