How Do You Do It - Reception

[Guest]

Hi guys

 

Thought I would ask you experts out there for a little help with regards to organisig phonics groups.

 

In September i will be having a class of 26 reception chn with one full time Nursery nurse. 13 of these chn will be starting phase 2 phonics, while the others still on phase 1. Small group work is great for the chn and they get a whole lot more individual time of course. I am thinking of dividing the 13 phase two chn into 2 groups and also dividing the phase 1 chidren into 2 groups aswell, just so there is about 6 children in each of the 4 groups.

 

 

But I am now realising that phonics will take up most of the morning. While one adult does a phonics group the other chn will be engaged in CI activities with the other adult observing and manning the rest.

 

Woud you please share with me how you do it. I gues the easy option would be Nursery Nurse take phase 1 (15chn all in a group together) and then myself take the 13 phase 2 chn.

 

Looking forward to hearing how you manage the different groups

 

xxxxx

[Guest]

Hi!

 

I am not sure of the best way to do it either as I have reception and year one, but my plan for september was to have 40 mins phonics time in morning, during which year ones will be doing ELS, which includes phonics, with my TA and then I will do input with all children (directed at the majority so phase 2) eg teaching the s sound then will split into 3 differentiated groups, with me working with one group each day. Other groups will be involved in differentiated independent activities e.g. writing 's' in shaving foam/finger paint, finding things in the room beginning with s etc. Then all groups come together to apply their knowledge in a 5 min activity/discussion.

 

Not sure if thats the right way to do it but it seems quite manageable??

 

Hope it helps!

[Guest]

Thanks for tHat tigger100, I had'nt thought of doing it that way. Defiaetly need to think about this ne will keep u posted if i suddenly ave a master plan

 

xxx

[Susan]

Popcorn ---Why cant all the children start phase2. And all children could/ should continue to have access to phase1 activities. How can you tell your phase1 children will not respond and access phase2?

 

Tigger---ELS is a support programme for yr 1 children who have not made enough progress. If you are implementing letters and sounds with differentiated activities across the group in phases then your yr1 children ought to be able to work in the appropriate phase alongside reception.

[Guest]

Ah Susan, you have a very good point. The chn who are still on pase 1 are developmentally behind, imature and just not redy to be sat. Their concentration levels are poor aswell. I just thought I woud concentrate phase 2 with the chn who are redy for it. Some of these chn on phase 1 still, have very poor listening skills, language poor, and seem to need the basics still.

 

xxx

[Susan]

Ah Susan, you have a very good point. The chn who are still on pase 1 are developmentally behind, imature and just not redy to be sat. Their concentration levels are poor aswell. I just thought I woud concentrate phase 2 with the chn who are redy for it. Some of these chn on phase 1 still, have very poor listening skills, language poor, and seem to need the basics still.

 

xxx

 

Fair enough but I still think it could be worth a try sooner rather later anyway, sometimes children need challenge to succeed!

[Guest]

I actually can't see a problem with it being done in groups of 13. Phonics is supposed to be a short sharp session (although obviously you refer to it at other points during the day such as in literacy) and 13 in a group should be manageable, particularly for the phase 2 children, as they aren't going to have to concentrate for very long. If you find it isn't working with those in phase one then you could split that group, but for the phase 2 group it shouldn't be a problem to start off with 13.

 

Yes smaller groups would be ideal, but if you're taking up half your morning with phonics, where is your time to do guided reading, other literacy activities, numeracy activities, and cover the other areas of learning, all whilst doing observations and making sure you have plenty of quality time playing with the children?

[Guest]

In September, I will probably have 2 groups: a large most-of-the-class group consolidating Phase 1 and beginning Phase 2, and a small group who are ready for more than Phase 2. To begin with, I'll probably have both groups as I want to get a good understanding of where each child is and how quickly they pick things up. Will get my TA to support play of those not working with me while I'm doing phonics.

 

Usually after October half term there is a split and the larger group becomes 2 groups - those who are doing well and ready to move on, and those who need more supprt/more work on Phase1/2. So then I have 3 groups and my TA takes one of those.

 

As last year went on, we had 4 groups, so we each worked with a group while the other 2 groups chose or had set activities, then we swapped the groups over.

 

I know some people are very pro doing phonics altogether, or in larger groups, but I feel our children benefit far more from doing it in smaller groups (particularly after Phase 2), especially for some quieter children, who hold back and don't want to participate in a large group, but thrive in a smaller group.

[Marion]

Sorry I'm sure you all know this anyway but Phase 1 isn't a prerequisite to teaching Phase 2 it is intended to be taught alongside all the other phases and beyond.

 

pocorn the children don't even need to sit for phase 2 keep it short and active and inclusive

[Guest]

I do continue with Phase 1 once I start Phase 2, although I do feel that children do need to have mastered certain things in Phase 1 before they can cope with certain things in Phase 2 and so on. E.g. They need to be able to segment and blend aurally/orally before they can segment and blend visually.

