dreamgirl Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Is Read Write Inc designed for Reception onwards or can it be used in Nursery??????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Is Read Write Inc designed for Reception onwards or can it be used in Nursery??????? It starts with oral blending in nursery then initial sound letter reocgnition when they are able. More able should come the reception knowing and recognising initial sounds re the programme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamgirl Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Ok. So bit different to letters and sounds then in that letters and sounds concentrates on blending and segmenting at last aspect and phoneme graphemes link is started in reception in phase 2. A friend has a child in a nursery and they have sent home an exercise book with letters and blends stuck in. Covering note says to work through learning names and sounds and writing the letters over time. We don't do this on our nursery. We follow letters and sounds. It is the Read Write Inc scheme. Sounds quite a lot for nursery to me.....or am I wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 ok feel a bit of a rant coming on....have all the children in the nursery been sent home with this? if (as i suspect)if this is the case then i have an issue with this....have they covered all the letter and sounds 'pre' phonics work...can the children tune into sounds...are they able to verbalise effectively...have they got control of shoulder and elbow movements before they move on to writing anything.....can they draw up and down lines and enclosed circles....if the nursery has covered all these aspects and the child id interested in taking this learning further then fine...otherwise be careful...i have seen too many children forced to do activities like this far too early and if done in such a dry way as you descibe will cause serious issues later on(especially the boys) ...and yes you can quote me to the nursery if you wish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green hippo Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 We do RWI in Nursery alongside letters and sounds. We start introducing the letters sounds to them once we have covered aspects 1 to 6 of letters and sounds (usually after Christmas). We practise writing the letters in the air and recognising the letters. When children are doing writing in CP or TD activities we will reinforce the little rhymes that go with each letter as we or they write (as appropriate to the individual child). We carry on repeating the letters and sounds activities with small groups through the year as appropriate to each group. In previous years we have had a small group who have been ready for starting the RWI program including writing the letters but this was done very sensitively and much slower than what would be expected in reception but they were definately ready for it. We do not send anything home but have the letters displayed in the classroom. Recently, a parent asked me for a print out of the letters so her son could practise writing them correctly at home. I don't feel that her son is really ready for that yet, so although I did give it to her I also explained how he needs to continue to develop his gross motor and fine-motor skills and would benefit from other activities such as writing in the mud with a stick (which is much more up his street!). I think if we send home the letters, it would put undue pressure on the children and their parents. I can't deny that RWI works but I think you have to be careful when you are introducing it to such young children. Green Hippo x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Read Write Inc Is FANTASTIC!!!! i cant rave about this enough we use it in our playgroup & pre-school mainly with the older children... prevously used the Jolly PHonics system.. well it just doesn't compare.. we use it alongside the letters and sounds - the children need the key skills sitting and been able to distingush sounds so the environmental sounds games etc are good for that. we do a five minute (if that) at group time using read write inc resources, A4 cards and mini cards the pace is very rapid and the children learn a new sound everyday adulst join in, say the sound, say the word, then air write the letter/sound we started the programme in september and the eldest children (10 out of 24) are now reading simple CVC words are clearly writing all letters and are asking ho to write words on their work... We were asked to take on this programme, as our school whose grounds we are in as adopted it they can't believe that come september they will have a good portion of new starters (reception) already well on the way.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamgirl Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Thanks so much for your speedy comments. I must admit that I felt like you finleysmaid, but then your comments, silver genius, have made me think too. Our school does letters and sounds supplemented by jolly phonics in reception. Will be passing on your informed comments to my friend. Xxxxxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Hi dreamgirl. A couple of things to contribute to the discussion. Just because your friends nursery does this doesn't make it right or best practice , or suitable for your nursery. That's why discussions of the issues are important, gauging the different views and then forming your own. readwriteinc does not specifically encourage starting in nursery, it just suggests that good phonics teaching must happen in reception. The Rose report recommends phase two phonics starts 'around 5'. There is absolutely no evidence that taught any earlier produces more able, confident readers. (and of course some children are ready and able before 5 but that doesn't mean it should be routinely taught) I would personally focus on phase one as you are doing, have a language rich environment, encourage lots of speaking and listening, foster a love of stories and do fab mark making and loads of gross motor activities. When they reach reception they will pick up the phonics very quickly with this foundation base. When I was teaching reception I would have loved to have a class of children who had had these experiences in abundance before coming to me. But thats just my view, there are many others' views who will be very different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamgirl Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Thanks mundia. You are lovely. That is exactly what I try to do in our nursery.xxxxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catma Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I agree with Mundia, as long as children are capable of decoding and understanding text by the time they complete the EYFS, why is there any hurry to race to the fiish?! As I've said before, a scheme is only as good as the practitioners who deliver it. I've seen fantastic outcomes with L+S, and appallingly shameful ones. Both settings would say quite happily they were using the scheme but with very different results. The same applies to RWinc etc. Interestingly RWinc is one of the govt recommended phonics schemes and L+S has disappeared from their vocabulary. Shame as L+S was FREE!!! Cx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamgirl Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Thanks. Didn't know that about letters and sounds. Do you like it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green hippo Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Ofsted didn't like RWI in our school as they said that it wasn't proper teaching, just following a book! (They couldn't criticise us for it though as the children make so much progress!) Funny that it's of the Government recommended schemes yet Ofsted don't like it! If I remember rightly, did Ruth Miskin not help develop L&S? I think I remember something about that the Government wouldn't pay enough for her full scheme? Green Hippo x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamgirl Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 Hmmmmm. Interesting. And confusing. Aren't Ofsted weird. Honestly, you can't win can you. Thought they were data driven and if you have evidence that the children make good progress, would have thought they would like that. As a practitioner, it leaves me confused as to what the powers that be think is the best scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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