Nursery Phonics at home
We use systematic synthetic phonics as our approach to word reading at school. Phonics is the sounds letters make. Phonics is an essential skill that will enable your child to read.
In nursery, we teach phase one phonics which concentrates on developing children's speaking and listening skills and lays the foundations for the phonic work, which starts in phase two.
We want children to be able to tune into the sounds around them so that they can confidently begin to develop oral segmenting and blending of familiar words.
Please find below some simple activities that will reinforce the different aspects taught at school so far. We would recommend spending between 10 to 15 minutes per day playing these games.
Remind your child that it is important to...
Listening walk (inside)
Go on a listening walk around your home and encourage your child to listen to different sounds around them.
Talk about the sounds they can hear such as, “clock ticking, taps running, door bell ringing, family members talking...”
Children can then make a list of all the sounds they remember hearing.
Listen to following inside sounds on BBC’s School Radio website
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/eyfs-listening-skills-inside-sounds/zr2m8xs
Listening walk (outside)
Go on a listening walk outside your home and encourage your child to listen to the different sounds around them.
Talk about the sounds they can hear such as, “birds singing, wind, rain, children playing, lift doors opening and closing, people talking...”
Children can then make a list of all the sounds they remember hearing.
Listen to the following outside sounds on these websites
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/eyfs-outside-sounds/zjyvt39
Follow the leader
Play follow the leader with your family. One person must choose a type of body percussion (for example: clapping hands, tapping feet, clicking tongue, clicking fingers). Everyone must copy the leader and then take turns to be the leader!
Voice sounds
Use your voice to make sounds like your favourite wild animal, the wind, bus, train or phone ringing.
Listen to these animal sounds on these websites