A supplement to progression in phonics (cards) 1-3 - PGCE

Progression in phonics: Steps 1 and 2
Introduction to Cards 2–7
Stepping Stones
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Enjoy rhyming and rhythmic activities.
Distinguish one sound from another.
Show awareness of rhyme and alliteration.
Recognise rhythm in spoken words.
Continue a rhyming string.
Hear and say the initial sound in words
and know which letters represent some
of the sounds.
What
children need to
have experienced
Within a few weeks of birth, babies are
able to distinguish fine differences between
sounds. In experiments, babies have consistently
changed their behaviour when presented with a
change in phoneme as subtle as /p/ to /b/, showing that
they have considerable auditory ability.
Long before they begin to talk, babies will use their voices and
actions to communicate. They laugh, cry, gurgle, squeal, babble,
wriggle and point. They pay close attention to sounds and will
notice and distinguish between the patterns, tones and rhythms
of voices around them – imitating, repeating and mirroring. Babies
experiment, explore and use sounds to make sense of things
around them.
Most young children will have had opportunities to listen and
respond in play to music, songs, stories and rhymes; for example,
songs and rhymes may have been used to help them to learn the
names of other children and to make everyday routines like
dressing and meal times more fun. These experiences and this
learning provide an important foundation for the next steps. If
children have not had these opportunities, Birth to three matters
will help practitioners plan how to provide these very
important early steps.
Card 1
What do I need to know
about these Steps?
The focus for learning and teaching in these Steps
includes many activities that provide children with
opportunities and experience to play with sound. It
brings together our knowledge of the way in which
children learn, the organisational features of
early years settings, activities and experiences
which promote early development
in communication, language and literacy.
Step 1 consists of activities and experiences
which promote general sound and speech
sound discrimination, awareness of rhythm
and rhyme and also those games or activities
which encourage children to begin to play with
words starting with the same sound. Early on,
children’s experiences promote good listening
and looking and awareness of rhyme and rhythm.
Children listen to stories and rhymes and join
in with sound effects, music and physical
activity. Activities will encourage children to
distinguish between, and talk about, sounds.
Children will use sounds in their play, thus
developing their articulation
of sounds (phonemes).
Step 2 includes activities and experiences
which help children understand that words
consist of phonemes (sounds) and that those
sounds are represented by letters. Activities encourage
children to identify the phoneme at the beginning of a word
and this is aided by providing the visual representation
(the letter) for that phoneme. Some of the activities
which are taken from Progression in phonics Step 2
are identified in the Foundation Stage Profile. There
are additional activities which recognise the value of early
verbal blending of phonemes – games in which the adult
‘speaks like a robot’ and the children recognise the
words she is saying. These activities will enable
children to blend phonemes more easily when
they see the letters in a word in Step 4.
1

Card 1
Progression in phonics: Steps 1 and 2
Introduction to Cards 2–7
Resources
Step 1
• a variety of simple instruments
• materials to make ‘sound makers’ – containers,
buttons, beads, seeds, rice, etc
• tape recorder, tapes, microphone
• stories rich in sound effect possibilities
• a bank of rhymes and songs for sharing – some on
cassettes/CDs
• collections of objects beginning with the same
phoneme
Step 2
• pebble
• puppets or soft toys and a box to hide one in
• ball of string
• examples of patterned text
• rhyming objects/pictures
• examples of sound sentences
• tray letters – magnetic/card/wooden
• magnetic/metal board or tray
• collections of objects beginning with
the same phoneme
• three hoops
• shopping bag/basket
Assessing
children’s development
The examples of child-initiated learning, play and other
activities on these cards provide opportunities for informed
observation. Such observations are the basis for assessments
for learning for individual children from which next steps in
learning and teaching can be planned. They also help ensure
identification of special educational needs.
The phonemic concepts, skills and knowledge for earlier
foundation stage are contained in the Curriculum guidance for
the Foundation Stage ‘Stepping stones’. Some examples of what
children are able to do at each step are reproduced below from
the Curriculum guidance.
