Communication, Language and Literacy Development at Purley Pre-school
At Purley Pre-school we concentrate on Phase One of the Letters and Sounds Programme which falls broadly within both Communication and Language Development, and Literacy Development in the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Phase One concentrates on developing speaking and listening skills, phonological awareness, oral blending and segmenting.
Phase One development is supported through various activities including:
- Enjoying and sharing books and stories with children
- Modelling listening and speaking skills
- Observing and tracking children’s progress in order to plan effectively for the next steps in their development
Phase One is made up of seven aspects which involve activities to help children:
- Listen
- Enlarge their vocabulary
- Speak confidently
- Discriminate *phonemes
- Reproduce phonemes they hear and in order
- Use sound talk to segment words into phonemes
*A phoneme is the smallest unit of a sound. For instance the word cat has three phonemes, C- A- T.
To support children in developing their phonological awareness and in addition to our other day to day activities, we use Read, Write, Inc. flashcards as part of a five-minute phonics session during our morning carpet time. We concentrate on teaching the single letter sounds and at the same time, practice forming the letters in the air to support early reading and writing skills. Children are also given opportunities to recreate the letters they have been shown using the various mark-making resources we have at pre-school.
More information on Letters and Sounds Phase 1 can be found here (PDF) https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/190537/Letters_and_Sounds_-_Phase_One.pdf
More information about Read, Write Inc. including a useful video on how to sound out letters, can be found here
http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/resources/sound-pronunciation-guide/