Introduction to Letters and Sounds Phase One
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Phase One of Letters and Sounds concentrates on developing children's speaking
and listening skills and lays the foundations for the phonic work which starts in Phase 2. The emphasis during
Phase 1 is to get children attuned to the sounds around them and ready to begin developing oral blending and
Phase 1 is divided into seven aspects. Each aspect contains three strands: Tuning in to sounds
(auditory discrimination), Listening and remembering sounds (auditory memory and sequencing) and Talking about
sounds (developing vocabulary and language comprehension).
It is intended that each of the first six aspects should be dipped into, rather than going through
them in any order, with a balance of activities. Aspect 7 will usually come later, when children have had plenty of
opportunity to develop their sound discrimination skills.
Aspect 1 - General sound discrimination - environmental
The aim of this aspect is to raise children's awareness of the sounds around them and to develop
their listening skills. Activities suggested in the guidance include going on a listening walk, drumming on
different items outside and comparing the sounds, playing a sounds lotto game and making shakers.
Aspect 2 -
General sound discrimination - instrumental sounds
This aspect aims to develop children's awareness of sounds made by various instruments and noise
makers. Activities include comparing and matching sound makers, playing instruments alongside a story and making
loud and quiet sounds.
Aspect 3 -
General sound discrimination
- body percussion
The aim of this aspect is to develop children's awareness of sounds and rhythms. Activities include
singing songs and action rhymes, listening to music and developing a sounds vocabulary.
Aspect 4 -
Rhythm and rhyme
This aspect aims to develop children's appreciation and experiences of rhythm and rhyme in speech.
Activities include rhyming stories, rhyming bingo, clapping out the syllables in words and odd one out.
Aspect 5 -
The focus is on initial sounds of words, with activities including I-Spy type games and matching
objects which begin with the same sound.
Aspect 6 -
The aim is to distinguish between different vocal sounds and to begin oral blending and segmenting.
Activities include Metal Mike, where children feed pictures of objects into a toy robot's mouth and the teacher
sounds out the name of the object in a robot voice - /c/-/u/-/p/ cup, with the children joining in.
Aspect 7 - Oral blending and segmenting
In this aspect, the main aim is to develop oral blending and segmenting skills.
To practise oral blending, the teacher could say some sounds, such as /c/-/u/-/p/ and see whether
the children can pick out a cup from a group of objects. For segmenting practise, the teacher could hold up an
object such as a sock and ask the children which sounds they can hear in the word sock.
The activities introduced in Phase 1 are intended to continue throughout the following phases, as
lots of practice is needed before children will become confident in their phonic knowledge and skills.
Recommended Fun with Phonics Book/DVD packs
You can find out more at the Standards site - there are some excellent videos on implementing
Phase 1 of Letters and sounds in the classroom.