St Christopher`s Nursery Literacy Development

St Christopher’s Nursery
Literacy Development
A Historical Perspective of Literacy Development in Young Children
The dominant theory from the 1920s –1950s was that reading readiness was the result of biological maturation. From this perspective, it was believed
that the mental processes necessary for reading would unfold automatically at a certain period of time in development. During the late 1950s and
1960s, the dominant theory shifted from reading readiness as maturation, toward readiness as the product of experience. Proponents of this viewpoint
argued that if children had the appropriate experiences, their reading readiness could be accelerated. In response to this shift in thinking, educators and
parents were encouraged to use more direct instruction and structured curriculum in early childhood in order to prepare children for reading. Starting in
the 1970s, researchers began to challenge traditional reading readiness attitudes and practices.
One of the pioneers in examining young children's reading and writing was Marie Clay. Clay (1966) first introduced the term emergent literacy to
describe the behaviours used by young children with books and when reading and writing, even though the children could not actually read and write
in the conventional sense. Whereas the concept of reading readiness suggested that there was a point in time when children were ready to learn to
read and write, emergent literacy suggested that there were continuities in children's literacy development between early literacy behaviours and those
displayed once children could read independently. Clay (1975) also emphasized the importance of the relationship between writing and reading in early
literacy development. Until then, it was believed that children must learn to read before they could learn to write.
From the growing body of research on literacy development, Clay's concept of emergent literacy has evolved to include several elements. Children pass
through general stages of literacy development in a variety of ways and at different ages. Children learn about written language as they actively
engage with adults in reading and writing situations; as they explore print on their own; and as they observe others around them engaged in literacy
activities. Reading and writing develop at the same time and are interrelated in young children, rather than sequential. Literacy involves listening,
speaking, reading, and writing abilities (as aspects of both oral and written language).
At St Christopher’s
At St Christopher‟s, four guiding principles shape our practice in Nursery. We believe that every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning
and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. We believe that children learn to be strong and independent through positive
relationships. We believe that children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual
needs and there is a strong partnership between staff and parents. We believe that children develop and learn in different ways and at
different rates.
At St Christopher's we believe that communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development are
particularly crucial for igniting children‟s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.
Communication and language development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their
confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations. Literacy development involves encouraging children to
link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write.
When developing our communication, language and literacy experiences we give consideration to all of the above and use this information, as well
as our professional expertise, to plan challenging and enjoyable Nursery early literacy experiences. This booklet is aimed at sharing this with
you so that you are best placed to support your child‟s learning journey. Each area of reading and writing is introduced through planned, purposeful
play and through a mix of direct instruction, adult-led and child-initiated activity. As each child‟s level of development differs, we respond to their
emerging needs and interests, guiding their development through warm, positive interaction. Our aim is to provide early literacy experiences which
are challenging, fun, enjoyable and provide a good basis for future literacy development.
Early Reading
Learning to read is an exciting time for children and their families. And while each child is different, most children learn to read following a similar sequence of
acquiring reading skills. Our aims are to nurture:
Before your child actually begins to read, they will develop a set of skills known as pre-reading skills. These pre-reading skills are the signs of early literacy
and, though it may look as though your child is merely playing, they are organising what they know about books and language and how they work together
to develop this magical skill known as "reading."
Pre-reading skills are the skills children need in order to help them to become a reader. Many of these skills are learnt naturally, during the course of a normal
childhood, both at home and in the nursery environment. By talking and reading with your child, you will be doing a great deal to help these essential skills to
develop.
Early Reading
At St Christopher‟s Nursery your child will be learning about how a book works: how to hold a book correctly, how the text works (read it left to right), how
to turn the pages, and how a story sounds (familiar beginnings and endings). Sharing and re-reading favourite books will be encouraged and this will help to
learn about how stories work. Retelling stories builds up children‟s memory and language bank.
There will also be lots of opportunities to use books and other texts to look for information. Songs and nursery rhymes will be taught and your child will have
many opportunities to look at books and listen to stories read out loud by the teacher or from story CDs and websites. Having fun and playing games is
especially important at this age; therefore learning is structured through play, both inside and outside the classroom. Dressing-up and role play, construction
play, art and creativity, team games and board games can all support reading as well as wider language development.
Your child will be encouraged to recognise familiar words, such as his/her name and names of friends and family members. Your child will start to learn about
letter sounds – this is called phonics. This will mostly be done through oral activities, singing, nursery rhymes and language games.
