A Phonics Lesson

30 Minutes Discrete Teaching

There are many different phonics teaching schemes each with their own merits.

• Jolly Phonics, ‘a fun and child centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics’.
  
• Read Write Inc. Phonics (also known as Ruth Miskin Literacy or RML) is a lively phonic programme that gets children reading and writing fast. 
  
• Letters and Sounds, a phonics resource published by the Department for Education and Skills in 2007. It aims to build children's speaking and listening skills in their own right as well as to prepare children for learning to read by developing their phonic knowledge and skills.
  
• Sounds-Write is a quality first phonics programme and is acknowledged by the DfE as meeting all its criteria for an effective phonics teaching programme.
  
• Phonics International by Debbie Hepplewhite, Aimed at the parents/homeschoolers who want to teach their children to read at home using the 'synthetic phonics' approach.

And there are even more! For the correct pronunciation of the phonic sounds as they are taught these days, please see the Alphablocks!

Despite the different schemes, there is an advised lesson format for discrete phonics teaching.

1. Revisit and Review
2. Teach
3. Practice
4. Apply

Every teacher has their own way of doing things and this is my way. It’s not the only way but if you are looking for ideas on how to teach Phonics in Reception, this is an example.

New Page!

Good Websites

I have created a new page called Good Websites, it’s full of websites I’ve found in my searches of good practice.

This page will be regularly updated so keep checking back for good website links!

Really Good Early Year Resources

Early Learning HQ

I am always looking for new and exciting resources to enhance my lessons! And this website is really good!

The Early Learning HQ has free resources available for Early Years teachers.

Resources are all split into topic areas, easy to navigate and accessible from schools!

There are good lesson plan ideas for activities to make phonics even more fun and fun flash games you can use on the Interactive white board or laptops.

Have a look and let me know what you think!

Teaching Mandarin

The Government Says We Have To!

According to the Daily Mail, ‘British schoolchildren should learn to speak Chinese language Mandarin, Boris Johnson said today.

The London Mayor said youngsters growing up in the UK needed to understand the culture and history of China to prepare them for the global battle for jobs.

Mr Johnson believes Mandarin should be taught in schools alongside traditional subjects like French and German, to reflect the power shift from West to East.’ Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2462652/Teach-Mandarin-British-schools-children-China-matters-says-Boris-Johnson-learning-himself.html#ixzz2nwQ4dkYT
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Luckily, I speak a little Mandarin! I can read a bit too and have a good enough understanding of Chinese to teach you how to teach the basics!

Obviously this will be aimed at the Early Years but learning a new language is a bit like being in the Early Years.

I haven’t made the resources yet but check back here for teaching Mandarin resources!

Assessment 2013/14

Using the New Curriculum

As you must be well aware, assessment in the Early Years is a challenge now that they have change the curriculum. At a recent course run by our LEA, we met with other practitioners and it seems that everyone is doing something different, but basically the same.

There are many types of observations that is common in every setting:

• Photographs
• Quick observations as would appear on a postit or a magic moment
• Catch as You Can observations
• Small group observations
• Large group observations

It’s not until you look specifically at the assessment sheets that you see the differences.

The priority for every setting is showing progress.

Healthy Eating

A Literacy Lesson on Healthy Eating

In the current 2013 EYFS document, Healthy Eating comes under Physical Development: Health and self-care, 40-60 months and it says ‘Eats a healthy range of foodstuffs and understands need for variety in food.’

I’m not sure that is worded in the best way possible, as it’s not as if we as practitioners can police what the children are eating, but if we focus on the understanding of healthy eating we will be able to make measurable observations.

The focus on this lesson is creating a healthy lunch box. I start with the premise that I’ve forgotten my lunch box and I need the children to help me pack a healthy lunch box so I have something to eat today!

I have included the lesson plan below as long as a fantastic pack of resources..

More Posts to Come!

Thank You for Your Continued Support

I’m back after having a baby! We found out that we were expecting just after my last blog post, Phase 3 Resources, and our little man came early at 8 months! He’s 2 months old now and doing super!

No doubt he will appear in some of my posts, demonstrating my resources.

I never really understood this when other teachers told me, but it is completely different when it’s your own!

Please keep checking back for more resources as I’m going to try to catch up with resources I want to share and some lesson plans I made.