Phonic's For Nursery Children

[Guest colechin]

Hi everyone, please could you help me.

 

Over the last 4 weeks several mums have approached me (I think they have been talking together) about their children being gifted and bored at Nursery. They would like me to start introducing 'reading' to their children so that they are ready for Reception in September.

 

I have spoken to the School's Reception teacher who has invited me to sit in on her Phonic classes. She has said that she would be happy for me to introduced Phase 2 to the Nursery children as this would help her when they start in September.

She has given me copies of the 'Learning the Letter Sounds' from Jolly Phonics.

 

I am very happy to have a go and have been reading up and practising all the actions to the letter sounds. The Reception Teacher has also mentioned giving Story Bags out to the parents each week and also musical CD's and Nursery Rhyme sheets.

 

I am doing Stage 1 Letters and Sounds with my children and they all love the different activities. I just do not want to be over stepping the mark. (If you know what I mean?)

 

Is anyone out there implementing part of Phase 2 in their pre-school setting?

 

Please could I have some advise Thank you.

[green hippo]

Hi,

I also teach in a school Nursery and have started phase 2 phonics with the children. With most of the children we just introduce the letters - literally 2-3 minutes each day - we use the Ruth Miskin letters which have little rhymes with them and we writing big letters in the air using large arm movements. I have a group of 6 children who already know most of the letter sound, so we are introducing blending and segmenting using letter cards and magnetic letters and sometimes on whiteboards/paper and pencil (but this is done very carefully and as the children are interested). These children are all very competant at aspect 6 & 7 of phase 1 so this is their next step really - introducing letters with the blending and segmenting. The sessions are kept short and are continually evaluated to ensure that what we are doing is appropriate to the children. (The lit co-ordinator wants us to focus more on writing but I have explained that Nursery children are often not ready to hold and control a pencil and need to develop their fine-motor skills through a variety of activities. I certainly do not want them to be put off writing for life because they have been told that they MUST write!).

All the children still also join in with small group phase 1 phonics to continue to further develop their listening skills and phonetical awareness.

Hope you find a solution,

Green Hippo x

[Guest]

Hi there,

thought i would just let you know that only 11 out of 26 nurswery chn are on phase two of my lot. The others just arent ready for it, and to be honest we are just introducing two letters a week, and the chn are loving it. Learning really quickly, and loving the jolly jingles. So my asdvice would be, if they are ready and have completed phase 1 then go onto ph 2.

 

good luck

[Guest colechin]

Thank you for your replies they are very encouraging. I also have my advisor visiting me this Wednesday so I will run it past her too.

 

Do you give any information to parents? I have been looking at the Jolly Phonic Handbook.

[Guest]

Look through your letters and sounds book, aspect 1 is what we should be concentrating on, this has some really good listening and singing rhymes

 

I introduce phonic sounds to my children but not to all of the children as they are all not ready yet.

 

You are the proffessional here not the parents do bow to the pressure and look through your EYFS CLL linking letters and sounds

[mundia]

Personally I wouldn't introduce phase two in nursery unless I was absolutely confident that the children were ready for it and would expect this to be the few rather than the many. Phase one cant be rushed, its so important that children spend time learning to distinguish sounds and learning how words are made up of different sounds before launching ahead with phase two.

 

I think if we think back to the Rose Review it recommends 'starting' phonics around the age of 5, not 4 and certainly not 3. There are so many other things you can do in addition to phase one activities, such as storytelling, lots of stories and books, rhymes and rhythmic activities, and all of these will support the development (and love) of reading later on.

 

Personally I would focus on letting the children be 3 or 4 and let them be 5 when they are. (was that Cathy Nutbrown that said that?)

[Guest]

I agree with Mundia - some of my more able children sometimes seem 'bored' that is the challenge to stimulate their interests but I don't think I would move on to Phase 2 either if any of my parents question this I think I will say it is fine if they want to do this at home with them but I would continue to go over Phase 1 and other such letters and sounds activities......will be interesting to see some more opinons...

[Guest]

that should have read DONT bow to parental pressure.

