I've just received the most fabulous photographs of children in Year 5 in a school in South America - all holding their own copy of the
Phonics International Phonics Dictionary up in the air!
The school has gone to the trouble of printing out multiple copies of the dictionary (one for each child) and then ring-bound the dictionaries.
This must have been quite a feat as there are a large number of pages in the dictionary - and a large number of children!
Dictionaries have been made for children in other year bands too.
It is my understanding that the dictionary will last the children for a number of years as they build up the word contents inside.
Just to explain - this version of a dictionary is a 'working document' which children fill in - and apart from a few words with unusual spellings, the aim is for the children to work with the word banks to help them recall them. The act of writing them and focusing on them will be a more effective way of recalling the words in the word banks and their spellings than just reading them.
I am seeing if I can get permission to show the photographs!
Fantastic work with synthetic phonics has taken place in this school for a number of years. Some of the teachers have indicated that they will write a diary recount of developments in their school to share with others.
Such reports are very important (see reports on homepage of Phonics International) to show just what is possible by explicitly teaching the English alphabetic code and the skills of blending and segmenting.
I would welcome any reports that teachers or parents and tutors may be willing to send to share their work and findings.
A report can be as simple as you like, or full of detail and test results, whatever you feel able to write - to describe your 'journey' with this type of teaching. Thank you in anticipation!
