Literacy Play for the Early Years Book 4

Learning Through Phonics

Collette Drifte

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136635885
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This series of books uses fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts, as well as phonics, as a basis to help young children in the Early Years develop their literacy skills. It brings together the early learning goals of the foundation stage and the national literacy strategy objectives, using structured play, games and fun activities to put across the relevant teaching points in an enjoyable way, while simultaneously nurturing a love of literature. Each book presents structured activities based around suggested focus texts. To help practitioners save time in planning and organizing, the materials needed and the preparation required for each session are described in detail. The activities have been designed to cater to different achievement levels, and can be adapted or added to according to the needs of individual children and settings. Follow-up activities are also suggested, to bring in wider aspects of the Early Learning Goals and the NLS objectives.

Elements of this book include exploring well-loved traditional stories and quality familiar modern stories by established authors; using the texts as a basis to focus on specific literacy goals and objectives; using the texts as a stimulus for games and play activities that help to teach literacy skills; planning and preparation for each literacy session, including materials needed and scripted sessions; ideas for working and playing with the whole group and smaller groups to consolidate the literacy skill; and extension ideas and activities.

CHAPTER 1
Foundation stage and Reception Year

Auditory awareness and auditory discrimination of environmental sounds

Stepping stones from Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, Communication, language and literacy

• Distinguish one sound from another.
• Use writing as a means of recording and communicating.

Materials needed

• Copy of Bobby Shaftoe, clap your hands by Sue Nicholls (A & C Black 1992)
• Flip-chart and marker pens, easel and board, Blutack, card, scissors, glue
• CD player and CD accompanying this book (see ‘Preparation’)
• Two sets of picture cards to accompany the CD (see ‘Preparation’)
• Small screen or a box laid on its side, a variety of everyday objects such as water in a bottle and a glass, a cup and saucer, a radio, a ticking clock, paper for screwing up, a handbell, cutlery and so on
• Cassette recorders, blank cassettes (see ‘Preparation’)
• Selection of toys or models of things that make noises in reality (for example, a car, a bird, a dog, a clock, a kettle and so on), feely bag

Optional materials for other activities

• CD player and CD accompanying this book, with the environmental sounds
• The everyday objects used during the introductory session

Preparation

• Have the CD player with the CD ready to play at track 1; make two sets of picture cards using Photocopiable Sheets 1 and 2 (pp. 32 and 33): stick the sheets to card and cut them into the individual pictures; fix one set to the easel.
• Collect the everyday objects and hide them behind the screen or in the box.
• Put the collection of toys and models into the feely bag.
• Record on one of the blank cassettes the noises you will make with the everyday objects (for example, rattle the cutlery, play the radio for a few moments and so on), pausing for long enough between each noise to allow the children to switch the player off and on again without losing the next sound; leave the cassette in the player.

Introducing the phonic focus

You might prefer to introduce the phonic focus over more than one session:

• Ask the children to be very quiet for a few moments and listen to the sounds around them. What can they hear? For example, traffic going past, noises coming from the kitchen, other children playing outside and so on. List the children’s suggestions on the flip-chart, either by drawing a simple picture or writing a keyword. According to achievement level, the children could do this themselves or you could scribe for them. Ask the children to think about whether the noises they hear are loud or quiet, whether they go on for a long time or a short time, whether the noise is repeated or heard only once.
• Together, sing Listen, children from Bobby Shaftoe, clap your hands by Sue Nicholls. If you don’t have a copy of the book, you could sing the following together to the tune of Frere Jacques (see Figure 1.1):
  What can you hear? What can you hear?

  Can you say? Can you say?

  I can hear a …, I can hear a …,

  You can too, you can too.
  Pause for a moment to listen after What can you hear? What can you hear? and then let the children take turns to sing the third line by themselves.

