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Curriculum Planning Template (English)
OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL BOYS SCHOOL
JOHNSTOWN, DN LAOGHAIRE, CO. DUBLIN
PHONE: 01-2851449 FAX: 01-2848828
Email: [email protected]
www.olgc.ie
Curriculum Planning Template for drafting
A Whole School Plan for
English
Our Lady of Good Counsel B.N.S.
Johnstown, Dun Laoghaire,
Co. Dubllin
Roll No. 19320W
Planning Template: English
Title : Whole School Plan for English
Introductory Statement and Rationale
(a) Introductory Statement
This revised English Policy was drawn up in consultation with the staff of Our Lady of Good Counsel BNS. It follows a process of review of oral language reading and writing undertaken, supplemented by staff discussion and consultation. A collaborative approach was adopted in devising this plan thereby ensuring that all staff share a sense of ownership in the planning process. This revised plan also takes into account the recommendations of the National Literacy and Numeracy strategy.
Literacy includes the capacity to read, understand andcritically appreciate various forms of communication including spoken language, printed text,broadcast media, and digital media.
(The National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy)
(b) Rationale
To benefit the teaching and learning of the English Curriculum in our school
To conform to principles of learning outlined in the Primary School Curriculum for English
To review the existing plan for English in the light of changed emphasis and new methodologies outlined in the Primary School Curriculum
To ensure consistency, development and continuity in our approach to the teaching of all aspects of English
Vision and Aims
(a) Vision
Our vision is to equip each child with the necessary skills to develop confidence and competence in Oral Language, Reading and Writing being mindful of the individual capabilities of each child.
(b) Aims
We endorse the aims of the Primary School Curriculum for English
Promote positive attitudes and develop an appreciation of the value of language, spoken, read and written.
Create foster and maintain the childs interest in expression and communication.
Develop the childs ability to engage appropriately in listener /speaker relationships.
Develop confidence and competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Develop cognitive ability and the capacity to clarify thinking through oral language, writing and reading.
Enable the child to read and write independently
Enhance emotional, imaginative and aesthetic development through oral, reading and writing experiences
(See English Curriculum P. 10-12)
Curriculum Planning
1. Strands and strand units
The English Language Curriculum is structured in 3 strands. Each strand is further divided into 4 strand units.
Strands Strand Units
Oral LanguageReceptiveness to Language
ReadingCompetence and Confidence in using language
WritingDeveloping cognitive abilities through language
Emotional and Imaginative development through language
2. Language Programme as developed through the strands and strand units.
The English Programme is closely integrated with all other subject areas of the curriculum.
Drama, Play, P.E. and Music are used extensively to help the children to achieve the objectives laid out in the English curriculum.
Group work/Pair work, in addition to individual effort is encouraged in the classroom.
The computer and computer games are invaluable tools to help the children develop effective skills in English.
English is not just concerned with language learning but also with learning through language
A very close relationship exists between speaking, reading and writing and the role each has to play in the process of language learning. In our approach to the teaching of English we integrate these three fundamental aspects of the language i.e. oral language, reading and writing.
Methodologies:
This plan will inform all teachers of the methodologies used in teaching English i.e. talk and discussion, collaborative learning, active learning, use of the environment, problem-solving and skills through content.
Oral Language:
Approach to Oral Language:
The schools agreed approach to Oral Language will draw on three areas of content:
Discrete Oral Language
Form, structure, use of language and grammar are addressed during Discrete Oral Language time. Some of the discretionary curriculum time may be used for this. Children are encouraged and taught to use correct pronunciation, grammar etc. when speaking. Discrete oral language will be addressed using curriculum objectives as guidelines e.g. introducing oneself and others; greeting others and saying good-byes; giving and receiving messages; discussing world news, using the telephone; making requests for information; giving directions; expressing appreciation; welcoming visitors; making a complaint; expressing sympathy etc.
Bearing in mind the context of the school, most children tend to be quite articulate and confident with the use of language. The extension of their language capabilities is a priority and the provision of challenges is of paramount importance. However new entrants who come from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds often require additional assistance.
