Using the programme in a mixed YR/Y1 class
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 4:04 pm
I am a primary school teacher in the republic of Ireland.
I teach a mixed class of Junior/Senior Infants (the equivalent of YR/Y1 in England).
There are 10 pupils in Junior Infants and 12 in Senior Infants ranging in age from 4 to 6.
There are 12 girls and 10 boys in total and there are a range of mixed abilities.
The senior children have spent a year at JP, completing the basic code GPCs and are also familiar with some of the long vowel alternatives.
I do not have a TA but the LST is available for 30 mins Tues- Fri.
I was lucky enough to have a chance to preview the programme and I began using the unit 1 materials in early September.
However until now, I hadn't seen the programme overview and guidance.
I consider this an invaluable document and feel Debbie is very generous to provide it as a free resource given the amount of time and effort it took to compile it.
I'm still trialling ways to use the resources.
As I waited for the other modules/units to be launched, I spent time working at whole class level.
The older children benefitted from revising the basic code and it was also an opportunity for them and for me to become familiar with the format of the 'sounds book activity sheets' and the 'read the words, make up a story sheets'.
The latter are a great favourite and provide material with which to work to develop listening and speaking skills and vocabulary.
With Debbie's permission I did adapt them, adding my own cumulative decodable words to suit our situation and to guide the storyline.
In my mixed class situation I have decided that it suits me to use two of these stories @week - one junior and one senior but I do the lesson as a whole class activity..
I add extra words involving correspondences the other class is working on so each class can focus on their correspondence.
It also means that when the junior class moves up next year, they will not revisit familiar worksheets but will have a chance to use new sheets with new vocabulary.
Debbie recently sent me some of the materials I needed from unit 2.
I wanted to proceed with the older class and to begin filling in gaps in correspondence knowledge.
The overview is very helpful in planning for this.
I scanned the content for unit 1 and found that I had explicitly taught all graphemes but -ck.
I decided to leave that and teach it as a whole class session when the younger children would also be learning it, so I began filling in the gaps using the -ff, -ll, -ss sheets and I am working on from there, filling in gaps through the units before moving on to new correspondences.
I am introducing the sounds at the rate of 2 @ week.
I have done some chopping and changing to try to find the most effective approach and I know that I will continue to do so until the programme has been up and running for some time.
I am aware that everyone visiting this forum will be in a different situation but for interests sake my weekly schedule at present is:
Monday:
Use picture posters and grapheme cards to introduce sounds.
Use words from cumulative wordlists to practise blending and segmenting skills using magnetic grapheme cards on the whiteboard.
Complete colour the sounds sheets and stick them into into the sounds book ( from now on I will also include a word list strip for further GPC / blending and segmenting practise at home-to date I was encouraging to sound out 2/3/words on the colour the sounds sheet)
The children can use the words on the cumulative list to sound out all through a word and blend the sounds to decode 4/5 of the words.
They then hide the words,the adult calls out one of the words, the childre sound out all through the word, counting the sounds, drawing a dash for each sound and then either match using the grapheme cards or write the corresponding grapheme on the appropriate line.
The children could use also these lists as part of a paired word game with their parent- the parent calls out a word, the child segments it, counts the sounds and selects the correct graphemes to spell it. S/he can then check if they have done so properly by looking at the word list. The child and parent then swap roles with the child reading out a word for the parent to make/write
Tuesday:
LST listens to junior children practise their sounds and also practises letter formation while I listen to seniors reading and check written homework and sounds in sound book.
Work on the sounds book activity sheet.
Begin with Senior children (while juniors work at handwriting skills )and allow them to complete the sheet while I then work through Juniors sheet work with them (most to be completed at home but practise blending, segmenting and letter formation at school)using whiteboard and grapheme cards
Stick sound book activity sheets into sound books on opposite page to colour the sounds sheet.
When these sheets are folded up to reveal only the grapheme at the top, they are the equivalent of the sound books I used last year.
However when unfolded the sound sheets reveal lots more material (and information) to guide the parents as to the best way to help their children revise sounds and help develop blending, segmenting and handwriting skills.
Wednesday:
I check junior sound book work while LST listens to seniors reading and checks their sound book work.
Give the seniors ‘I can read, write and draw sheets’ to work on while I introduce new junior sound using materials as Monday.
Allow juniors to rehearse letter formation on this sheet and to colour the picture (and/or listen in) while I introduce new senior sound.
Stick the colour the sound sheets into sound books with a wordlist strip for blending and segmenting at home.
Thursday
As Tuesday , however with a focus on the junior sound book activity sheet (while the seniors read, illustrate and possibly copy a page of decodable text.
As time goes on I will encourage the children to work in pairs using the wordlists at a game as outlined above. .
Friday:
Check homework in sounds book and revise.
The senior children are beginning to write the words into sentences.
However some of the other words required to write the sentence may contain as yet untaught correspondences.
I have explained to the parents that they should encourage the children to try to use decodable words but if they need a word containing such correspondences, to encourage the children to segment and identify as many sounds as possible, only providing the tricky part.
There are some senior children who I feel it would serve better to use the word orally in a sentence, but for segmenting/writing practise at home they are using the words on the sounds activity sheets.
As these children also require simple sentence level dictation exercises I have given them copies of the decodable text ('I can read sheets') with instructions for their parents to carry out a couple of dictation exercises using these simple decodable sentences each week.
My senior children have been working through the 'Jelly and Bean series since last year. Some of them are approaching a level involving some GPCs revision so I have begun to staple together sets of the decodable text sheets to form books for them to decode and illustrate.
They will use this as their reading material until we have advanced a little farther with our code knowledge.
The resource bank is vast and it will take trial and time to discover its full potential., but what a valuable and systematic programme we now have at our disposal!
