In Kindergarten phonological awareness, what skill involves recognizing the beginning sounds of words?

Recognizing the beginning sounds of words is specifically referred to as identifying initial sounds. This skill is crucial in phonological awareness, especially in early literacy development as it helps children understand that words are made up of individual sounds. By identifying the initial sounds, children begin to develop their ability to segment words into their constituent parts and make connections between sounds and letters, which is foundational for reading and writing.

Other skills, such as blending two phonemes, breaking apart sounds, and producing rhyme, although essential aspects of phonological awareness, do not specifically target the identification of the initial sounds. Blending two phonemes involves combining sounds to create a word, breaking apart sounds refers to segmenting words into their individual sounds, and producing rhymes is about recognizing and creating words that sound similar. Each of these skills plays a role in phonological awareness, but they do not directly address the task of recognizing the initial sounds at the beginning of words.