Watch this space - new pre-school resources coming shortly!

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debbie
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Watch this space - new pre-school resources coming shortly!

Post by debbie »

Some very simple, young-child Phonics International resources will soon be available.

They are suitable for pre-school children (three to five year olds) and for use at home.

The resources are not a replacement for existing Phonics International resources.

We are going to trial these resources in our Reception class (four to five year olds) when they enter Reception at the beginning of the school year (this September - autumn term).

In our case we intend to use them before using the Sounds Book Activity Sheets and we shall introduce the letter-sound correspondences around the pace of four a week whilst modelling blending and segmenting with simple words.

We shall then start using the Sounds Book Activity Sheets starting again from the unit 1 letters and sounds. In other words, we intend to use the resources in the 'layered' way.

I shall provide the cumulative 'simple words' to model blending in large font.

In the UK, our government introduces early phonic work in its published guidance 'Letters and Sounds' as 'Phase One'. This pre-school phonics work (for four year olds) amounts to lots of listening to environmental and other sounds - and then ORAL segmenting and blending without reference to letter shapes.

This is not what the research on reading suggests is the most effective approach, however.

The introduction of letter shapes ALONGSIDE learning about the sounds or 'phonemes' that make up our spoken language is reported to be more effective.

Learning about phonemes AND graphemes (letters and letter groups) certainly makes more sense as why would we break up spoken words other than for learning to read and write?

To learn about phonemes and graphemes at the same time is the MULTI-SENSORY approach. Children need to HEAR the sounds and SEE the letter shapes. It also helps to WRITE the letter shapes to help embed them in memory.

The new resources will therefore include things to 'see' as the teacher models saying the sounds and children copy, and things to practise writing - to trace, to copy and to rehearse 'directionality'; and words to see and hear blending, segmenting and writing being modelled by the teacher.

In the UK's famous Rose Report which recommends systematic phonics teaching (in place of reading strategies which amount to guessing words from context, initial letter and picture clues), Jim Rose suggests that teachers must make professional decisions as to the best time to start a fomally planned systematic phonics approach to teaching reading and the reversible skill of spelling. He suggests that most children are ready to learn in this way "by the age of five".

I must re-iterate this good sense and good observation. I am NOT promoting the idea that children should be taught phonics as young as three - but some parents and nursery settings do!

What I shall provide is material to use with young children WHEN parents and teachers feel the time is right! For some children, this may well be when they are three and four. In the UK, many three to four year olds are introduced to letters and sounds whether at home or in pre-school settings.

The new young-child resources will simply add to the flexibility and choices teachers and parents can make when using the Phonics International programme.

Your comments are welcome whether you are 'for' or 'against' teaching the principles of synthetic phonics for three to five year olds.

Older learners can bypass the use of this new material.
Debbie Hepplewhite
Susan
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Post by Susan »

Well, I'll be very interested in seeing these new resources, Debbie :D

Will they be added to unit one or will there be a new unit?
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debbie
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Post by debbie »

I've made a good start on these resources today. :D

I shall probably add those Early Years introduction resources with the unit 1 letter/s-sound correspondences to the free unit 1 to enable a review of what is available, but I shall then make a small charge for the remaining resources separate from the cost of the main programme.

The resources will not be necessary for older learners and the Phonics International programme is a full programme without the Early Years introduction resources.

The Early Years introduction resources in full will then be available in a section like a 'unit' appearing TOP OF THE LIST before unit 1 (module 1).
Debbie Hepplewhite
poppetsam
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Post by poppetsam »

I am really looking forward to seeing these too Debbie as I will be teaching Reception from September! Eeek! Really looking forward to it!

x
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debbie
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Post by debbie »

Hi poppetsam!

You'll enjoy Reception immensely. It's hard work as there is constant preparation and sorting out of resources in addition to the relentless needs of the children themselves!

Ironically, I have just changed from teaching Reception part-time to teaching mainly Year 2 from September! We shall have to swap notes!

I hope you will like the soon-to-be-uploaded Early Years Resources. They will dovetail with the full Phonics International programme but are designed for a quick start around the beginning of Reception (four to five year olds).

They will also be suitable for older children where English is an additional language. Many countries start their children learning to read and write in English 'formally' later than we do in the UK.

I am hoping to set up some kind of 'diary' thread for following both our Reception children's progress and Year 2s. This might encourage teachers like yourself to add your stories and we could exchange ideas!

We'll see! :wink:
Debbie Hepplewhite
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debbie
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Post by debbie »

We've made huge progress with the Early Years resources.

They will be suitable for Reception children - but I think it would have to be a very mature three year old who uses anything other than the new simple Early Years alphabetic code frieze posters.

We've also made great progress with the new website coming shortly. This will be much more user-friendly and more organised. :wink:
Last edited by debbie on Sat Aug 09, 2008 11:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Debbie Hepplewhite
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debbie
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Post by debbie »

Since the posting above we have now launched our new Phonics International website!!! :D

We still have areas to sort out, add and so on, but at least it is up and running. :?

Unfortunately, the 'audio' software is causing us some grief - apparently this is due to an update by 'Adobe' which has affected a lot of people's audio files. We have spent hours and hours recording but in the uploading process we get little 'bleeps' and 'blups' which shouldn't be there. Please bear with us on this because we are investigating the software issue. :cry:

Back to the topic of this thread, then!

We are pressing ahead with an Early Years package which can be purchased separately from the full PI programme. We shall create an online page to describe what is included in the Early Years package. In some countries, this might be suitable for children aged 4+. In other countries where the teaching of the English language starts later because it is an 'additional' language, this package is suitable for older learners than where English is the main language and where reading and writing are taught in schools from an early age.

The Early Years package covers from unit 1 letter/s-sound correspondences right up to and including the unit 6 correspondences - apart from the 'schwa effect' '-our' and '-re' graphemes.

It is therefore NOT a full programme and NOT a substitute for the full Phonics International programme.

We are going to use it as start-off material to 'send home' because the Early Years Activity Sheets include cut-off Grapheme Tiles and Picture Tiles to teach and learn the letter/s-sound correspondences - and the activities describe to parents what they need to do and say for key learning.


I look at some of the words I have included and think it might all look too advanced at first glance - but then I have to focus on the achievements of the children I have taught and know of, and they are so capable of reading the longer words I have included! Parents and teachers have a cumulative bank of words which includes plenty of three 'sound' words to teach the basic blending and segmenting skills.

There is plenty, then, even for the youngest children and for the most able children.

In any event, the rule of thumb for adults is that they should 'model, model, model' what the learners cannot yet do.

Of course this does not mean don't give the learners chance to apply their growing knowledge and skills!

The learners, however, must not be made to feel uncomfortable if they cannot yet read or spell the various words.

So, the key is for the 'teacher' (be it a teacher or parent-teacher) to approach new learning sensitively and realise that 'modelling' is a key part of any teaching and learning programme - and we probably don't model enough, or well enough, in many aspects of education and life!

We'll create a web-page with descriptions and examples of the content of the Early Years package and then see from feedback how useful this is to people. :wink:
Debbie Hepplewhite
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