Letters and Sounds is a phonics resource published by the Department for Education and Skills in 2007. It aims to build children's speaking and listening skills in their own right as well as to prepare children for learning to read by developing their phonic knowledge and skills.

 

Phase One (Nursery /Reception)

 

The aim of this phase is to foster children’s speaking and listening skills as preparation for learning to read with phonics. Parents can play a vital role in helping their children develop these skills,by encouraging their children to listen carefully and talk extensively about what they hear, see and do.

Activities are divided into seven aspects.  These include environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body sounds, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds and finally oral blending and segmenting.  The overall aim is to get children attuned to the sounds around them and ready to begin developing oral blending and segmenting skills.  At this early stage children will be tuning in to sounds to learn to distinguish between them, listening and remembering sounds to develop their auditory memory and sequencing and also talking about sounds to develop their vocabulary and language comprehension.

 

Below you will find some links to some Phase 1 activities