The examples of child-initiated learning and play and the
other activities and opportunities illustrated in these cards
are all related specifically to the development of children’s
phonemic concepts, skills and knowledge which contribute
to their ability to read and write. Some of this development
takes place incidentally in the course of play focused
on other areas of learning; some, such as rhyming and
alliteration, is designed specifically as language play
and some of this may stem from rhymes in books.
In addition to phonemic development, early years
practitioners, parents and carers inspire a knowledge and
love of books, stories, poems and songs through reading
to children – role-play, singing, story-telling, improvising.
These cards do not contain examples of these sorts
of experiences, other than incidentally. These cards are
specifically focused on phonemic development.
Taken from Curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA/00/587)

Progression in phonics: Step 1
Enjoy rhyming and rhythmic activities
Examples of child-initiated
learning and play
Jack and Kim enjoyed setting up a listening
area on the carpet. They collected a tape
recorder, a collection of tapes and some
cushions – ‘to make it cosy’.
They enjoyed choosing, listening to
and joining in with the familiar songs
and rhymes. The practitioner
joined them and suggested
adding some soft toys as an
audience to enjoy the music
and songs. The children began
to share with their audience
some of the actions. With
the adult’s help the children
recorded their songs.
Stepping
Stone
The outdoor area
included a board with
photographs of children
playing familiar games.
A group of children used this as
a memory jogger. They chose the
game of ‘The farmer’s in his dell’.
The activity was extended by Mary,
a practitioner, who helped them
develop a system of recording
which games they had played
during the session.
These children are playing ‘Here
we go round the mulberry bush’.
We also sing it to accompany
routine activities. ‘This is the way
we… tidy up/ have our drink/ put
on our coats/eat our lunch…
on a sunny, sunny
Monday/rainy, rainy
Tuesday’, etc.
These children are
having a great time outside
playing games which
involve rhymes and
rhythmic activities.
They are playing
‘Ring o’ roses’
and enjoying
using lots of
space and
singing at
the tops of
their voices.
Card 2
Other activities
and opportunities
2
‘Rhyme-time’
haversacks had been put
together by some practitioners
and shared with the children in group
time. They consisted of the rhyme on card,
a tape, a related non-fiction book and some
artefacts that children could use to help recreate
the rhyme. The children often took them home
to share with their parents. Two children chose
to play with the haversacks. They acted out the
rhymes and enjoyed making some extra things
to go in the bags. They made more spiders
to go in the Incey Wincey Spider bag
and a little book in which children
could draw any spiders
they found.
Some African
musicians visited and the
children enjoyed clapping, playing
instruments and dancing along to the
strong rhythmic beat of the drums.
These children are enjoying using their
indoor space to sing and dance
to some songs that they know. Parents
have shared some of the singing games they
remembered from their childhood.
This has given the children an opportunity
to share rhymes from many
different cultures.

Card 2
Progression in phonics: Step 1
Enjoy rhyming and rhythmic activities
Suggested activities
Join in
In large group time, sing some of your favourite songs and
rhymes to the children. As the songs and rhymes become more
familiar, children will begin to join in with the parts they know.
Sing a line and encourage children to repeat it as an echo. Miss
out the ends of some of the lines and ask the children to sing
the missing part.
‘We often try to link the choice of songs to our focus.
This time we have shared lots of animal songs because
the animal man has just visited. He brought a selection
of animals for us to look at.’
Let’s dance
Sing songs that have dances to them so that children can move
their whole bodies to the beat, e.g.
• In and out the dusty bluebells
• Here we go round the mulberry bush
• The big ship sails on the alley alley o
• Oranges and lemons
• Ring a ring o’ roses
‘Children sometimes sing and dance when they choose to play
outside. Their play is resourced with instruments, and with
fabrics which they sway and include in their dances.’
Mirror me
During planned physical activity sing or chant rhymes and
encourage the children to move in an appropriate way, e.g.
