s a t i p n

Sue Lloyd and Sara WernhamIllustrated by Lib Stephen

Jolly Learning Ltd

1

The Finger Phonics Big Books introduce the 42 main letter sounds in English throughstories, actions and pictures. The amusing and detailed pictures illustrate the stories, aswell as captivating the children’s imagination. The books provide plenty of opportunitiesto teach early literacy skills for language, reading and writing.

Language

Clear speech is encouraged by saying each letter sound individually. Talking about thepictures provides a good opportunity to develop vocabulary with the children. This can beespecially valuable if English is not a child’s first language.

Reading

Before the children can blend the letter sounds in words for themselves, they needpractice in listening to an adult saying the sounds. For example, “Can you point to the‘s-u-n’?” This can initially be difficult for some children, and they may need a littlelistening practice most days until the skill is mastered. A little and often is best.

Writing

Letter formation: If children learn the correct letter formation from the beginning, they donot develop problems that have to be rectified later. Correct formation is encouragedwhen the children start on the big dot on the letters and follow the arrows with theirfingers.

Spelling: In order to write a word, the children need to be able to identify the sounds inthat word. Begin by looking at an illustration and finding objects that use the letter soundbeing taught. Another activity is to ask the children if they can hear a particular sound ina word. For example, “Is there a ‘s’ in ‘sun’, or ‘sock’ or ‘dog’?” At first the children tend tothink there is a ‘s’ sound in every word. Gradually, however, theydevelop the ability to hear the sounds, and even to say if it is at the beginning, middle orend of the word.

Once children can hear the sounds in words and know the letter(s) for those sounds theycan then start to be truly independent writers.

in print letters