Guest Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Hello all I am new to forum and wondering if anyone can help me? I am a reception teacher and have always used a mix of JP and Playing with sounds. I will now be using JP (for multi-sensory) and Letters and Sounds for order. Letters and Sounds suggest writing each letter (i think) as the children learn them - so they will be writing s a t p in the first week? this is only possible with a large class for them all to write at the same time (thus more mistakes occuring) - how is anyone else approaching this? also, I used to teach the letters with same direction first e.g. c a o d etc. Not sure what do do!!!! Hoping anyone can enlighten me??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 I've taught both ways and haven't really seen much difference in how the children pick up the formation. To teach using the Jolly Phonics or Letters and Sounds order I introduce the formation when teaching the sound to the whole class and we practice "air writing" then work with small groups "rainbow letters" once a set of letters have been introduced I would use individual white boards to check formation (whole class). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Just noticed it is your first post.......welcome to the forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Thanks Marion Yes I use air writing and rainbow letters too - so, I think will just teach the formation in the order of Letters and Sounds. Sparkle Box have some really large letter sheets which could be used with paint or whatever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 I usually make the letters A3 and use thick markers for rainbow letters and also practice even larger with paint and chalk outdoors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 yes, will probably do A3 myself. You say you do the ''rainbow letters'' after the first set has been introduced. I don't know how big your class is but there are 30 in mine and it has taken all morning in the past for each group to do it. Excluding work on whiteboards during the 20 minute phonic session, would you aim to ''properly'' teach the formation at the rate of 1 or 2 letters per week??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 There are 30 reception children and 26 nursery children although not all the nursery children will access the activity. I do rainbow letters immediately the sound has been taught so will do 5 letters per week. For the first few weeks this will be the focus of my literacy "teaching". After the first week I will begin to quickly revise the formation during the phonics session using individual whiteboards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 I see now - thank you. You have given me lots of ideas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Hi Chrystal and welcome. Dont forget that there is a difference between writing and handwriting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfy Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Sorry to gate crash....but what are rainbow letters? Elfy x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Large letter outlines. The children form the letter inside the outline using coloured pencils or felt pens in with many "rainbow" colours as they can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Rainbow t Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Thanks, Marion - I now have a name for the activity to put onto planning!! (DN) Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 hi susan and thanks for welcome i teach letter formation separately to, for example, guided writing activities - and i know the difference according to the EYFS - could you just please expand on what you mean???? sorry to be dumb but it's late and everything... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfy Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 thank-you marion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 hi susan and thanks for welcomei teach letter formation separately to, for example, guided writing activities - and i know the difference according to the EYFS - could you just please expand on what you mean???? sorry to be dumb but it's late and everything... Not dumb at all Chrystal. Sorry I left you feeling confused. handwriting---correct letter formation where this is the focus of the activity. writing--- children maybe just mark making or working at own level to make letter/word representations on paper. I think "letters and sounds" emphasises this when it states that children should write phoneme/grapheme representation and need not be correctly formed to show understanding. So I will teach letter form as I teach each phoneme, within satpin etc and at a later stage will teach handwriting within letter families. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmileyPR Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 AH, Susan! I didn' think about that. I was teaching the handwriting at the same time I introduced the phoneme/grapheme. So, I could do the whiteboards while introducing these in the 1st term and then do formal handwriting in the 2nd term, no matter if I don't follow the order of the JP handwriting booklets. Right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 I teach the letter formation when I teach the phoneme but don't develop "handwriting" until the children are physically mature enough to cope which is why we start big. I use Penpals for Handwriting and letter families when practising handwriting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 thanks for clarifying susan found an interesting article with some useful activities - hope of use correct_letter_formation.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 yey my first upload - think i did it right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Thanks Chrystal, The sheet that you have uploaded and other useful resources can be found here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Thanks Chrystal, The sheet that you have uploaded and other useful resources can be found here. Thanks Carol - didn't see all this - some good stuff. thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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