• The grand old Duke of York
• Twinkle twinkle little star
• If you’re happy and you know it
• I’m a little teapot
‘As the children dance along to the rhymes I often dance
alongside and introduce new movements which encourage
children to use different parts of their bodies.’
Action rhymes
Make up some actions to songs and
encourage the children to do the actions in time
to the music, e.g.
• Head, shoulders, knees and toes
• Knock at the door
• Incey wincey spider
• Jelly on the plate
‘When children know the songs and the actions we encourage
them to sing parts of the song in their heads and just
do the actions. They really have to concentrate.’
Let’s perform
Record or video the children when they are singing some of their
favourite songs and rhymes. Include some rhymes from our diverse
cultural heritage, e.g.
• Chanda Mama (Uncle Moon, Urdu/Hindi)
• Ayk do tali bejao (Gujarati)
The children will enjoy playing the tapes back and joining in.
‘We played the video to the parents and carers at the end of
the session and they said that they enjoyed seeing their children
singing along with their friends. It was a good opportunity to build
up a repertoire of songs that adults and children can share when
at home – the tape was often out on loan.’
Counting rhymes
Sing counting rhymes with the children. Gradually build up
a repertoire of counting rhymes that the children become familiar
with. They will enjoy joining in with the parts that they know, e.g.
• One, two, buckle my shoe
• Ten green bottles
• This old man
• Ten fat sausages
• Ten in a bed
• Five currant buns
‘I try to resource some of the counting rhymes and use the
resources to model the maths involved. I’ve made the five currant
buns and the ten green bottles available for children to choose
in child-initiated activities.’

Progression in phonics: Step 1
Distinguish one sound from another
Examples of child-initiated
learning and play
Santok and Lewis decided to take the writing
materials outside and planned to make their
own outdoor ‘listening list’. Listening lists
had been an adult-led activity earlier
in the week. They drew pictures
to remind themselves of all the things
they could hear. This was developed
when a practitioner introduced a tape
recorder to help the children record
some of the sounds.
Practitioners had set up an
‘instrument factory’ with lots of
materials to make sound makers.
The children set about making enough
instruments for a band! They gathered
other materials from around the setting.
The play was extended by a practitioner,
pretending to be manager, who
introduced the idea of quality control –
‘The instruments need to be tested
to make sure that they can
make at least three different
sounds.’ They all passed the test.
The band sounded great.
When using
the computer
the children learned
that the different
sounds made by the
program mean different
things. Sometimes they are
congratulated on their
success; sometimes the
sound indicates they
need to try again.
Stepping
Stone
A ‘recording
studio’ had been
set up with a tape
recorder, microphone and
sound makers. It had been used
as an adult-led session earlier in the
week. The children returned to the
resources and made, recorded and played
back sounds using their voices and
instruments. This turned into a game
and they invited friends to listen
to the tape and guess how they’d made
the sound. They collected wigs and
clothes from the role-play area
and pretended to be pop stars.
In the home
corner one of the children
talked about the ring tone
of her mother’s mobile phone.
The practitioner got her
phone and they explored
the choice of sounds available
and those sounds
they liked.
Children set up a small
world role-play of
Thomas the Tank
Engine. They made the
sound of Thomas
chugging along the track
(chchch), slowing down
as he comes into the
station (shshsh) and the
big engines whizzing past
whistling (ooooooo).
These children are in the book
area enjoying reading stories
together and adding sound
effects. They had already
listened to the story
‘Farmer Duck’ with
a practitioner, and
now were playing
Charlie
was in the
garden and pointed
out that the blackbird
sounded like she was telling
them off when the children all
came out and disturbed her
digging for something in the
vegetable bed. The practitioner
remembered a CD with recordings
of birdsong and played the
different sounds made by
blackbirds to Charlie and
his friends.
independently,
making sounds
of the animals.
They were
adding more
animals to the story
including a donkey ‘Eeaw’
and insects such
as bees and flies ‘zzzzz’ and ‘mmm’.
