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How to
help at
home!
A guide for Reception
Parents
Letter Formation Rhymes
‘Tall letters stretch to the sky, short letters stay in the grass,
and some letters dig underground.’
s
Whoosh, slithery, slippery snakes and flick.
a
Whoosh, all the way round, down to the ground and flick.
t
Whoosh, up to the sky, down to the ground and flick… cross it quick!
p
Whoosh, go down underground, back up, round and flick.
i
Whoosh, down to the ground and flick…don’t forget the dot!
n
Whoosh, down to the ground, over one mountain and flick.
m
Whoosh, down to the ground, over two mountains and flick.
d
Whoosh, all the way round, up to the sky, down to the ground and flick.
g
Whoosh, all the way round, then down underground and loop.
o
Whoosh, all the way round and flick.
c
Whoosh, just go half way round.
k
Whoosh, up to the sky, down to the ground, kick and flick.
e
Whoosh, loop the loop and flick.
u
Whoosh, make a cup, down to the ground and flick.
r
Whoosh, down to the ground, back up and over and flick.
h
Whoosh, up to the sky, down to the ground over one mountain and flick.
b
Whoosh, up to the sky, down to the ground, then all the way round and flick.
f
Whoosh, up to the sky and over, all the way back down underground and loop,
cross it quick.
l
Whoosh, up to the sky, down to the ground and flick.
j
Whoosh, straight down underground and loop… don’t forget the dot!
v
Whoosh, slant down and up and flick.
w
Whoosh, slant down and up, down and up and flick.
x
Whoosh, slant down to the ground, and cross it out.
y
Whoosh, make a cup, go down underground and loop.
z
Whoosh, zoom, zigzag and zoom.
q
Whoosh, all the way round and then down underground and flick.
Jolly Phonics Phoneme Actions
Aa
ants walking up arm.
Bb
pretend to hit a ball with a bat
Cc,Kk,ck
Click fingers together as if playing castanets.
Dd
Hit a drum with two hands.
Ee
pretend to break an egg and open the shell and say eh, eh, eh.
Ff
Let hands gently come together as if a blow up toy fish is deflating
and say fff.
Gg
Spiral hand as if water going down a sink.
Hh
Panting on hand held up to mouth.
Ii
Pretend to be a mouse by wiggling fingers at the end of your nose
and squeak.
Jj
Pretend to be a jelly and wobble.
Ll
Pretend to lick a lolly.
Mm
Rub tummy, seeing tasty food.
Nn
Hold out arms as if an aeroplane.
Oo
Turning a switch on and off.
Pp
Pretend to blow out a candle.
Qu
Make a ducks beak with hinged hands.
Rr
Pretend to be a puppy holding a rag and shaking head from side to
side say rrrr.
Ss
Weave hands like a snake.
Tt
Turn head from side to side watching tennis and say t t t.
Uu
Pretend to put up an imaginary umbrella.
Vv
Pretend to be driving along in a van.
Ww
Blow onto open hand as if you are the wind and say wh, wh, wh
quietly.
Xx
Pretend to take an X-ray with a camera and say ks, ks ks.
Yy
Pretend to eat yoghurt with a spoon.
Zz
Pretend to be a bee.
Digraph Actions
ch
Pretend to be a steam train.
th
Pretend to be rude and stick your tongue out.
sh
Place finger over lip to make a sh sound.
oy/oi
Hand to side of mouth- oy
ee/or/aw/au Make donkeys ears on top of head and move backwards (ee) and
forwards (or).
ew/ue
Hold up of nose as though smelling a bad smell.
ow
Pretend to have a pricked finger.
ear
Wiggle bottom of ear - ear, ear, ear.
ng
Weight lifter lifting weights above head.
igh/ie
Say “Aye, aye!” as holding hand to side of head as though
saluting.
ar
Pretend to be at the dentist and say
ahhh.
er/ir/ur
Rolling hands over and over pretending to be a food/cement mixer.
oo
Move head backwards and forwards like a cuckoo clock.
ure
Your- single point to a child.
ay/ai
Put hand behind ear as if can’t hear.
oa/oe
“Oh!” put hand over mouth as if something is wrong or shocking.
air
Pretend to brush hair.
