Phonics Training for Early Childhood Education equips teachers with all that is needed to support the development of children’s early phonological awareness for later success in literacy.

Teachers are taught how to introduce phonics into the Early Childhood learning environment using a variety of phonological activities to cover the six key areas for literacy development.

The training covers:

• basic theory
• an overview of the 7 stages of phonics
• in depth coverage of stages 1-3
• lesson plans
• assessment
• resources

It is suggested that all children leave their Early Childhood Education provider having successfully completed Stage 1. However, teachers working with able school-ready children may choose to teach these learners some or all of the Stage 2 and 3 steps so that they start school knowing all the letter sounds and how to hear, read and write them.

Basic theory

• what is phonics?
• what do we need to teach?
• when do we need to teach it?
• the role of phonics in early literacy development
• pronunciation
• terminology

The 7 stages of phonics

• understanding each of the seven stages of phonological development
• identifying the stages appropriate to be taught in your Early Childhood Education setting

Lesson plans

Teaching the 6 key skills for later literacy success including how to:

• hear and discriminate sounds (environmental, instrumental, speech)
• rhyme amd hear rhythm, alliteration and sound breaks
• hear the first and final sounds in a word
• hear, read and write the first 29 phonemes

Assessment

• assessment activities for stages 1-3
• guidelines
• how to record progress

Resources

• what’s useful
• where to obtain them
• budget suggestions

By the end of the training, teachers will know how to include phonological awareness activities in their Early Childhood Education settings, how to teach Stages 1-3, how to check that progress is being made and how to resource a phonics programme.

Certificates of particpation are available for course attendees.