On the journey to becoming a successful reader, children pass through many stages in their learning. In the early development of phonics, it is crucial that children be afforded plenty of opportunities to listen to, and discriminate between, the sounds around them before they are ready to hear sounds in words.
To provide children with appropriate experiences and support in this area, practitioners must understand the aspects and stages of learning. They must also recognise the futility of an overemphasis on formal teaching of letter sounds before children have developed these basic sound discrimination skills.
Many of the normal activities already going on in an early years setting will offer opportunities for listening to and identifying a variety of sounds.
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