Linking Sounds and Letters

1: Joins in with rhyming and rhythmic activities

• Scale points 1 – 3 are based on the children’s achievement in their preferred language

• Involves active response to both sound and rhythm

2: Shows an awareness of rhyme and alliteration

• Practical idea for assessing – share “nonsense” rhyme games – start first lines of rhymes together, encourage children to predict rhyme at end or practitioner to change to non-rhyming word and let children correct

3: Links some sounds to letters

• Early stages – letters of own name

• Key step in development is making link between sound and visual symbol

4: Links sounds to letters, naming and sounding letters of the alphabet

• Assessment of scale points 4 – 9 should be in English

• Child needs to sound and name all (or almost all) letters

• Implication for teaching – names as well as sounds of letters need to be consistently presented together by practitioner

5: Hears and says initial and final sounds in words

• Focus on sounds

• Initial sounds likely to come first

6: Hears and says short vowel sounds within words• Focus on sounds

• Assessment of scale points 4, 5 and 6 will involve adult led as well as child initiated activities

• Emphasis should be on fun and enjoyment, not testing

• The PiPs games are a good starting point

7: Uses phonic knowledge to read simple regular words8: Attempts to read more complex words, using phonic knowledge

• The best way to assess these points would be through one to one shared reading sessions

9: Uses knowledge of letters, sounds and words when reading and writing

independently• Practitioner needs to observe child’s

independent reading and writing activities to assess this scale point

• Writing may provide better evidence• Must achieve all other scale points prior to 9• Some fluent readers may not provide evidence

of using a range of strategies as they do not verbalise their thought processes – scale point 9 should be assumed to have been achieved in these cases