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Lockdown Day 21 – Literacy

Learning to read and write starts with the understanding that words are made up of sounds, and that these sounds can be written.

Children need to be given the opportunity to become familiar with hearing beginning, end and middle sounds of words before being introduced to the written representation (letter) thereof. It is only when they are aware of sounds and what they are, that they will have something to relate to when being introduced to the 26 letters that make up our alphabet.

One way of introducing the child to sounds is by playing ‘I Spy’. Very often, however, we attempt to play I Spy at a level that is beyond the young child’s comprehension.

Below, we share with a five stage approach to refining the young child’s understanding of sounds in preparation for learning the alphabet and conquering the comprehensive task of learning to read and write.

MATERIAL REQUIRED

A basket containing very attractive little objects.  The names of the objects must begin with the phonetic sound of their first letter.
 
GUIDELINES

This exercise is presented in 6 ‘stages’ and the children move from stage to stage as and when they are capable.  The activity may be done individually or as a group exercise.

A Word of Caution:
It is a good idea to name all of the objects first for the children before you start playing.  .  For example an object that is meant to represent the word “ant” and the sound “a” could get called “bug” or “insect” by the people playing the game and this would be confusing for children who just learning about phonic sounds.

Please also ensure that you are aware of the phonic sounds – a = ‘ah’, b = ‘buh’ … etc.
 

FIRST STAGE
 
Place ONE object (button) at a time on the mat and say:

I spy with my little eye, something that begins with ‘b’ (buh)

As there is only one object, the child will say ‘button’.

You can now confirm: Yes – b – button.

Repeat a few times until the child is aware of what to do.

SECOND STAGE
 
Place TWO objects on the mat and name them.  This is a cat and this is a house.  The names of the objects should begin with different and quite contrasting sounds, not b and p together for instance.

I spy with my little eye something that begins with a ‘c’. 
 
The child must now decide which of the two objects begins with that sound. If the child is correct then they may keep the object in front of them on the mat.

This allows the child to begin to discriminate between the sounds.

THIRD STAGE
 
Ask the child to choose 6 – 8 objects and to put these into her/his own basket.

Ask the child to lay out her/his own mat and place the objects onto the mat.

Go through the objects and name them to make sure that you have the same names in mind.

Name play the traditional “I Spy” game choosing the first letter sound of any of the objects on the mat.

The child’s auditory discrimination ability is being extended in this way.

FOURTH STAGE
 
Ask the child to choose 6 – 8 objects and to put these into her/his own basket.

Ask the child to lay out her/his own felt mat and place the objects onto the mat.

Go through the objects and name them to make sure that you have the same names in mind.

Name play the traditional “I Spy” game this time using both beginning and ending sounds:

I spy with my little eye something that begins with a ‘d’ and ends with a ‘k’.

FIFTH STAGE

Once the child has reached this stage, you may play the traditional ‘I Spy” with any objects in the child’s environment.

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Have fun! 😄