Planning for literacy

[klc106]

Hi

What do you plan for child initiated literacy (free choice activities)?

Our children are working on phase 1 phonics in small groups but a lot of those activities are too difficult for them to do independently.

Do you provide activities that involve letter sounds e.g. digging for letters and sorting them etc? or do you wait for children to know their sounds before you do this?

Each day we have our mark-making area, mark-making in the role play area and books around the room and in the cosy corner, but we would like to have a table that is a literacy based activity like we do with mathematics.

Thanks :1b

[woodlands1997]

We have a whiteboard with loads of magnetic letters on the back of the kitchen door which they love! Then all the sort of stuff I'm sure you have, signs, labels, foam letters in the water etc!

[flowlow]

probably much of what you already do, for children who are just at the phase of mark making rather than letter recognition we use things like paint, foam, gloop etc with little card with suggested patterns they could make (like swirls, an 'm' shape etc...)

lots of mark making opportunities like you have already described, although we did add from Ikea a roll of paper on a free stand its really cool and the children like unrolling it and spreading it out on the floor (normally still attached to the roll) and then mark making, writing drawing on it.

we also have I spy bottles - so you add something like rice or lentils to a bottle and objects beginning with one or two different sounds. seal the bottle and then you can make a picture mat of what's inside with the right 'letter/s' and what that letter shape looks like. Use these with a magnifying glass and your away for either independent or adult supported sound play.