Card 3
Other activities
and opportunities
Children play in the water tray which has been
resourced with materials to create different
sounds – watering cans, jugs, paddles, sieves,
pumps, etc. They enjoyed the challenge set
by the practitioner of making as many
different sounds as they could. They added
their own resources to make even
more sounds.
These children are playing a game with
instruments. The activity has been set out with
three different types of instrument, two of each
type and a screen. One child is the ‘sound maker’
behind the screen and makes a sound with one
of his three instruments. The other child
is the ‘sound detective’ on the other
side of the screen with his three
instruments. He needs
to guess which type of
instrument has made
the sound. They use
photographs and
labels to replace
the instruments
in the music area
when they
have finished.
3

Card 3
Progression in phonics: Step 1
Distinguish one sound from another
Suggested activities
Listening lists/walks
This is a listening activity that can take place in lots of different areas
inside and outside the setting – in the kitchen, on visits, in the
garden, etc.
Invite the children to show you how good they are at listening and
talk about why listening is important.
When you listen it helps you to hear birds sing, what your friends
are saying and to remember things for next time. It helps you to
enjoy music and to know who is talking when you answer the phone.
It helps you to understand friends who are just learning English.
Remind the children about the things that good listeners do (e.g.
keep quite still, keep quiet, have eyes and ears ready). Then
encourage them to listen to the sounds around them. Talk about the
different sounds they can hear. Make a list of things heard as words,
simple pictures or tape recordings. Talk about why lists are useful
to help us remember things.
‘After we had been on our walk, we had fun trying to
recreate the sounds with our voices. Gary made a really good
motorbike sound.’
Guess who
Remind children about being good listeners, then play a hiding game
where children use their voices to say an agreed sound or phrase,
e.g. ‘Good morning everyone.’
Can they guess whose voice it is?
Talk together about what clues they used to help them guess.
‘We found this activity was best played in a small group so that
everyone had a go, they didn’t have to wait too long for their turn
and they didn’t have too many possibilities to choose from.’
Guess the sound
Remind the children about being good listeners. Organise several
different sound sources behind a screen, e.g. water being poured,
splashed or shaken in a bottle.
Ask the children to guess what they think is making the sound. Talk
about the sounds, e.g. loud, quiet, long or short.
You could use musical instruments instead of found sound sources.
‘We used recordings we had made on one of our listening walks
(see listening lists) to see if children could remember and
recognise the different sounds.’
Let me hear
your …voice
Encourage the children to experiment with
their voices by singing:
‘Let me hear your singing voice – hello hello’
The children repeat ‘hello hello’ with the voice that has
been requested.
Then try:
Let me hear your inside/outside/whispering/shouting/
growling voice, etc.
‘We talked about how useful and important it was to use different
voices at different times and how we can sometimes tell what
sort of mood people are in by listening to their voices and
looking at their faces. We had fun trying out a few together –
angry sad, shy, etc.’
Give me a sound
Encourage the children to experiment with different sounds that they
can make with their voices.
Can they make their voice …?
• go down a slide whee
• buzz like a bee
zzzzz
• hiss like a snake ssssss
• relax into a chair aaah
• sound surprised ooo
Encourage children to come up with other ideas.
Show them how they can use their voices to put sound effects to a
story. Most children’s stories lend themselves to sound effects, e.g.
Mr Gumpy’s outing – animal noises, doors creaking and banging, etc.
‘Children enjoyed putting the sound effects to the story “A Dark
Dark Tale”, especially the creaking sounds going up the stairs.’
Me then you
In small group time, practise clapping loudly, softly, quickly, and slowly.
Introduce the idea of clapping/tapping patterns, e.g. three short
sounds followed by two short sounds. Talk about the pattern as you
are clapping/ tapping it. Encourage the children to repeat or echo
the pattern.
‘I often use instruments for this activity. I use a tambourine and
another tambourine is passed around the circle for each child in turn
to try to echo my pattern. We talk about the patterns to reinforce
the language.’