What letters and sounds do we teach and when?
Set 1: s
a
t
p
Phase 2
Set 2: i
n
m
d
(R)
Set 3: g
o
c
k
Set 4: ck
e
u
r
Set 5: h
b
f
Set 6: j
Set 7: y
v
z
ff
w
l
zz
Phase 3
(R)
qu
Vowel diagraphs: ai
ur
ow
ss
x
Consonant diagraphs: ch
or
ll
oi
sh
ee
ear
th/th
igh
air
oa
ure
ng
oo/oo
ar
er
Consolidation children’s knowledge of graphemes in
Phase 4
reading and spelling words containing adjacent
(YR)
consonants and polysyllabic words.
CVC / CVCC / CCVC words
zh
Teaching alternative spellings for phonemes
(see Letters and Sounds for further information)
Phase 5 (Y1)
Number Formation
Start at her head
Start at the beak
Go round the top
Down the stick, acroos
Go down to her
go round the neck
scoop, then round the
the arms and down the
feet
and across the body.
bottom scoop.
Body.
Go down the bar, curl around
Go over the arch and around
Around the shoulders
the wheel, and across the seat.
the wheel.
and down the belt.
Curl around the head
Around the flag
slide down the body
and down the pole.
and back up again.
All around the egg.
Glossary
Phonological Awareness
awareness of sounds within words e.g. ability to
generate rhyme and alliteration, and to blend and
segment component sounds
Phoneme
smallest unit of sound in a word e.g. sh-ou-t
Grapheme
written representation of a sound; may consist of one
or more letters e.g. ie as in pie, igh as in high, etc.
Digraph
two letters representing one phoneme e.g. bath
Schwa
indistinct or ‘swallowed’ vowel, says ‘uh’ e.g. ‘er’ in
sister, ‘a’ in ago, ‘o’ in lemon
Blending
process of combining phonemes into larger elements
such as clusters (str), syllables (tion) and words
(chop)
Segmenting
process of breaking a word down into its component
phonemes e.g. c-a-t, s-ou-p
Onset
the initial consonant/consonants at the beginning of
a word or syllable e.g. cat, proud
Rime
part of the word or syllable containing the vowel and
final consonant/consonants e.g. cat, proud
CVC Word
consonant/vowel/consonant word e.g. c/a/t, b/u/t
Adjacent Consonants
two or more consonants usually found at the end or
beginning of a word e.g. stop, strip, last, sand
Syllable
each beat in a word is a syllable
Compound Word
a word made up of two other words e.g. lady-bird
Concept Vocabulary
a word meaning an abstract idea or quality e.g.
same, different etc.
Helpful activities to do at home
Listen to your child, share conversations and talk lots!
Share books every day, model reading.
Read road signs, signs around the home and street.
Read newspapers, comics (alphablocks is excellent).
Discuss pictures in books.
Draw and write anything.
Follow simple rules and instructions.
Sing songs and rhymes.
Read rhyme books and allow your child to finish the rhyme.
Weigh things out whilst cooking.
Look at shapes all around.
Play board games like Ludo, Snakes and ladders which use a dice, 2 dice.
Use money when going sho[[pping.
Count anything such as pennies, bottle tops, buttons and cutlery when laying a
table.
Develop independent dressing / undressing and toilet care, encourage the children
to fasten their own zips on coats and buttons.
Encourage children to wash their own hands.
Help your child to hop, ski[p, pedal and balance.
Useful Websites
Starfall.com
Alphablocks (on cbbc.co.uk)
Phonicsplay.co.uk
Topmarks
Also do google search for phonics early years, reading early years, counting
interactive activities.
Learning should be fun, and mostly through play activities so provide lots
of these opportunities, and give plenty of praise and encouragement along
the way!