  

  Figure 1.1 Sing together to the tune of Frere Jacqués
  

• Play track 1 of the CD, which features the environmental noises and listen to each in turn. Play a game where the children have to put up their hand as soon as they know what the sound is. Invite one of them to point to the relevant picture card on the easel and tell you what the sound was on the CD.
• Tell the children that this time you’re going to make some noises and they have to guess what the sounds are. When they think they recognise the sound they should put up their hand. Using the everyday objects you collected, make a sound behind the screen or in the box. For example, screw up the piece of paper, chink the cup and saucer or pour the water from the bottle into the glass. Give the children enough time to listen and decide what the noise is. If they need to hear it again, repeat the action. Make each sound one at a time and ask the children what it could be.
• Play two games: in the first, the children take turns to come out and make one of the noises behind the screen and the others have to guess what it is; in the second, the children each have one of the picture cards that go with this track on the CD, and when you play the sounds, the child holding the matching card has to hold it up as quickly as possible.

Focus activities

• Group A: Take the children outside with the cassette recorder and blank cassette. Help them to record some of the sounds they can hear. For example, road works going on nearby, traffic going past, a game of football being played and so on. Have fun back indoors listening to the recording and remembering what it was that made the sounds on the cassette. The children could draw some pictures to illustrate each sound.
• Group B: Give the recorded cassette and player to the children. Play a game where they listen to a sound that you have recorded, guess what it is and then mime the action. According to achievement level, they could operate the player by themselves. Remind them they can switch it off between sounds to give them time to guess and then do the miming actions.
• Group C: Give the feely bag containing the selection of toys and models to the children. Play a game where they take turns to pick a model or toy from the feely bag and then try to copy the noise it would make, using their voices. For example, if they took out a car, they might say brrrrrrrmmmmmmmm or if they picked a cow, they may say mmmmoooooooooooo.
• Group D: Put a set of the picture cards that accompany the CD face down on the table. Let the children play a game where they take turns to pick a card, look at the picture and name it. They should then use their voices to try to make the noise that they would hear the real object making.
• Group E: Place the picture cards that accompany the CD track 1 face up on the table. Play a game where you listen to the sounds on the CD and the first child to point to the correct card can hold it. The winner is the person with the most cards at the end of the game.

Other structured play activities

• Let the children listen to the CD and have fun naming the noises and/or matching them with the accompanying picture cards.
• Let the children play freely with the everyday objects behind the screen, which were used in the introductory session. Encourage them to explore the noises they make.
• Let the children have fun recording voice noises onto a cassette using pictures from magazines and books in the Library Corner as a stimulus. For example, they could say ssssssssss for the picture of a snake or vrrrrroooommmmm for a motor bike.

Auditory awareness and auditory discrimination of instrumental sounds

Stepping stones from Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, Communication, language and literacy

• Distinguish one sound from another.
• Use writing as a means of recording and communicating.

Materials needed

• A selection of musical instruments, if possible two of each (e.g. shakers, Indian bells, castanets, tambourines, small drums, triangles, whistles and so on. You might prefer to use only two instruments at first if the children find difficulty in discriminating between them, and adding more to the collection as the children find the games easier.)
• A screen or a box
• CD player and CD accompanying this book (see ‘Preparation’)
• Instrument cards (see ‘Preparation’)
• Cassette recorder, blank cassette
• Bobby Sbaftoe, clap your bands by Sue Nicholls (A & C Black 1992)

Optional materials for other activities

• CD player and CD accompanying this book (see ‘Preparation’)
• Bobby Sbaftoe, clap your hands by Sue Nicholls (A & C Black 1992)
• A selection of musical instruments
• Junk for making musical instruments (e.g. small empty boxes, cardboard tubes, rubber bands, etc.). (Make sure none of the children is allergic to the junk items themselves or to what they originally contained.)

Preparation

• Put one of each pair of the instruments behind the screen or in the box; have the others accessible to the children.
• Have the CD player with the CD ready to play at track 2.
• Make a set of cards each with the picture of one instrument used during the introductory session; put a set of the instruments behind the screen, for Group B.
• Make a set of cards with ‘loud’, ‘quiet’, ‘fast’ or ‘slow’ written on each one. Put the blank cassette into the recorder and leave them ready for the children to make a recording.

Introducing the phonic focus

You might prefer to introduce the phonic focus over more than one session:

• Together, explore the instruments and let the children experiment by handling and playing them ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Foundation stage and Reception Year
• 2 Year 1
• 3 Year 2
• Observation and assessment for speaking and listening
• Observation and assessment for reading and writing
• Tracks and/or transcript for the accompanying CD