Phonics: Nursery children will continue to practise their rhyming skills, identifying rhyming words in stories, identifying rhyming pairs and trying to continue a rhyming string of words. They will continue to play lots of listening games, trying to hear and identify the initial sounds in words and matching them to objects through I spy types of games. The children will be encouraged to make sets of objects which begin with the same initial sound and become aware of how these letters are written.

Reception children will be taught the phase 3 phonemes, digraphs and trigraphs and will  practise blending them to read words, phrases and simple sentences. They will also practise segmenting to spell words using these sounds. The phase 3 tricky words will be introduced and children will practise reading and writing short sentences which include these. 

Reading: The reception children will take home 3 reading books each week. These books will help them to practise blending the sounds recently introduced in phonics along with those that need consolidation. The children continue to practise blending to read in daily phonics sessions and will read in small adult led group guided reading sessions.  A range of winter themed information books and story books are available and books related to our topic of animals will be read and added to the collection for children to access themselves. 

All children will discuss and exchange their library book from each week. The discussions will focus on book language such as authors, illustrators, characters, fiction and non-fiction, book cover, blurb, title and index. 

Writing: Reception children continue to practise the correct formation of letters during daily phonics sessions and the formation of letters in their names using the Red Rose phonics phrases. Oral and written segmenting of sounds to spell simple words is practised in our daily phonics sessions.

Nursery children are practising mark making using a variety of tools and are encouraged and praised for their attempts at writing their own names on their pictures. This half term, those who are demonstrating improved pencil control, will practise correct letter formation using the Red Rose phonics phrases.

All children will be encouraged to write at every opportunity and those who are becoming increasingly confident at recognising and hearing sounds in words will be supported in their attempts to include these sounds in their writing.

New and relevant vocabulary will be taught and used throughout the day, with focussed vocabulary in each subject being introduced.