Communication, Language and
Literacy meeting
For: nursery
Contents of Session
• Supporting Language Development
• Supporting Literacy Development
• Other Activities To Play At Home
• How We Teach Letter Sounds
• Any Questions
Supporting Language Development
• Talk promotes reading and needs to be fluent before
decoding words if reading is to be meaningful and understood
• Read poems and sing songs; delay the rhyming words to allow
the child to supply.
• Focus on letter sounds, not names
• Encourage child to blend sounds of some simple words
together by, for example playing ‘robot- talk’ games.
• Build up sight vocabulary- play timed ‘Hunt the letter
sound/word’ post- its around the house.
• Let children see you read for enjoyment
• Read as much environmental print as you can allow time for the journey
Innovate stories when they are well known
•
Read comics, recipes, bus routes, non fiction
Ideas for supporting learning at home
• Talk to your child about your day to promote them talking about
their day. And give your child your full attention
• Model correct speech by repeating correctly but not asking for
repetition
• Enjoy family meals which promote eye to eye contact and quality
conversation times
• Turn off phones and the T.V!
• Play ‘I spy… (sound)’
• Encourage a verbal discussion before and after reading books.
• Get male carer (in particular) to model reading and writing,
stressing his purpose and enjoyment
• Write for a purpose- cards ,shopping lists etc
•
Encourage tripod pen grip
Supporting Reading Development
through talking to your child.
• Talk about pictures
• Hold book correctly and turn pages
• Text direction left to right, top to bottom. (Always
encourage left to right eye motion even when
counting etc)
• Predict what may happen and why
•
Ask what the main events/ characters are in
the story
• Talk about the setting
•
Ask what the child likes/doesn’t like about the
book and why
• Have regular fun with books
Other Activities To Play At Home
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Sing familiar Nursery Rhymes and songs
Read well-known stories
Retell/act out well-known stories, perhaps with puppets
Develop memory by playing instruction games that start with
one then two steps: Can you find….and then…..? game
Alphabet poster to play I spy… so that child links
upper/lowercase image of the letter and the picture beginning
with that sound
Feely bags of letters
Playdough to squash ,squeeze and roll but also to make letter
shapes, letters of name
Writing letters on child’s back to feel and guess.
Practice forming lower case letter correctly (in bath with foam
letters/in air/ in sand/in paint/tracing over sandpaper
letters/making playdough letters)
Extension: think of words which begin with a chosen letter
sound
How we Teach Letter Sounds
• Letters and Sounds (phase 1 for all and phase 2 for some)
• Careful listening needs to be established prior to effective
teaching of phonics
• We regularly plan an activity to teach one aspect of the
phase for children going to Reception in September, for
example, rhyme or blending phonemes in simple words.
This may be informally through songs and games, inside or
out, or as part of circle time or story teaching
• Correct lower case letter formation in air/sand/paper/paint
• Opportunities to play at mark making for a purpose
Order in which letters are taught:
s, a, t, p, i, n
* Tip for parents: say ‘sssssss’ not ‘s or suh’
Any Questions?