What did I do before phonics international?!
Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 10:45 pm
As the thread title suggests, I find myself continually wondering how I managed without the resources provided by the phonics international programme.
Having such a comprehensive bank of resources available at the click of a mouse is just wonderful.
I continue to introduce the sounds at a rate of two a week as I have a mixed class and no teaching assisstant and cannot manage to teach a new sound to each class each day.
To be honest however, even if I had a single class I think that,to get the value out of all the available resources, I would still teach at the same rate.
On day one I use the picture posters to introduce the sounds.
I use the cumulative wordlists when training the children to sound out and blend to read, and also to segment, counting the sounds, drawing the dashes and writing the graphemes in order all through the word.
No more time wasted compiling lists of decodable words- its all done for you.
The wordlists provide opportunities to develop vocabulary and grammar as they contain some unfamiliar words, homophones and plurals.
I model the correct letter formation and the children skywrite and practise letter formation on the whiteboard.
The appropriate colour the sounds sheet and one or two wordlists are stuck into the childrens sound books for homework.
The older children are currently using a booklet made of the 'I can read' sheets from unit 2 as their reading material.
As they are very familiar with all the GPCs, they are working on developing fluency.
They also draw little pictures to illustrate the text.
This shows they comprehend the material, gives the children a sense of pride and makes the decodable text more attractive and personal.
The younger children (YR) will begin doing similar work on the unit one decodable text shortly.
The YR are currently using the unit 1 'I can read, write and draw' pages (again stapled into a book) to do similar work but at at word level.
The Y1 children are using the 'I can read, write and draw' sheets as an activity while I work with the YR children.
On day two we use the appropriate sound book activity sheets, sounding out and blending words to read and also segmenting to spell.
The children are encouraged to take turns using each word in sentence.
We discuss what pictures the children might draw - focusing on a max of 3.
The children trace and write the target grapheme and the sheet is then stuck into the sound books to take home. Often they will have to complete the tracing/writing at home.
I find the guidance written on the sheet helps to ensure commonality of approach between school and home.
I try to get time to do a 'Read the words make up a story sheet' each week,as I feel it is a great way to develop speaking and listening skills and to develop vocabulary all in a very integrated way, however this is not always possible.
Even if I don't get a chance to work formally on these sheets as often as I would like, I glance at the suggested vocabulary and try to find a way to use some of the unfamiliar words during the week to help develop their vocabulary.
I feel it is extremely important to consistently be aware of the importance of developing childrens language skills and expanding their vocabulary both formally and incidentally throughout the school day.
Reading exciting stories for the children can provide lots of opportunities for this type of work.
Occasionally as I read a story I'll come across a decodable but unfamiliar word. Rather then read it I'll write it up on the board, encouraging the children to sound out and blend to read it themselves. They take great pride in being able to read unfamiliar words and then learning what they mean and how and where to use them.
I have the alphabetic code overview chart on display and when the children encounter an as yet untaught GPC, I show them where it fits in the overview, tell them what it is and that they will learn it in time.
The overview chart alone is a super resource and provides a clearcut and systematic masterplan for teaching the alphabetic code from simple to complex.
It gives me great confidence to know exactly what the next step is and where each GPC fits into the plan.
There are still many of the resources which I have yet to make use of but I will in time. (Using the capital and lower case grapheme cards for paired matching games is next on my list).
The children are doing wonderfully well and there is a great feeling of confidence and self esteem in the classroom.
The learning support teacher is using the programme with various children up throughout the school and is as amazed, delighted and grateful at how much easier it has made his job to have all these resources at his fingertips.
I appreciate that using the programme doesn't preclude the use of many of my existing Jolly Phonic resources.
The programme has removed the hassle and the time consuming task of planning and piecing together the necessary resources and allowed me more time to focus on teaching.
Having such a comprehensive bank of resources available at the click of a mouse is just wonderful.
I continue to introduce the sounds at a rate of two a week as I have a mixed class and no teaching assisstant and cannot manage to teach a new sound to each class each day.
To be honest however, even if I had a single class I think that,to get the value out of all the available resources, I would still teach at the same rate.
On day one I use the picture posters to introduce the sounds.
I use the cumulative wordlists when training the children to sound out and blend to read, and also to segment, counting the sounds, drawing the dashes and writing the graphemes in order all through the word.
No more time wasted compiling lists of decodable words- its all done for you.
The wordlists provide opportunities to develop vocabulary and grammar as they contain some unfamiliar words, homophones and plurals.
I model the correct letter formation and the children skywrite and practise letter formation on the whiteboard.
The appropriate colour the sounds sheet and one or two wordlists are stuck into the childrens sound books for homework.
The older children are currently using a booklet made of the 'I can read' sheets from unit 2 as their reading material.
As they are very familiar with all the GPCs, they are working on developing fluency.
They also draw little pictures to illustrate the text.
This shows they comprehend the material, gives the children a sense of pride and makes the decodable text more attractive and personal.
The younger children (YR) will begin doing similar work on the unit one decodable text shortly.
The YR are currently using the unit 1 'I can read, write and draw' pages (again stapled into a book) to do similar work but at at word level.
The Y1 children are using the 'I can read, write and draw' sheets as an activity while I work with the YR children.
On day two we use the appropriate sound book activity sheets, sounding out and blending words to read and also segmenting to spell.
The children are encouraged to take turns using each word in sentence.
We discuss what pictures the children might draw - focusing on a max of 3.
The children trace and write the target grapheme and the sheet is then stuck into the sound books to take home. Often they will have to complete the tracing/writing at home.
I find the guidance written on the sheet helps to ensure commonality of approach between school and home.
I try to get time to do a 'Read the words make up a story sheet' each week,as I feel it is a great way to develop speaking and listening skills and to develop vocabulary all in a very integrated way, however this is not always possible.
Even if I don't get a chance to work formally on these sheets as often as I would like, I glance at the suggested vocabulary and try to find a way to use some of the unfamiliar words during the week to help develop their vocabulary.
I feel it is extremely important to consistently be aware of the importance of developing childrens language skills and expanding their vocabulary both formally and incidentally throughout the school day.
Reading exciting stories for the children can provide lots of opportunities for this type of work.
Occasionally as I read a story I'll come across a decodable but unfamiliar word. Rather then read it I'll write it up on the board, encouraging the children to sound out and blend to read it themselves. They take great pride in being able to read unfamiliar words and then learning what they mean and how and where to use them.
I have the alphabetic code overview chart on display and when the children encounter an as yet untaught GPC, I show them where it fits in the overview, tell them what it is and that they will learn it in time.
The overview chart alone is a super resource and provides a clearcut and systematic masterplan for teaching the alphabetic code from simple to complex.
It gives me great confidence to know exactly what the next step is and where each GPC fits into the plan.
There are still many of the resources which I have yet to make use of but I will in time. (Using the capital and lower case grapheme cards for paired matching games is next on my list).
The children are doing wonderfully well and there is a great feeling of confidence and self esteem in the classroom.
The learning support teacher is using the programme with various children up throughout the school and is as amazed, delighted and grateful at how much easier it has made his job to have all these resources at his fingertips.
I appreciate that using the programme doesn't preclude the use of many of my existing Jolly Phonic resources.
The programme has removed the hassle and the time consuming task of planning and piecing together the necessary resources and allowed me more time to focus on teaching.