[Marion]

I have to confess I abandoned Letters and Sounds because of the phases which I don't find helpful and found to be very slow.

I'm also very alarmed at the way some children are "held back" and don't get the chance to learn all the sounds "because they haven't completed Phase 2" perhaps not but they may pick up more sounds from phase 3 and I can't work out why phase 4 is separate. Young children are more than capable of coping with ccvc & cvcc words before they have mastered all 44 phonemes.

 

I won't be in reception in September but normally all children start learning the first sound on the first day at a rate of a new sound each day and we have taught all 44 phonemes early in November

 

As Susan said "it could be worth a try sooner rather later anyway, sometimes children need challenge to succeed!"

 

 

 

While I still think L&S is one of the better DCSF publications it has many faults.

Edited August 5, 2010 by Marion

[Guest]

I agree Marion - I don't split the children according to those who have mastered the sounds in Phase 2; it's the skills of segmenting and blending I feel they need to have before they 'move on'. But do you find that those who are not yet secure with this cope with Phase 3 level (for want of a better phrase)? Maybe I am doing it wrong.

[Guest]

Whilst I do see where you are coming from Marion (particularly with regards to phase 4 which I tend to blend with phase 3) I dislike rushing the chidlren on before they are ready.

 

Last year a couple of weeks in we were splitting the year 1 children into phonics groups (as per school policy). Unfortunately the reception teacher hadn't bothered with phonics at all but decided to claim that a whole load of children were phase 4 when they weren't. I managed to argue for most of them to start at phase 3, however there were some who I knew should be repeating phase 2 because they didn't know their letter sounds or how to blend and segment but I was overruled with regards to them (luckily only 3 children out of the class, a good 10 or so did get to repeat phase 2). By Christmas these children were confused and couldn't read or write any better than when they first came in. I managed (after a lot of argument) to get them pushed back to the beginning of phase 3 again, but by this time it was too late for them to join the phase 2 work that they had originally needed since there were no groups doing it. Yes they did eventually pick up the letters through the phase 3 work, but it took till the end of the year for them to complete phase 3 (due to the fact that they had to back track to learn to segment and blend) and actually become fairly confident readers and get their independent writing up to the level of "readable". How much better would it have been for them if they had just repeated phase 2 in the first place? Those that did get to repeat phase 2 were well into phase 5 and far more confident and independent than those that didn't.

 

This experience has made me very wary of just throwing the sounds at the children at the rate of one a day before they are ready. If they can't blend and segment CVC words I don't think they should be moving on until they can do as it's demoralising for them. Yes it would be nice if they could join in with the whole class and then get extra work on top of it at their level, but in reality this means they miss something else and also there are never enough staff to do this. I think a differentiated phonics group at their level is far preferable in this case. On the other hand I don't follow the week by week teaching sequence set out in letters and sounds, I introduce sounds at the rate I think my group of children are ready for them. If that means one a day then that's what my group get, but if say my TA has a group which struggles with remembering them they might only get two a week.

 

Perhaps as with a lot of things in depends on the spread of ability within the class, the number of SEN children, levels of support with reading at home and a lot of other factors as to which way works best.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Guest

[Marion]

I agree Marion - I don't split the children according to those who have mastered the sounds in Phase 2; it's the skills of segmenting and blending I feel they need to have before they 'move on'. But do you find that those who are not yet secure with this cope with Phase 3 level (for want of a better phrase)? Maybe I am doing it wrong.

 

 

I find some children may not know all the early sounds in phase 2 but pick up others from phase 3 more readily (I use Jolly Phonics so it may be the actions that help make some more memorable than others) and find with lots of revisting it reinforces the ones they couldn't recall.

With the exception of one year when I tried out L&S I've worked this way for 16 years very successfully in a school that boasts over 50% SEN and high levels of speech and language delay. Oddly the year we used L&S we had more children struggling which is why I reverted to JP pace.

 

Most of our children receive limited support at home (some of our parents are classed as functionally illiterate) . Obviously those with good parental support make accelerated progress

Edited August 6, 2010 by Marion

[Fredbear]

Hi finding this a very interesting thread, my question Marion is how do we support those children of families where there is very little support at home, and are you able to as a practioner give support to parent/carers to enable them and empower them to do so. If yes had did you manage to do this.

[Marion]

I invited those parents who wanted to help and didn't feel able to come into class initially just to watch how we do it for a few sessions. I also offered after school drop ins for parents who didn't feel confident coming into class with others around. We didn't reach all parents by any means (we do have parents who don't see the value in education) but those who took part said it was helpful and it certainly showed in the children's progress.

[Fredbear]

Thank you Marion. I am always striving to offer support in a pro-active way to parent/carers to help their children reach their full potential, whilst also aiding them too, not always a easy thing to do.