Example of literacy planning and resourcing 10

What we want children to learn (Development matters)

Hear and say sounds in words in the order in which they occur

Related Early Learning Goals

• Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas and speak in a familiar group (PSED).
• Recognise and explore how sounds can be changed, sing simple songs from memory, recognise repeated sounds and sound patterns and match movements to music (CD).

Possible contexts

• Use books, rhymes, music, songs and poetry.
• Use children's name cards, for example for self-registration, copying to write onto own pictures, copying for sending notes and messages.
• Use signs and labels purposefully.
• Mark making and writing for a purpose.
• Make books and displays.
• Use word banks and collections of words.
• Sing songs and play games that reinforce letter sounds, for example 'I spy'.
• Use wooden or magnetic letters for play in the environment, for example on boards, in water - they float and can be fished out - or buried in sand to find.

Example of adult-led activities

Context: Listening to sounds; feely bag

Use a feely bag for a collection of objects.

Explain to the children that they need to be good listeners for the new game. Introduce a puppet and say it will need some help.

Collect some objects, for example a mug, dog, bus and put them into a bag. Tell the children that the puppet will choose an object and tell them what it is. Make the puppet peep into the bag and sound out the name of an object like a robot: 'd-o-g'.

Ask the children to decide what the puppet is trying to say by blending the sounds together. After the children have responded make the puppet show them so that they can see if they are right. Make the puppet thank them for helping.

When the children get good at this game, they could use the puppet and sound a word 'like a robot' for each other.

Adult role

• Develop children's phonological awareness through games, music, songs and rhymes.
• Pay attention to print. Make reading letter names and sounds overt. Involve children in identifying letters by their sounds and names.
• Play games that encourage letter recognition.
• Help children break down the sounds in words.
• Help children build up the sounds in words.
• Provide opportunities for linking language with physical movement in action songs and rhymes.
• Provide opportunities for children to see adults writing and for children to experiment with writing for themselves through making marks, personal writing symbols and conventional script.

Opportunities for children to explore and apply

Play games, for example:

Buried treasure: Prepare some 'treasure': write some words (for example dig, had, but) and some CVC letter combinations which are not words (for example fod, ig, dut) and stick them on gold medallion backgrounds. Bury them in the sand tray and tell the children that the pirates' gold coins have words printed on them but there are some fake coins with nonsense on. Children hunt for the treasure, read the coins, decide and sort them into the word treasure chest or the rubbish bin.

Use role-play to encourage writing of signs and labels, or communicating electronically, for a real purpose, for example a pet shop. Use digital photographs to give examples of print in the environment. Model writing, for example badges for pets or lists of sick animals and overtly blend when reading.

Provide tools for mark making in all areas including clipboards and chalks and boards outside. Tool belts can be added to role-play, for example construction workers, with notepads, sticky notes, pencils, pens, etc. in pockets in the belts.

Talk to children about the letters that represent the sounds they hear at the beginning of their own names and other familiar words. Incorporate these in games.

Adult role

• Make a language and literacy rich environment. For an audit see Early Reading Audit.
• Plan an environment that reflects the importance of language through signs, notices and books.
• Develop children's phonological awareness through games, music, songs and rhymes.
• Pay attention to print. Make reading letter names and sounds overt. Involve the children in identifying letters by their sounds and names.
• Play games that encourage letter recognition.
• Help children break down the sounds in words.
• Help children build up the sounds in words.
• Provide opportunities for linking language with physical movement in action songs and rhymes.
• Provide opportunities for children to see adults writing and for children to experiment with writing for themselves through making marks, personal writing symbols and conventional script.

Look, listen and note

• How do children use initial sounds at the beginning, short vowel sounds within words and endings of words? For example: Ranjit notices the letters in his name whenever he sees them, such as 'j' at the beginning of jam.
• Observe how they link sounds to letters and begin to use this knowledge to write words. For example: Leanne has written a request to her Dad: 'Pz cn I hv a d' (Please can I have a drink).

Assessment opportunities

• Can children recognise their own name, for example on a name card?
• Can children recognise letters of their own name in other contexts, for example referring to them in play with magnetic/wooden letters, or seeing them in print in the environment?
• Can children identify initial sounds of words, for example having a go at reading each other's names?
• Observe how children increasingly recognise letters and identify their sounds in words, for example noticing familiar letters in books and identifying their sounds.
• Are children beginning to blend sounds in words for reading?
• Are children beginning to break down sounds in words for writing?

Related Profile scale points

LSL 4