Guest Posted January 18, 2012 Posted January 18, 2012 Hi Currently we use letters and sounds as a progression for phonics and feed a range of material into this progression. At present we are reviewing our phonics practise and one scheme under consideration is Read Write Inc. I was wondering if anybody uses this scheme and what they thought about it. Thanks J
catma Posted January 18, 2012 Posted January 18, 2012 It's a programme and like any programme needs to be adhered to to be fully effective in what it promiises to deliver. It has caused issues with timetabling in several of our schools who opted to use it, if you do it as prescribed so children from different classes go for the sessions in different groups. This cuts into the F2 day a lot. Also issues with the discrete group times not focusing much on application of skills into independent reading/writing. Personally I prefer L+S. It's free and it does exactly what RWinc does if delivered well and across EYFS/KS1 with a focus on pace and progression of the programme. Any programme is only as good as the teachers who deliver it!!! Cx
Guest Posted January 19, 2012 Posted January 19, 2012 I second what Catma said. Read, Write Inc might sound all singing, all dancing but it really does require huge commitment. It has to be strictly adhered to in order to work properly, including all the aspects of the program which take place outside the allocated session. It also needs incredible (perhaps faked!) enthusiasm as some of the books/texts/activities are quite flat in my opinion and it certainly doesn't fit in with following the children's interests as it is highly prescriptive. It alsp leaves little time for exploring other stories outside the scheme and doing independent writing on these unless you want to spend most of the day on literacy activities which is not what EYFS or even school in general should be about.
Guest ChunkyMan Posted January 19, 2012 Posted January 19, 2012 How true Catma, We are having 2 full days of RW inc as apparently L+S doesn't work.....? Strangely enough it works really well in F2 maybe for it to work in year 1 they need to put in the effort, time, enthusiasm and a bit of creativity which they seem reluctant to do...they just want a quick fix!!! I will be taking on elements of RW inc but doing it in a L+S stylie. I refuse to follow such a strict program. Then again I might be pleasantly suprised...you never know? Cx
catma Posted January 19, 2012 Posted January 19, 2012 That's the thing - they all work at some level and do what they say on the tin so to speak - we've had great success in our schools where they do have quality first teaching through to year 2. Overall we make about 2% increase in LSL every year across the LA using L+S mostly. RWInc won't "work" if Year 1 and 2 don't deliver also. This will be the backlash of the Yr1 reading test! Cx
Guest Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) Hi We took on RWI a year ago for FS1 and FS2 and KS1, now KS2 have joined us too. The main difference is that FS2 do this separately from the rest of the school. For our school it has proved to be a huge success and the children just love it!!! It is fast paced so the children are active and don't lose concentration and they work in small ability groups so they find it easier to concentrate because it's based on their own needs. The parents cannot believe how well the children are progressing with their reading and writing and this has also had a massive effect on our CI evidence and scores too. Go for it! Brownie Edited January 20, 2012 by Guest
Recommended Posts