During phonics, we have been developing our listening skills:

• We have practised what good listening looks like - lips closed, ears switched on, eyes looking. Then, we have used our listening ears to listen for sounds in and around school and copied the sounds.
• We have looked at rhyming words (when two words sound the same). For example: book/look , blue/shoe , five/dive.
• We have explored alliteration (when consecutive words have the same initial sound). For example: munching my mango , slithering smelly snake.
• We have been listening for the initial sounds in words. For example: What can you hear at the beginning of apple? ...a! What can you hear at the beginning of baby...b!
• Next, we used parrot talk (moving our arms like Parrot wings) to practise segmenting the sounds in words. For example: b-o-x / c-u-p / b-i-n. We focussed on cvc words (consonant, vowel, consonant).
• We have been practising different mouth shapes. For example: Looking at how our mouth shape changes and where we need to put our lips, teeth and tongue for different sounds. Try looking in the mirror whilst making these sounds: sh / weeeee / lump / push.
• Finally, we have been practising blending the sounds in words. Harrold, our parrot, gives us an instruction and we have blended the sounds in the word together, to follow the instructions! For example: 's-i-t d-ow-n' / put your c-oa-t on / j-u-m-p!