 Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear sounds and sound patterns within a spoken word. Students need to learn how sounds make words before they can learn to read and spell. Children naturally listen to the sounds around them. This includes the sounds of spoken words. The teacher helps children listen to these sounds carefully and learn to hear the patterns within words. Over time, they learn how different sounds work together to make the words we say. The students also discover that by taking a word and adding, changing, or taking away a sound, a new word can be created. For example, if we take the word ox and add the sound b at the beginning, we create the word box. If we take the word bag and change the middle sound to a, we have bug. And if we take the word belt and take away the ending sound t, we have bell. These skills are all about sounds, so they are taught with speaking and listening only, not with written words or letters. Learning about letters and printed words comes later. To learn phonemic awareness, students need a lot of practice, both in the classroom and at home.