The heart of this book is a new approach to the teaching of language and literacy. Its focus is exemplary classroom practice built on rigorous theory and evidence.The approach combines new theory and dynamic practice in its advocacy for contextualised teaching. This book shows how the teaching of smaller units of language, such as sentences, words, letters and phonemes, follows naturally from the context of whole texts.The book offers: practical examples, photographs from settings, case studies and action points to help any practitioner working with young children to develop one of the most crucial life skills, advice on how to build on children's motivation using whole texts, clear guidance on phonics teching in an appropriate context and a unique blend of new theory and dynamic practice.