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Literacy - getting advice

General

Implement evidence-based recommendations for play in the Early Years e.g. Play-based learning | EEF.

Staff to receive training in literacy approaches used, to ensure a consistent approach. Staff should also be aware of what to expect at each age and stage, how children’s literacy skills typically develop, and how to assess this development.

Engage parents/carers and share activities with them, so that children can use the same approaches outside of the setting (e.g. create ‘story sacks’ or ‘toy sacks’ for children to take home and share with parents; send the group teddy home for the weekend and ask families to describe activities completed together the following week).

Word bags/talk bags.

Regular tracking and assessment/observation of children’s early reading and writing skills.

Play-based learning | EEF, e.g.:

  • Story-telling and group
  • Activities to develop letter knowledge, knowledge of sounds and early
  • Singing songs and rhymes together; missing out words of familiar songs to allow children to fill in the
  • Introductions to different kinds of mark making.

Approaches should cover a range of activities and focus on both early reading and writing skills.

Reading

  • Collect a range of books appropriate to the age and developmental stage of the
  • Allow children to handle books from an early age and draw their attention to
  • Read board or cloth books to Allow them to hold the book as you read and talk to them about what you can see in the pictures.
  • Create an attractive book area where adults and children can share books together – use puppets, soft toys and real objects as props to share
  • Provide frequent opportunities for children to read books with adults, where adults model reading skills and comment on
  • Adults point to words as they read
  • Adults ask questions about concrete information from the story.

Story wows/hooks- Parent reading workshops especially EAL parents; provide books in different languages.

Use of enabling environment audits from the EYA team would support the creation of effective continuous provision. 

  • Create a ‘print-rich’ environment where children can learn words and model the language of
  • Provide opportunities to act out stories in play.
  • Adults demonstrate phonic decoding of words in pre-school year only (e.g. by using ‘big books’).
  • Sort pictures or real life objects into semantic categories (e.g. clothes vs toys) to support understanding of different types of
  • Use Story Pictures/Story Stones to create a story. The child chooses cards/stones which each contain features of a story (e.g. location, characters et) and then think of a story.
  • Use Black Sheep Press Narrative icons to support structuring
  • Library book system.

Early phonics activities

  • Clapping
  • Actions/noises for keywords (i.e. clap when you hear).
  • Story bags – pick out an object that’s mentioned in a story. Lift the object up when they hear the
  • Tongue
  • Singing and rhyming games to encourage recognition of rhyme, the sounds in words, patterns,
  • Tuning into sounds (e.g. nature sounds, different instruments).
  • Listening, remembering and copying sounds (clapping patterns )
  • Support in recognising their own name (e.g. read name on coat peg etc).
  • Follow a DfE approved phonics programme with a pre-school suitable element.

Lots of opportunities for music and movement – KidsRocK, Boogie Mites.

  • Picture sequencing (i.e. providing child with pictures which tell a story, ask the child to order the pictures to tell the story in the correct order. This supports understanding of story patterns, sequencing etc).
  • Structured phonics programmes
  • Activities/games to support phonological processing: matching sounds to pictures/objects (g. things with a ‘ch’ sound); Robot phonics (breaking words up into phonemes accompanied by robot arms); looking for the same letter/sounds in a book.

Writing

  • Ensure that babies hear a wide variety of
  • Allow babies to explore what happens when they use their hands and
  • Draw and paint with the child and comment on what you’re
  • Attach meanings to marks in various contexts (e.g. point out simple words on displays and read what they say).
  • Provide regular access to activities to develop gross and fine motor skills underpinning handwriting skills (e.g. painting big pictures/circles to build shoulder strength and stability, use of playdough and hand and finger exercises to improve fine muscle control, such as Dough Disco, Funky Fingers).

Provide frequent mark-making opportunities using different techniques (e.g. sand writing, painting etc.) to encourage recognition of spelling patterns and familiarity with writing words.

  • Record things that children say to highlight that what they say can be written down and read by others (e.g. write something they say to share with parents).
  • Model writing for a purpose (e.g. shopping list, letters to friends they can pretend to post, messages or cards for parents).
  • Provide opportunities for writing during role-play activities (e.g. notepads in doctor’s surgery role-play).