About Pre-Phonics

Phonics teaches our children the fundamental skills needed for reading and writing, skills we lean on constantly throughout our lives. In truth, phonics teaches the building blocks of literacy skills.

 

But what about the skills children need to access these phonics lessons in the first place? Too often we take for granted the complexity and difficulty involved in seemingly simple activities, such as sitting and listening. As adults, we are so beyond proficient at these everyday skills, that we can forget they are skills altogether - skills that need nurturing and extending.

 

Some of the skills children need to access (and most importantly, enjoy) phonics sessions are:

 

• Active listening;

• Maintaining focus for extended periods of time;

• Auditory discrimination and memory;

• Visual discrimination and memory;

• Key reading behaviours;

• Phonological awareness;

• Remaining in one place for short periods of time;

• Following increasingly complex instructions;

• Fine and gross motor skills;

• Communication and language skills;

• Turn-taking;

• Phonemic awareness

 

This diverse skill-set forms our pre-phonics toolkit, and we nurture these skills through activities such as:

 

• Learning and singing songs (both familiar and new);

• Call and response rhythms/songs;

• Shared story times including comprehension questions;

• Body percussion games;

• Environmental sounds activities;

• Dancing;

• Mark-making;

• Co-operative play;

• Oral blending games