Thank you Debbie and well done!!
I teach a mixed class of Junior/Senior Infants (the equivalent of YR/Y1 in England).
There are 10 pupils in Junior Infants and 12 in Senior Infants ranging in age from 4 to 6.
There are 12 girls and 10 boys in total and there are a range of mixed abilities.
The senior children have spent a year at JP, completing the basic code GPCs and are also familiar with some of the long vowel alternatives.
I do not have a TA but the LST is available for 30 mins Tues- Fri.
I was lucky enough to have a chance to preview the programme and I began using the unit 1 materials in early September.
However until now, I hadn't seen the programme overview and guidance.
I consider this an invaluable document and feel Debbie is very generous to provide it as a free resource given the amount of time and effort it took to compile it.
I'm still trialling ways to use the resources.
As I waited for the other modules/units to be launched, I spent time working at whole class level.
The older children benefitted from revising the basic code and it was also an opportunity for them and for me to become familiar with the format of the 'sounds book activity sheets' and the 'read the words, make up a story sheets'.
The latter are a great favourite and provide material with which to work to develop listening and speaking skills and vocabulary.
With Debbie's permission I did adapt them, adding my own cumulative decodable words to suit our situation and to guide the storyline.
In my mixed class situation I have decided that it suits me to use two of these stories @week - one junior and one senior but I do the lesson as a whole class activity..
I add extra words involving correspondences the other class is working on so each class can focus on their correspondence.
It also means that when the junior class moves up next year, they will not revisit familiar worksheets but will have a chance to use new sheets with new vocabulary.
Debbie recently sent me some of the materials I needed from unit 2.
I wanted to proceed with the older class and to begin filling in gaps in correspondence knowledge.
The overview is very helpful in planning for this.
I scanned the content for unit 1 and found that I had explicitly taught all graphemes but -ck.
I decided to leave that and teach it as a whole class session when the younger children would also be learning it, so I began filling in the gaps using the -ff, -ll, -ss sheets and I am working on from there, filling in gaps through the units before moving on to new correspondences.
I am introducing the sounds at the rate of 2 @ week.
I have done some chopping and changing to try to find the most effective approach and I know that I will continue to do so until the programme has been up and running for some time.
I am aware that everyone visiting this forum will be in a different situation but for interests sake my weekly schedule at present is:
Monday:
Use picture posters and grapheme cards to introduce sounds.
Use words from cumulative wordlists to practise blending and segmenting skills using magnetic grapheme cards on the whiteboard.
Complete colour the sounds sheets and stick them into into the sounds book ( from now on I will also include a word list strip for further GPC / blending and segmenting practise at home-to date I was encouraging to sound out 2/3/words on the colour the sounds sheet)
The children can use the words on the cumulative list to sound out all through a word and blend the sounds to decode 4/5 of the words.
They then hide the words,the adult calls out one of the words, the childre sound out all through the word, counting the sounds, drawing a dash for each sound and then either match using the grapheme cards or write the corresponding grapheme on the appropriate line.
The children could use also these lists as part of a paired word game with their parent- the parent calls out a word, the child segments it, counts the sounds and selects the correct graphemes to spell it. S/he can then check if they have done so properly by looking at the word list. The child and parent then swap roles with the child reading out a word for the parent to make/write
Tuesday:
LST listens to junior children practise their sounds and also practises letter formation while I listen to seniors reading and check written homework and sounds in sound book.
Work on the sounds book activity sheet.
Begin with Senior children (while juniors work at handwriting skills )and allow them to complete the sheet while I then work through Juniors sheet work with them (most to be completed at home but practise blending, segmenting and letter formation at school)using whiteboard and grapheme cards
Stick sound book activity sheets into sound books on opposite page to colour the sounds sheet.
When these sheets are folded up to reveal only the grapheme at the top, they are the equivalent of the sound books I used last year.
However when unfolded the sound sheets reveal lots more material (and information) to guide the parents as to the best way to help their children revise sounds and help develop blending, segmenting and handwriting skills.
Wednesday:
I check junior sound book work while LST listens to seniors reading and checks their sound book work.
Give the seniors ‘I can read, write and draw sheets’ to work on while I introduce new junior sound using materials as Monday.
Allow juniors to rehearse letter formation on this sheet and to colour the picture (and/or listen in) while I introduce new senior sound.
Stick the colour the sound sheets into sound books with a wordlist strip for blending and segmenting at home.
Thursday
As Tuesday , however with a focus on the junior sound book activity sheet (while the seniors read, illustrate and possibly copy a page of decodable text.
As time goes on I will encourage the children to work in pairs using the wordlists at a game as outlined above. .
Friday:
Check homework in sounds book and revise.
The senior children are beginning to write the words into sentences.
However some of the other words required to write the sentence may contain as yet untaught correspondences.
I have explained to the parents that they should encourage the children to try to use decodable words but if they need a word containing such correspondences, to encourage the children to segment and identify as many sounds as possible, only providing the tricky part.
There are some senior children who I feel it would serve better to use the word orally in a sentence, but for segmenting/writing practise at home they are using the words on the sounds activity sheets.
As these children also require simple sentence level dictation exercises I have given them copies of the decodable text ('I can read sheets') with instructions for their parents to carry out a couple of dictation exercises using these simple decodable sentences each week.
My senior children have been working through the 'Jelly and Bean series since last year. Some of them are approaching a level involving some GPCs revision so I have begun to staple together sets of the decodable text sheets to form books for them to decode and illustrate.
They will use this as their reading material until we have advanced a little farther with our code knowledge.
The resource bank is vast and it will take trial and time to discover its full potential., but what a valuable and systematic programme we now have at our disposal!
Thank you Debbie and well done!!