Everyone wants their child to do well in reading. Apart from that nightly bedtime story, you may be wondering about what else you could be doing to make
sure that your child gets off to a good start:
1. Talking about words and pictures is very important for building up a store of vocabulary and confidence – and it‟s fun too. The words may be in the
street, in a book, on-screen or on your ketchup bottle; it really doesn‟t matter so long as you talk about them together.
2. There is something very magical about sharing a book with a child. Just 5-10 minutes at bedtime, bath time or quiet time really does help to hook
them in.
3. Compare events in stories or information books with things you‟ve done together, so your child starts to make connections between these things and
their own experiences: 'That’s just like when we went to Wahoo. Do you remember? Dad was scared...'
4. Even if it‟s not your forte, just sing. Nursery rhymes and songs for your youngest and chart-topping songs you hear on the radio for your 3-4 year old
all count – and grandparents can contribute some golden oldies too!
5. You‟ll notice that your child will want to revisit an old favourite over and over again and that‟s great (although maybe not after the 64th time). But it‟s
also important to build interest by reading lots of different books, including non-fiction and poetry.
Reading is fundamental to the development of children and countless research shows the links between good reading skills from an early age and future
success in life.
Early Reading
Letters and Sounds
Phonics
Our early literacy activities concentrate on developing children's speaking and
At St Christopher‟s Nursery, we introduce children to sounds using the Jolly
Phonics actions, stories and songs. We introduce one sound each week, in the
following order: s a t p i n m d g o. We introduce each letter by it‟s sound
listening skills, phonological awareness and oral blending and segmenting.
These activities are used as part of a broad and rich language curriculum
that has speaking and listening at its centre, links language with physical
and practical experiences, and provides an environment rich in print and
abundant in opportunities to engage with books. At St Christopher‟s, our
and not it‟s name. For instance, the letter a should be called a (as in ant) not
ai (as in aim or acorn). Similarly, the letter n should be nn (as in net), not en.
This will help when blending sounds together. The names of each letter can
follow later.
s
Weave hand in a s shape, like a snake and say ssss ssss ssss ssss
a
Wiggle fingers up your extended arm as if ants are crawling on you and say a a a a
start in reading and writing. Our overarching aim is for children to experience
t
Turn head from side to side as if watching tennis and say t t t t t
regular, planned opportunities to listen carefully and talk extensively about
i
Pretend to be a mouse be wriggling your fingers under your nose and say i i i i
p
Hold your index finger out and pretend to puff out a candle while saying p p p p
n
Hold you arms out to the sides and make a noise as if you were a plane nnnnnnnnn
‟Letters and Sounds‟ activities pave the way for children to make a good
what they hear, see and do. We encourage our children to tune into sounds
(auditory discrimination), listen and remember sounds (auditory memory and
m Rub your tummy as if you are tasting food and say mmmmmmmmmm
sequencing) and talk about sounds (developing vocabulary and language
d
Beat your hands up and down as if playing a drum and say d d d d
g
Spiral your hand down as if water is going down a plug hole and say g g g g
o
Pretend to turn a light switch on and off and say o o o o
comprehension). Activities encourage attentive listening, extending
vocabulary, speaking confidently, discriminating sounds (phonemes) heard,
reproducing (audibly) sounds heard and using „sound talk‟ to break words
(segment) into the sounds (phonemes) they hear.
Early Reading
Oxford Reading Tree
Key Words
Oxford Reading Tree is the most popular reading programme in the UK, and
used in approximately 14,000 primary schools. Its balanced approach, which
provides a range of skills and strategies for reading, has proved highly
successful at teaching children to read.
The children will be introduced to each ORT character through a colourful
picture accompanied by a short story. This will be read to the whole class
and reinforced with a small group of children. This is an excellent way of
stimulating the children‟s interest in the ORT characters. It is an essential tool
for talking about the main characters and for introducing the first nine key
words. The teacher will share the picture and story and use short captions,
such as, „Biff and Chip‟ to stick beneath a picture. Each picture and story is
followed by questions, or discussion pointers, which encourage the children to
talk about the characters and the story, and also about their own
experiences.
The stories have been written to reflect the life experiences of most young
children and by sharing common experiences like these, teachers can use talk
to help children look for and make meaning in reading. Talking enables
children to bring their own thoughts and experiences to the stories and to
their interpretation. As children hear the stories, talk about the pictures and
begin to retell the stories themselves, they will gradually learn to use the
pictures to match what they are hearing and seeing. This is an important first
step in learning to use the pictures as a cue and will be one of the first
reading strategies children begin to use when introduced to books with
words. Each week the children will share an ORT story with the class teacher
in a small group of three or four children.
