overview
Phonemic Awareness
(Grade K-5)
Karen Valdes
Course Description:
In this course, teachers will learn the difference between phonemes (sounds) and the letters and letter combinations that represent them. Participants will be able to select and instruct a range of phonemic awareness activities using an appropriate progression of phonological skills, such as tracking words in sentences, rhyming words, oral word repetition, syllable counting, onset-rime segmentation and blending, phoneme identification, segmentation, and blending.
Karen Valdes
Karen Valdes of Temecula, California has worked as a K-5 classroom teacher and special education teacher since 1981. She has an advanced degree in special education and administration, as well as extensive experience working with poverty-level students and second language learners. She has served as a mentor teacher, master teacher, and college course presenter on reading. Ms. Valdes was recognized as the District Teacher of the Year and County Teacher of the Year. She has been involved with the California Reading Initiative and standards-based instruction. Ms. Valdes is the author of state-approved AB 1086 training documents and writing support materials, and served on the 2002 Instructional Program Advisory Panel for the State of California. She is certified as a trainer for AB 466 English Language Arts Professional Development and AB 75 Administrative Training. Her current project as a member of R-CAT is to coordinate the development of writing support materials aligned to standards and grade level genres.
