Phonics Live in Reception

This week we’ve launched live phonics sessions with our Reception students and it’s been amazing to see what the children have been doing at home, continuing to develop their knowledge, skills and attitudes to help them on their journey to becoming literate. We have been providing a variety of experiences to support the develop of listening and attention, physical skills and their understanding of language, such as ‘I Spy’ and listening to sounds in our environment. As childhood practitioners, we know that children need to be developmentally ready before beginning a more formal, teacher-led programme. Therefore, our Early Years staff incorporate a wide range of opportunities for children to develop their understanding of language, physical skills and listening and attention, so they move towards accessing the next stage of our phonics programme with ease and enjoyment.

Families in Reception have been accessing our phonics activities to support their children at home, so it was great to see this in action in our live sessions. We have been developing our understanding of rhymes and alliteration, hearing sounds in our environment and some children have been continuing to learn the sounds through our phonics programme, Read, Write, Inc.

This week we are sending home a whiteboard and pen, so our students can practise drawing and writing using their knowledge and skills to encode. Giving children the opportunity to draw and talk about what they are drawing, practise forming letter shapes and symbols and modelling writing words and sentences, are all ways to support your child’s understanding of literacy.

All of these activities help to support your child on their journey to achieving a good level of development. Thank you to all of our parents who have been so patient with sharing these activities at home. We are truly appreciative of all your efforts!

Gillian Harrison 
Reception Lead Teacher