Four Fabulous PreK–2 Read-Alouds That Support Phonological Awareness

As part of our focus on the science of reading, this article highlights some of the benefits of reading aloud to children. Whether at home or school, reading aloud demonstrates that reading is a fun activity and is fundamental to the development of a child’s long-term reading ability. Research shows that reading aloud for pleasure at an early age improves student cognition, mental health, and academic achievement. 

Additional benefits of reading aloud to children include modeling fluent reading, fostering emotional growth, strengthening vocabulary, and improving listening comprehension skills. Reading aloud to children is essential to teachers and speech and language therapists because  it has been shown to improve phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the ability to hear, identify, manipulate, and substitute phonemes—the smallest units of sound that can differentiate meaning—in spoken words, which provides the foundation for learning how to read and serves as a good indicator of future reading ability.

Here are a few of our favorite books for kindergarteners and first graders (and beyond) for helping you and your young learners experience the benefits of reading aloud while practicing phonological awareness skills. The books are organized in a progression from basic to most complex phonological awareness skills.

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy E. Shaw (ages 4-7)

Five sheep take a ride in their red Jeep. What follows is a wild tale that describes their misadventure.

Sheep in a Jeep is full of rhyming words. Rhyming is a great way to get children repeating sounds and patterns, establishing a foundation for crucial literacy development. Difficulty with rhyming can also be an early indicator of reading challenges like dyslexia.  

As this book is read aloud, children can identify words they hear that rhyme and even begin to predict words that might come next, making it an interactive experience.

Clara Caterpillar by Pamela Duncan Edwards (ages 3-6)

Clara Caterpillar emerges from her egg, finds some new friends, and begins her adventure through the life cycle from egg to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly.

Clara Caterpillar is full of alliteration. Alliteration is when words have the same sound at the beginning. Think tongue twisters like, “Sally sells seashells by the seashore,” where the /s/ sound is repeated at the beginning of each word. As the book is read aloud, children can find the alliteration pattern (the /c/ sound) and the words that fit the pattern. Alliteration, or hearing the initial sound of words, is an important building block in learning to read.

The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds (ages 3-5)

Jerome collects words—all kinds of words. He collects short words, two-syllable words, and multisyllabic words. Jerome learns that words are powerful and even better when shared with others.

The Word Collector is perfect to support learning about syllables. Syllables are word parts that have one vowel sound. While reading the book aloud, children can practice determining how many syllables are in the words Jerome collects. Children can clap or tap their finger on their palm as they say the word to determine how many syllables a word has. Parents and teachers can help children connect each clap/tap with a vowel sound. The division of words into syllables helps students with fluency by making it easier to decode words, which is also important for spelling and a key skill for beginning readers.

Don’t Be Silly, Mrs. Millie! by Judy Cox (ages 4-6)

Mrs. Millie says some silly things to her class. She tells her students to sit on the “bug” instead of the “rug.” She instructs them to put on their “goats” instead of their “coats.”

Don’t Be Silly, Mrs. Millie! is a perfect way to practice phoneme manipulation. Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound that carries meaning. The word “pat” includes the phonemes /p/, short /a/, and /t/. Phonological awareness includes changing, or manipulating, phonemes within a word (adding, deleting, or substitution). While reading, children can identify how the words changed by phonemic manipulation. For example, Mrs. Millie changed the /r/ phoneme in “rug” to /b/ to make the word “bug.” A child’s ability to hear and manipulate phonemes in words is a vital step toward being ready to learn to read.

Reading aloud is a powerful way to build foundational reading skills in young children. The books in this article not only entertain but also create valuable opportunities to strengthen phonological awareness, an essential component of learning to read. Phonological awareness—the ability to recognize and work with sounds in spoken language—plays a key role in setting up children for reading success.

Exact Path can help support these early literacy skills in a structured, research-based way in your classroom. Exact Path provides phonological awareness activities that adapt to all students’ needs, reinforcing what they’re learning in class and making sure that they build skills sequentially. Gain insights on the progress of all children, helping them focus on skills that will have the most impact. By aligning with the science of reading, Exact Path complements classroom read-alouds and keeps reading development on track, supporting both state expectations and each child’s journey toward becoming a confident reader. Learn more about Exact Path’s evidence-based approach to reading instruction.

Check out our free Science of Reading Toolkit, which is full of valuable articles and resources to help you support a strong, evidence-based foundation for literacy aligned with the science of reading.