ORT Stage 1 of the ORT scheme is particularly important because it
concentrates on the language and pre-reading skills that children need to
become competent readers. Each of the wordless storybooks allows the
children to learn how stories work and the order and direction in which they
are read. The absence of text encourages the children to focus on the
illustrations in order to find out what is happening in the story. By telling the
story in their own words they will be learning to use the information they
derive from the illustrations, and developing their oral skills. Six of the stories
are about Kipper, and a further six feature Biff and Chip.
As well as getting to know the characters, children should at this stage learn
to recognise the characters‟ names and the commonly used words „a‟, „and‟,
and „the‟. It is also desirable that children develop their own sight vocabulary
comprising words they enjoy. They might find words of an unusual length or
letter configuration, such as „aeroplane‟, memorable rather than shorter
words. This is absolutely normal and is a reading strategy. Children with
good visual memories can often recall the shape of many words.
The Key Words that will be introduced are: Biff, Chip, Kipper, Floppy, Mum,
Dad, the, and, a. The captions also use other words which the children are
not expected to be able to recognise or „sound out‟. It is important that these
words are read to the children. They are memorised by the letter
configuration and shape of the word, not by „sounding out‟. The Oxford
Reading Tree Characters and their names appear at the end of this booklet.
Early Writing
Mark Making Matters
At St Christopher‟s we recognise that children make marks for many different reasons and that development along this journey is complex, depending as much
on confidence, motivation and dispositions as on physical skills or ability. Sometimes marks are made for the pure physical enjoyment of the activity – the
feel of the felt-tip pen as it glides over the surface of the whiteboard or the chalk as it grates over the bumpy tarmac, the sight of the brightly-coloured dribbles
of paint as they run down the paper on the easel, or the sensation of the glue, oozing between children‟s fingers as they spread it over the paper. On these
occasions children have no interest in an end product at all; the physical activity is an end in itself and an opportunity for them to experiment and explore with
their senses, developing confidence and dexterity through the process. At other times children may take delight in using their mark making to tell stories and
express their feelings through pictures and symbols of increasing sophistication. They may decide that their mark making only tells half the story and choose to
provide a full narrative which they invite the adult to „scribe‟.
Through their marks, children are communicating their ideas, expressing their feelings, developing their imagination and creativity, and testing their hypotheses
about the world. These opportunities for making „thinking visible‟ are fundamental to children‟s learning and development and should be the entitlement of
every child. In an emotionally secure environment, such as we provide at St Christopher‟s, where their creativity is valued and respected, children will become
prolific mark makers. This is particularly true when the purpose and the means of representation are within their control. Boys‟ mark making tends to
flourish when the pressure is off, the choice is theirs and the motivation arises from a specific desire to communicate. They are more often to be seen making
marks outside rather than in the classroom – it may be that they need to make a sign for a den that they have built, or want to keep a record of the number
of bugs that they have found – but the motivation is always the same the marks are meaningful and relevant to them as individuals. They are spontaneous
and not imposed or directed. For this reason, children‟s earliest mark making often involves their name or their age, as these are of particular significance to
them. At St Christopher‟s, we value and celebrate the mark making, mathematical graphics, writing and drawing efforts of all children so that they have a
sense of achievement and their self-esteem is promoted. We provide opportunities for children to see adults writing: and encourage children to experiment with
writing for themselves through making marks, personal writing symbols and conventional scripts. It is an exciting moment when your child begins to
experiment with different-shaped scribbles and patterns. It is the start of a journey towards being able to write and is a real developmental milestone.
Early Writing
The Developing Stages of Pre-Writing
At St Christopher's these early scribblings and mark making are nurtured and guided in order to develop a confident and evolving writer. As in any other
area, children vary in their rate of development, and it is important for all staff and parents to be aware of the stages as children pass through them. At St
Christopher‟s we are skilled at offering activities to master each level and progress onwards.
The developing stages of pre-writing:
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Children will draw lines and dots. Often at this stage the child has no predetermined hand with which they hold a pencil.
Ability to imitate directional marks made by others.
Curves and enclosures.
Ability to copy and trace straights and curves made by others.
Ability to link straights and curves to form a symbol.
