Literacy
The Early years goals are: ​Comprehension, Word Reading and Writing
Literacy development involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
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Through listening to stories and then retelling them , for example, 'The Gruffalo, the children can listen to the story and then create a natural map.
They not only learn vocabulary through repeated sentences, but they learn about forces such as identifying woodland animals.
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They also learn about the use of phonics , such as using Y shaped sticks to make musical shakers, looking for shapes and patterns in nature that resemble letters and numbers.
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We use natural sources, such as berries mixed with water, wild garlic or watery mud, so the children can express themselves by drawing or writing. Sticks and stones are available for the children to create shape, letters and patterns with.
By using non fiction books, with the help of adults the children will be able to look for facts on the the creatures and plants they find, for example, checking if a mini beast is an insect or an amphibian.
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They can record their findings on simple charts and compare it with their findings in previous months when the weather was different, for example, the colour of leaves in the spring and the colour of leaves in the autumn.
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The children will get chance to record the findings themselves, whilst using pencils and charcoal to write.
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They will find their names out of the basket to sign themselves in each morning and at the end of the day, put their name back.
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We develop fantastic activities based around story books, such as 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. The children create their own sensory trail and then as a group we go on a Bear Hunt.
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During the Halloween period, Room on a Broom is a firm favourite and we sit and listen to the story and then the children and narrator chat about the story. Broom sticks and mud stews and pretend fires are created and role play within peer groups evolve.
At Christmas we read 'The Stick Man' and hunt for people shaped sticks and dress them up with wool and leaves. We then sit around the fire listening to the story again with our stick family.
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