I agree we should not do phonic sounds until children are ready and other areas under aspect 1 of L/S are covered

 

my children who i work with are 4 and ready for phonic sounds having key worked with them i know through observation that initial sounds have interested them but not all

[hali]

i agree also - i know its hard but dont bow down to parent pressure - you should only be doing phase one in nursery as Mundia says it cant be rushed

[JacquieL]

I agree with mundia. Phase One gives a secure grounding for phonics and there is such a lot to do and be secure in. How wonderful that there is protected time to do this in nursery without too much pressure. Once children have to move into reception and work quickly through the subsequent phases, a good grounding in Phase One supports them doing this. Phase One doesn't stop at the end of nursery but continues alongside the other phases of letters and sounds. I wouldn't discourage children from linking sounds to letters and having fun doing this but I wouldn't do this at the speed required in the reception class, which requires a daily session. What is most crucial is a good grounding in speaking and listening skills and the ability to think and put sentences together(orally) to explain their ideas. Missing out on thinking and expressing thoughts and ideas impacts on children's writing later on.

I was reading something the other day, I forget where, saying that although children are working well in most aspects of Phase One at the end of nursery the last two aspects, 6 & 7, are where children are needing much more practice.

[Cait]

I'm sure on here a year or so ago there was a Phase one grid for highlighting children's progress but I can't find it now - does anyone out there have one I can have?

[green hippo]

I have also been told on a course that aspects 6 & 7 are the aspects that children are less confident in by the end of Nursery. We were also adviced that although you should do a mixture of aspects throughout the year, we should concentrate on aspects 1-3 in the Autumn term, 4 & 5 in the Spring term and 6 & 7 in the summer term - but obviously this will be more taylored to the children's needs once you know which aspects they most/least confident in.

We concentrate on phase 1 activities throughout the whole of Nursery - when we introduce the letters to the children it is only 1 or 2 a week and really an extension of the 'Sound bag' game. The children who have started phase 2 are not doing it anywhere near the speed that the reception children are expected to progress - we usually introduce them to 2 or 3 letters per week (which they often already know!) with a little bit of blending and segmenting. As I said in my previous post, they also get lots of opportunities to participate in phase 1 activities. We wouldn't do a 20 minutes daily phonics session as in Reception.

Green Hippo x

[Guest]

Isn't it funny how parents focus so much on the reading and writing and seem not to understand the speaking and listening skills that are so vital to go 'behind' that?

 

I really feel very strongly that this is an issue of differentation. If these children are 'gifted', have you raised that as a special needs issue, so your IEP shows the targets each of them should be aiming for, and shared these with parents?

 

As a parent of 2 children, my son was never interested at all in doing phonics and reading before he began school. Even then, he was quite slow to get into it. But now at the age of 7 he is reading fluently and more importantly ENJOYS it.

 

On the other hand, my little girl is desperate to learn to read, and is already confident with several letters. This is not through any specific 'teaching' at home or at preschool, but just a case of responding to her when she asks what letters are.

 

So, I would say it is very much a case of working with individuals and small groups who are genuinely ready and interested, rather than introducing it whole sale which I'm sure you weren't planning to do anyway.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

[Guest]

if they are ready and have completed phase 1 then go onto ph 2.

 

I'm in a school FS class (Reception)

For us the children are coming in with really poor listening skills and we spend Term 1 working on Phase 1 Letters and sounds before introducing Phase 2. But, we are under the impression that Phase 1 runs along side all the way through the Phases and basically is never completed, especially the aspects 6 & 7.

If you want to do extra then please get a copy of Helen McGregor and Cath Birt's "Singing Phonics" where the children practise hearing and repeating sounds and begin to orally blend and segment without worrying about what the graphemes look like...... much more useful to us thank you.

 

If you need advice, ask your LEA EY Advisors or PM Lornaw on here...... she's an expert.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Guest

[Guest LornaW]

I'm in a school FS class (Reception)

For us the children are coming in with really poor listening skills and we spend Term 1 working on Phase 1 Letters and sounds before introducing Phase 2. But, we are under the impression that Phase 1 runs along side all the way through the Phases and basically is never completed, especially the aspects 6 & 7.

If you want to do extra then please get a copy of Helen McGregor and Cath Birt's "Singing Phonics" where the children practise hearing and repeating sounds and begin to orally blend and segment without worrying about what the graphemes look like...... much more useful to us thank you.