A prerequisite to forming letters is to be able to close a circle (enclosure), and only when this is made anti-clockwise can a child move with ease to forming
more controlled symbols and letters. From this simple shape, a child can draw faces, features, arms and legs. They can then begin to interpret the marks made
and accept the need for labelling and writing. Once a child can make straight and curved marks, they may be able to move on to making some symbols. All
symbols, both letters and numbers, are made up of straights, curves or a combination of both.
Role play and experimentation are key phases that children go through in mark making, before emerging into the „transitional‟ and „conventional‟ writing
phases. Both early phases help children to shape their knowledge and understanding about writing, as well as providing them with valuable practice. Crucially,
children at these stages are linking language with mark making. At St Christopher's we support children in these phases by providing them with good quality
role play experiences that incorporate mark making. We provide opportunities for children practice the fine line, circles and patterns which are produced in
emergent writing through self-initiated exploration and adult-directed activities.
Early Writing
Emergent Writing
At St Christopher‟s we determine children‟s current emergent writing skills and provide appropriate opportunities to expand them. We think about each child
as an individual and offer writing activities that match current skill levels and encourage new ones. Learning to write asks children to use multiple physical and
mental processes in one effort. Writing combines many skills and relies on development in areas not specific to writing. It requires fine motor skills -or the
ability to use muscles in the fingers and hands; attention to focus for periods of time; memory to generate ideas and retrieve letters and appropriate words;
and language to be able to express themselves.
Scribbling: Emergent writing begins with the first explorations using a marking tool for a purpose other than drawing. Random marks or scribbles often occur
on a page with drawings. Children may say. “This says Tommy!”. Young children use the terms drawing and writing to describe their marks; however, threeand four-year olds generally understand the difference between the two.
Mock Handwriting or Wavy Scribble: Children produce lines of wavy scribbles as they imitate adult cursive writing. Their writing often appears on a page with
drawings. Mock writing might occur during dramatic play as children want to create a great deal of print in a short period of time, such when pretending to
“write” a shopping list or a doctor‟s prescription. Children often return to this stage, even after they are capable of writing conventional letters.
Mock Letters: Children attempt to form alphabetic representations, which also often appear in their drawings. Writing sometimes can be more vertical than
horizontal. Children make letter-like shapes that resemble conventional letters. Research has shown that children‟s scribbles and emergent writing take on the
characteristics of the printed language in their culture. Scribble writing in Arabic, for example, looks very different from scribbles in English.
Conventional Letters: Children‟s first experiments with real letters are usually the letters from their name or a family member's name. They are not always
conscious of making conventional letters. As children‟s mock letters become more and more conventional, real letters of the alphabet begin to
appear. The first letters written are typically the letters in the child‟s name. Children often create “strings” of letters across a page and “read” them as
sentences or a series of sentences. These may appear on drawings as the child‟s signature or description of the drawing. Children create a mental image of a
particular letter they wish to write. As adults we help by providing an environment that is rich in print and by pointing out print in the outside world, such as
road signs, store signs, or labels.
At St Christopher‟s we provide opportunities for emergent writing through role-play, during construction activities, outdoors and through a writing corner.
Early Writing
Examples of Writing Development
Children in Nursery may pass through these stages
in different ways and at different times.
Some children will be prolific „mark makers‟
throughout their Nursery journey and will enjoy
spending a long time experimenting with the
marks they make.
Your child‟s learning journey cannot be forced
and it is important to value all their early mark
making attempts.
Encourage your child to enjoy mark making by
providing them with a wide variety of mark making
tools and resources, such as: paper and crayons,
chalk, blackboards, paint, card and envelopes etc.
Early Writing
Fine-Motor Development
Just as a child goes through developmental milestones for gross motor skills,
a similar progression of developmental skills occurs in the hand. In
preparation for writing, the hand should go through the following motor
milestones:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Development of arches in hand: This is the concave surface of the hand
that allows it to curve itself around objects.
Development of wrist extension that supports skilled finger movements.
Develop an awareness of the „skill‟ side of the hand: using the thumb,
index and middle fingers for manipulating fine motor items. The other
side of the hand provides stability and strength.
Development of an open index finger and thumb web space. Children
need to develop the ability to make an „O‟ shape with the index finger
and thumb.
Development of skill using the small muscles of the hand. Movements
that are best developed using the thumb, index and middle fingers and
through activities, such as threading a bead.
