Using the Early Years Starter Package online

Debbie takes programme users on a guided tour of the Units and resources and discusses possible applications in all settings.
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debbie
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Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: UK

Using the Early Years Starter Package online

Post by debbie »

I was speaking with a lady today who at the moment does not have a printer and so she was seeking advice regarding use of the Early Years Starter Package.

Whilst I was on the phone to her, I had the computer on infront of me and was able to click on to the Early Years Starter Package to refer to the various resources and offer advice.

I found it very visually simple and attractive on the screen and it was very easy to imagine talking to a learner using the Alphabetic Code Frieze Posters (which double up as Flash Cards) online.

Once learners are beginning to recognise the letter shapes and know which 'sound' to say on seeing the various letter shapes, the parent or teacher can then start to use the Substitute Flash Cards without the key pictures.

Also, the parent/teacher can look at the Activity Sheets online and these give the actual wording which can be used (and adapted and expanded upon as appropriate).

The learner can still do letter tracing with fingers but then he or she could have a writing pad next to them to try writing the actual letter shapes - and to copy the key picture and colour it.

This means, in effect, that all the knowledge and activities can be used online for the Activity Sheets with just a simple pad of paper nearby.

The only thing not possible to 'do' is to 'cut out' the focus grapheme tile and key picture tile.

However, the parent without printing facilities could easily make simple grapheme tiles and picture tiles in hard copy by just writing the letter shapes and drawing a simple version of the key picture on paper squares/rectangles.

It is also possible to sound out and blend from the 'I can read' word lists by enlarging the lists on screen to the preferred size and scrolling accordingly.

You can even use the various Posters for developing phonemic awareness and relating sounds to capital letters and lower case letters - and you can also look at The Alphabet Poster at the point you want to show upper and lower case letters together and/or learn an alphabet song - or say the sounds for the letters.

[Remember to learn the 'sounds' well before teaching letter names!]

All in all, I was very pleased with how it is possible to use the Early Years Starter Package resources in such an 'online' way if printing facilities are not available.

Also, I think it is good to learn both online and through hard copy materials. After all, we need to be able to read print wherever we see it and we need to be confident users of IT whether we prefer it or not!

That is the world we now live in! :wink:
Debbie Hepplewhite
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