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Literacy at Foundation Stage and Key Stage 16. Reading Activities
a. Engaging children with texts
Reading aloud is central to the early years literacy experience. As well as increasing enjoyment and engagement, it deepens understanding and helps children become familiar with the patterns and rhythms of written language. Some of the activities that our student teachers appear to enjoy in class at the university are easily transferred to an Early Years classroom.
Activity i: Tanka, Tanka, Skunk (Steve Webb, 2004)
The only objectives for this activity are to have fun and to make a lot of noise! Begin by asking the student teachers to clap quietly to the beat of the chorus Skanka Tanka, Skanka Tanka, Tanka Tanka Skunk then to beat out the rhythm a little louder. After sufficient practice the tutor then reads the story with the student teachers joining in the chorus. Several readings can then be undertaken with the proviso that each time the reading becomes faster and noisier; the addition of musical instruments can help here!
Activity ii: When the King Rides By (Margaret Mahy, 1988)
This poem by has a strong rhythm and clear rhymes. We use it as an introduction to a session on phonological awareness and phonics, with the student teachers predicting the rhyming words and clapping and singing to the beat of Rat-a-tat-tat! Following this we explore clapping syllables and discuss the importance of rhyme in young children’s phonological awareness. This session is often brought to an end by reading Mahy’s powerfully alliterative The Horrendous Hullabaloo which contains opportunities for enjoying the sounds of the language and the savouring of the words; ‘delicious rumblebumpkins’ and ‘rollicking rags of rainbow’. This is an important aspect for children whose second language is English as it helps them to play with language and gain mastery over it.
Activity iii
We ask student teachers to work in groups of two or three to review a book and share this through an interactive wall display that they could use in their classrooms. This works particularly well when student teachers are offered a selection of picture books with a multicultural theme.
Connections to Standards
Q 4, 5, 6, 14, 18, 25, 26.
See also 6c. Guided reading and 6e. Phonics – planning to use resources for phonics
 
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