The use of vertical or inclined surfaces, such as easels, ensure that the wrist is
properly positioned to provide stability and encourage skilful use of finger
muscles. Gross-motor activities that strengthen shoulders and wrists are part
of our PE activities. We also use action songs and rhymes also help to
develop hand-eye co-ordination and fine-motor development. Each week the
children are involved in a number of activities which support fine-motor
development. A list of activities to try at home is included at the end of this
booklet. Please try some and let us know how you get on.
Pencil Grip
When a child is encouraged to use a “proper” pencil grasp before the shoulder
and arm muscles are ready to support it, you can often find fine-motor problems
emerging and even avoidance of drawing and colouring tasks. As with everything
children develop at different rates and go through stages differently.
This is the grasp you may see when a child first holds a pencil or crayon. Your child will be using movement from the shoulder to make
marks.
As your child gains more control over the arm and hand muscles they
may move to this grasp. Your child may hold their elbow out to the
side a bit and their wrist will not be stabilising their hand by leaning
on the table. The shoulder muscles are steadier and more movement
comes from the hand and wrist.
Children will then move towards using a five, four or three finger
pencil grip. Movement may still be from the shoulder or lower arm.
Children may begin to place their hand on a surface for stability when
mark making.
The „conventional‟ pencil grip uses the index finger and thumb to hold
the pencil, with the pencil resting on the middle finger which is tucked
in with the other fingers. At first, fingers may be stiff or floppy and
unable to maintain this position for long, children may also use large
wrist movements when controlling the pencil. This is the grip we
encourage children to be able to use and by age 5 or 6 children should
be comfortable using this grip.
Early Writing
Name Writing
Letter Formation
Every child should know that their name is special as it promotes a healthy
self-esteem and independence. One of the first things children learn to write is
their name. At St Christopher‟s we encourage the children to make their own
attempts at writing their name and value all the attempts they make.
When the children are introduced to writing their name, we use the
Our role as staff, and your role as parents, are very important when it comes
to name writing. It is incredibly important that we model the correct
formation when writing a child‟s name.
We only use a capital letter for the first letter of a child‟s name and never
write their whole name in capitals. We print all the other letters and use the
St Christopher‟s agreed font, which is SassoonCRInfants. Whilst the children
are exposed to many different fonts in the classroom environment, this is the
style we choose to introduce the children to when writing their names and
when later, they will begin to form letters.
St Christopher‟s agreed font, which is SassoonCRInfants.
Capital letters are always formed from the top down stroke or anti clockwise
movement. When making second and third strokes, these also come from the
top and orientate left to right.
The children will all have a name writing card at school, which shows them
that some letters are tall letters and that some letters dangle below the line.
The name card will look something like this:
Children will have access to this card when writing their names and will also
have a copy of it to take home. The card will have a „dot‟ marked on it to
show the starting point for each letter.
When introducing the children to the sound of the week, we do not teach
them to hear and write the corresponding letter. For children that are using
some letters in their emergent writing and can write their name, we may
introduce a multi-sensory approach to letter formation.
At Home
There are huge numbers of fun games and activities you can do with your child that also practise reading and language skills and that help to build confidence
when mark making. Show your child how reading and writing plays an important part in the real world; reading the instructions for a board game, finding
out about a place to visit, researching a new family pet and planning a party are examples. Most children learn best when they are doing something for a real
purpose and because they want to, so playing games is an easy way to support their learning.
Children enjoy exploring and experimenting with language and it helps them to learn new words and their meanings and also to listen to the sounds that
make those words. So sing, rhyme, shout, whisper, rap and dance to the beat!
There are about 44 sounds (made up from the 26 letters of the alphabet) that children learn in order to read and spell, so finding fun ways to help your child
develop an ear for sounds is a good idea! There are lots of phonic games that can be bought in high street shops, but playing games such as „I spy‟ are
equally as good.
Memory is really helpful for learning to read; remembering important bits of a story, character names, etc. Card games such as letter or word flashcards, snap,
find the pairs, and remember the objects on a tray are fun ways to get that memory switched on and working quickly!
Developing good listening skills helps to improve your child‟s reading skills too. Noting sounds in the home (a ticking clock, the microwave ping) or on a walk
(bird song, the whoosh of a bus), as well as more sophisticated letter sound games like sound lotto, will help your child to hear the sounds that words make.
Learning is often more powerful when it‟s physical and hands-on so make learning active when you can! Many children – especially young boys – have lots of
energy and find it hard to sit still and concentrate for long periods, so use it to good effect. Try action rhymes as well as outdoor quizzes like treasure hunts.
