What we do in school and how you can support your child at home

Aims To explain our method of teaching early literacy skills To show you some of our new books and phonics resources To highlight the ways you can support your childs development in literacy at home

Methods Phonics Shared, guided and independent reading Opportunities to practise these skills in play

Importance of Talk In a multimedia world adults have less time to talk and listen to children, but children need to talk to learn and grow. Reading and writing float on a sea of talk… Sue Palmer

Importance of Talk..the more words children know and understand before they start on a systematic programme of phonic work the better they are to succeed......a broad and rich language experience for children..is the hallmark of good early years practice. The Rose Review

Phonics is: Phonics = + Skills of segmentation and blending Knowledge of the Alphabetic code Phonics

Phonics Letters and sounds 6 phases In Nursery we teach Phase 1 In Reception we teach Phase 2 to Phase 4

PHASE 1 Aspect 1 Environmental Sounds Aspect 2 Instrumental Sounds Aspect 3 Body Percussion Aspect 4 Rhythm and Rhyme Aspect 5 Alliteration Aspect 6 Voice Sounds Aspect 7 Blending and Segmenting

Phase 1 Listening Distinguishing different sounds in the environment Experimenting with sounds Awareness of rhyme Beginning to orally blend and segment phonemes

Instrumental Sounds

Matching Sounds

Listening

Letter sounds Pronunciation

Phase 2 & 3 Reception ~ we start to teach the letters themselves (called graphemes) Order ~ single letter sounds ~ digraphs - qu ch sh th ng ay ee igh ow oo oo ar or air ir ou oy ire ear ure

Phase 2 Only begins after the child can blend and segment Children begin to learn the first representation of phonemes and how to write simple CVC words The phonemes are learnt in a specific order (not the order of the alphabet)

The sounds of spoken English 44 sounds or phonemes 19 – vowel sounds 25 – consonant sounds Phoneme – smallest unit of sound in a word We focus on the sound of the letter and not on the letter name.

Phonemes How many phonemes are there in the following words? top scan shower fire bird fish high chair

Unlocking the code It is easy to forget how complicated the process of learning to read is

Unlocking the Code

Teaching reading in school Individual reading Group or guided reading

Simple View of Reading Speaking and listening MUST come first

Guided Reading

Books and resources New books and resources Relates to phases of Letters and Sounds

Writing Nursery Mark-making Watching adults model Learning to write their name Reception Mark-making Watching adults model Beginning to use phonic knowledge to write Correct letter formation

Mark making Using any writing implements, including fingers in sand, bubbles or shaving foam Using large painting brushes and water on the walls outside Using any forms of paper or other Providing opportunities for real writing: shopping lists, menus, stories, s, labelling and signing pictures Teaching correct pencil grip

Things you can do at home Read to your children as regularly as possible Take them to the library Model the enjoyment of books and other written materials Sing lots of Nursery and action rhymes Play listening games Encourage all forms of mark-making Not rushing them!