 

If you need advice, ask your LEA EY Advisors or PM Lornaw on here...... she's an expert.

 

 

Gosh Riverview - if only!

 

Certainly more sooner is not the answer and it is vital that the three strands in each aspect

 

Tuning into sounds (auditory discrimination)

Listening and remembering sounds (auditory memory and sequencing)

Talking about sounds (developing vocabulary and language comprehension).

 

are well developed in children before moving on to phase 2.

 

Parents rightly want the best for their children but as Suer has said remember we are the professionals and the way I alwaus sell it to parents is what a marvellous opportunity it is for children to really learn to

listen attentively;

enlarge their vocabulary;

speak confidently to adults and other children;

discriminate phonemes;

reproduce audibly the phonemes they hear, in order, all through the word;

use sound-talk to segment words into phonemes.

 

There is a lot of work in Phase One and if children are bored then we need to look at the opportunities we are giving them. Phonics is build on a foundation of speaking and listening leaving out vital parts of this to move on will not benefit the child in the end.

 

I have quoted from the document here and would recommend folk go back to the inroduction and see just what an amazing amount of work and opportunities are there and yes Singing Phonics is an excellent book as are all of the games in the Letters and Sounds.

 

Lorna

[Guest]

Here, here Lorna well said and so right

We have been doing a lot of work outside and it is great to really be able to tune into sound in an outside area without the constraints that a building/hall have.

 

children have the opportunity to really listen and make their own sounds

Mostly you dont need any equipment, rustling leaves, sticks banging together, stones etc

 

but even putting equipment outside changes the sound, musical instruments eg metal containers, spoons, trivet stands all make wonderful sounds out in the open

[Tigger]

We have a 3 term entry into Reception and at our nursery they had always introducing letter sounds in their daily phonics sessions, when letters and sounds document came out they continued to do this but added more of the phase 1 stuff into everyday practice and as a base for whole group sessions. The children's listening skills when they started in reception were quite poor and whilst they recognised a letter and knew if they said ssssss when i flashed a card at them I would smile and be very pleased they didn't really know and understand or apply it when they saw it in books etc (this is as a group not individually because obviously some children can). I decided when the children started in Reception to start from the beginning and really concentrate on getting the basics right and secure, next week I will start on phase 2 and I am expecting to whizz through it because they can all hear and discriminate sounds, blend and segment verbally, understand and apply rhyme and alliteration in a varirty on contexts. We have also had an information evening for parents so they now understand the importance too, we talked about placing a high value on speaking and really listening and the value reading to their child and talking about books they read.

 

Nursery are just sticking to phase 1 now and they have noticed the difference and benefits in all aspects of the children's development. I have shared this with our literacy co ordinator and we intend to interweave the phase 1 activities throughout phonics teaching right through to phase 6 as we think it is still relevent and appropriate to do so.

 

S

[Guest LornaW]

We have a 3 term entry into Reception and at our nursery they had always introducing letter sounds in their daily phonics sessions, when letters and sounds document came out they continued to do this but added more of the phase 1 stuff into everyday practice and as a base for whole group sessions. The children's listening skills when they started in reception were quite poor and whilst they recognised a letter and knew if they said ssssss when i flashed a card at them I would smile and be very pleased they didn't really know and understand or apply it when they saw it in books etc (this is as a group not individually because obviously some children can). I decided when the children started in Reception to start from the beginning and really concentrate on getting the basics right and secure, next week I will start on phase 2 and I am expecting to whizz through it because they can all hear and discriminate sounds, blend and segment verbally, understand and apply rhyme and alliteration in a varirty on contexts. We have also had an information evening for parents so they now understand the importance too, we talked about placing a high value on speaking and really listening and the value reading to their child and talking about books they read.

 

Nursery are just sticking to phase 1 now and they have noticed the difference and benefits in all aspects of the children's development. I have shared this with our literacy co ordinator and we intend to interweave the phase 1 activities throughout phonics teaching right through to phase 6 as we think it is still relevent and appropriate to do so.

 

S

 

That sounds like a real improvement for you and the children Sharon. Have you seen this chart which shows just what you have said about phase one going all the way through phases 2 - 6?

 

Lorna

phonic_phases_Mark_2_pp.ppt

[Tigger]

Yes but thanks Lorna

 

S