Most children love to touch objects. Think about how hard it is to stop your child from touching things in shops! But they also love to see, smell, taste and
hear. Get them to discover and explore letters and words by using the five senses; it‟s not only fun but very effective.
Practise reading in real life situations such as shopping, reading food labels, lists, instructions, posters and special offers to find information. It‟s a great idea to
make good use of everyday situations – you‟ve got to get the jobs done so you may as well get the whole family involved!
Make sure you have fun reading together. There is something very magical about sharing a book with a child. Just 5 -10 minutes at bedtime, bath time or
quiet time really does help to hook them in.
At Home
Fine-Motor Development Activities
Crayons and paper on easels.
Chalks on blackboard.
Peeling small dot stickers off to create a picture.
Threading beads.
Flatten playdough and then poke toothpicks, small pegs or golf tees into it.
Tearing strips of newspaper.
Using spray bottles.
Using tweezers, small tongs or plastic chop sticks to transport small objects from
one pot to another.
Dropping coloured water onto paper using pipettes.
Picking up buttons and inserting them into a slit in a box.
Finger puppets – using finger puppets on the index and middle finger and keeping
the ring and little fingers tucked in.
Large paper pinned to a wall with chubby crayons and large, thick marker pens.
Cutting and snipping activities. Ensure holding the scissors is correct. Thumb and
middle fingers in the loops with the index finger underneath to guide and steady.
Tracing activities which include tracing vertical lines and circles.
Squashing, squeezing and rolling playdough with hands only.
Pushing coins into money boxes.
Crumpling small pieces of tissue paper to make „scrunchies‟ for an art picture.
Silky scarves in a tissue box to pull out.
Safe containers with screw on lids. And sorting objects with tweezers.
Popping bubble wrap between thumb and index finger.
Linking construction activities.
Dressing up with buttons and zips.
Threading pasta necklaces.
Hanging up the washing with clothes pegs.
Pegs in pegboards.
Puzzles.
Oral language is the foundation for reading. Listening and speaking are a child's first
introduction to language. Talking and singing teach your child the sounds of language, making it easier for him or her to learn how to read. Here are some things
you can do to help your child build an appreciation for words and language:
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Tell family stories about yourself, your child's grandparents, and other relatives.
Talk to your child as much as possible about things you are doing and thinking.
Ask your child lots of questions.
Encourage your child to tell you what he or she thinks or feels.
Ask your child to tell you about his or her day – about activities and
games played.
Be patient! Give your child time to find the words he or she wants to use.
Sing songs, such as the alphabet song, and recite nursery rhymes, encouraging
your child to join in.
Play rhyming and riddle games.
Reading aloud can be a lot of fun, not just for parents but for all family members.
Here are some ways to get the most out of reading to your young child:
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Read with drama and excitement! Use different voices for different characters in
the story. Use your child's name instead of a character's name. Make puppets
and use them to act out a story.
Re-read your child's favourite stories as many times as your child wants to hear
them, and choose books and authors that your child enjoys.
Read stories that have repetitive parts and encourage your child to join in.
Point to words as you read them. This will help your child make a connection
between the words he or she hears you say and the words on the page.
Read all kinds of material – stories, poems, information books, magazine and
newspaper articles, and comics.
Encourage relatives and friends to give your child books as gifts.
At Home
Our Oxford Reading Tree Family
Kipper
Biff
Chip
Mum
Dad
Floppy
Further Information
At St Christopher‟s, a strong partnership between staff and parents will ensure that your child thrives on their literacy learning journey.
If you have any questions, queries or comments, please get in touch with your child‟s class teacher to talk.
Glossary
Blending: Refers to seeing and hearing the individual sounds within a word and putting them together (blending) to make a word. Eg. Look at the individual sounds S – a
– m, blended together they make the word Sam.
Enclosure: This is when children can draw a circle and close up the their last stroke to the beginning point.
Grapheme: This is the symbol for a written letter.
Phoneme: This is an individual unit of sound. It is important to remember the sounds in a word are not always the same amount as the number of letters. Remember to
listen for the sounds when you say them rather than looking at the word.
Phonics: Phonics involves connecting the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters (e.g that the sound /k/ can be represented by c, k, ck or ch spellings) and
teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations of unknown words.
Phonological Awareness: This is the ability to consciously reflect on or „tune into‟ the sound (phonological) system of our language.
Useful Websites:
www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Reading/
http://jollylearning.co.uk/2010/10/29/hear-the-letter-sounds/
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/ngfl-flash/alphabet-eng/alphabet.htm
www.st-chris.net