Phonemic awareness is an important pre-reading skill and includes recognizing the individual sounds in words as well as rhyming words. Use classic nursery rhymes, songs and poems to teach rhyming. Display the rhyme on large chart paper or an overhead projector. Read the rhyme one time while students listen. Ask them to join you in reading the second and third time, pointing to each word as you read. Emphasize rhyming words by discussing, circling in marker or by placing a sticker next to each rhyming set. Create movements to go with the rhyme. Practice several times a day in short increments. Revisit the same rhyme several days in a row, until students know it by memory.
Play "Guess the Letter" by naming several words beginning with the same letter, then asking children to name the letter and come up with more words that begin with that letter. Post a short rhyme or poem on chart paper and ask students to highlight every letter T or whatever letter you are studying. Sit in a circle and announce the letter of the week, day or lesson. Start with a ball in your lap and say, "P says /p/ like in pickle." Then toss the ball to a child and ask him to repeat the letter and its sound and add another word, such as "P says /p/ like pickle and pet." Help children as the list gets longer.
Read aloud "The Alphabet Tree" by Leo Leoni or "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," by Bill Martin, Jr. Then create a class alphabet tree on chart paper or an overhead, prompting children to help fill in the letters in alphabetical order. To extend the activity, point to random letters, asking children the letter name and sound. Revisit the alphabet tree to review on a regular basis. Cover some of the letters and ask the students to name the missing letters or invite students up one at a time to point to a letter and say a word that begins with that letter.
Introduce letters by focusing on one letter each week. On Mondays, ask students to bring an item from home that begins with the letter of the week. Allow students to tell about their item during circle time. Play alphabet bingo with a grid containing only the letters that have been introduced so far. Give each child a letter or an object to hold; have a caller announce words and children stand up when the beginning consonant of the word matches their letter or the first letter of the object they are holding and sit down when it does not.