Example of literacy planning and resourcing 11

What we want children to learn (Development matters)

• Recognise common digraphs.
• Explore and experiment with sounds, words and texts.

Related Early Learning Goals

• Continue to be interested, excited and motivated to learn (PSED).

Possible contexts

• Use books, rhymes, music, songs and poetry.
• Use children's name cards for, for example, self-registration, copying to write onto own pictures, copying for sending notes and messages.
• Use signs and labels purposefully.
• Use 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: Storybook, Cat on the Mat by Brian Wildsmith

Read Cat on the Mat by Brian Wildsmith as a big book or scanned into an interactive whiteboard, or with small groups or individuals. Enjoy the story together, looking at the pictures and predicting what might happen.

Talk about the words that look the same on each page, read them together and notice the rhyme. Cover the words up and read the book together, playing a game of remembering the words prompted by the pictures.

Show the rhyming words on separate cards. Ask if they can find the word 'cat'. If they can't, give them clues: 'Can you hear the sound at the beginning...c, c...do you remember what that looks like?' When they find the word, reinforce that they are right and break down the sounds. For example, say 'Yes, well done, that says c-a-t' and blend together, 'c-a-t, c-at, cat. Can you find the word in the book, what does it say?' Read it in context. Repeat with the other rhyming words.

Play a game of pairs with the cards, matching word to picture each time, encouraging the children to notice the letters and blend the sounds (could be made as a game on the computer or interactive whiteboard).

Use magnetic, wooden or electronic letters to play games of muddling up and building the words in turn, blending the sounds.

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 the children in identifying letters by their sounds and names.
• Play games that encourage letter recognition and blending CVC words.
• 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

• 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. Use CVC words and overtly blend when reading.
• Provide tools for mark making in all areas, including clipboards and chalks and boards outside.
• Plan fun and games that help children create rhyming strings of real and imaginary words, for example Maddie, daddy, baddie, laddie.
• 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.
• Provide story sacks and boxes for use in the setting and at home, including objects that rhyme, for example for Cat on the Mat and letters/words to match to objects.

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 and blending CVC words.
• 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

• Observe how children 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).
• Do they use phonic skills in decoding text?
• Do they show confidence in using their developing phonic knowledge?

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?
• Observe children playing with and identifying sounds in words, for example noticing when a sound is the same as a sound in their name or a friend's name, playing with rhyme or alliteration.
• 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