This is timetabled oral language activity (ref. below) and will address the objectives that are not being addressed thoroughly in an integrated fashion.
Integrating Oral language through the Reading and Writing process
The following oral language activities and skills will be developed through the teaching of reading and writing - comprehension strategies, language experience approach, brainstorming at the pre-writing stage, peer-conferencing and conferencing with teacher, children in authors chair, use of novel, writing process, etc.
Integrating Oral language across the curriculum
The following oral language skills will be targeted in an integrated way e.g. describing skills in Visual Arts, listening skills in Music and PE, turn taking, expressing opinions, media study in SPHE.
Planning oral language across the three strands ensures that these three areas of content are adequately addressed.
In planning for oral language across the strands, the following contexts are utilised (T.G. pp. 38-49):
Talk and discussion
Play and games
Story
Improvisational Drama
Poetry and Rhyme
In-Class Support LS/RT go into infant classes for fairy tales twice a week. They may also help with class reading.
There is an emphasis on classroom organisation and methodologies that provide children with an opportunity to learn the form and structure of language and to use language discursively through questioning and for coherent expression. Teachers will incorporate a variety of organisational settings into the teaching and learning for development of Oral Language such as pair work, group work, whole class discussion, formal and informal debates and circle work.
Resources that will be used in our school include: Chatterbox, Magic Emerald, Topic Box
Reading:
Approach to Reading:
In our approach to reading, we consider the following:
the childrens general language development
the central role of phonological and phonemic awareness
the planning of book related events such as book fairs and book weeks
the involvement of parents in childrens reading
visit from an author
These approaches will be recognised at all stages of childrens acquisition of reading i.e. from the emergent reader, to the instructional reader and to the independent reader.
Print-Rich Environment
We are very conscious of the importance of a print-rich environment throughout all classes and a variety of examples of a print-rich environment are evident in our school including big books in a range of genres, picture books, independent reading books, charts of poems, songs and rhymes, labels and directions, name charts, written materials produced by the children, jobs chart, timetables, word charts, magnetic surfaces and magnetic letters, notice board (messages for children to read including Green School Board), charts of days, months, seasons and festivals, calendars, theme charts, environment print in the neighbourhood, etc.
Basic Sight Vocabulary
Basic sight vocabulary is an important component of the language base the child needs before embarking on a structured reading programme. It will be acquired from a number of sources, such as language experience material, large-format books, environmental print, labeling, flash cards, etc. Sight vocabulary will be developed through selecting common words, core words, words from the reader, high interest words, Dolch list, and social sight vocabulary. Suggested list of Sight words. See Appendix 1.
Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness will be developed through:
Syllabic awareness syllabic blending, syllable segmentation, syllable counting, syllable isolation.
Onset and rime nursery rhymes and rhyming poems, detecting rhymes in stories, rhyme judgement, rhyme generation.
Phonemic awareness identify initial sound final sound - medial sound;
Phoneme blending
Phoneme deletion
Phoneme isolation
Phoneme substitution
Phoneme transposition
See Appendix 2
Reading Fluency
The primary strategies recognised in this school to enable children to identify words are their knowledge of letter-sound relationships (grapho/phonic cues), their experiences and understanding of the world (meaning or semantic cues) and their knowledge of the forms of language (syntactic cues).
From the outset children are encouraged to look at letters in words, the shape of words, for letters they recognise, to sound out letters that they know, to look for little words in big words etc.
Other strategies used with the children every day are encouraging the children to look at the shape of the word, look for small words, breaking the word into syllables etc.
The phonics programme used in our school is spiral in nature and was devised by the LS/RT in consultation with the staff (Appendix 3) In order to develop reading fluency among our children we ensure time is allocated daily to reading activities such as USSR (Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading), DEAR (Drop Everything And Read), and ERIC (Everyone Reading In Class).
Comprehension Skills
The comprehension skills that will be developed through language activity in our school include analysis, synthesis, inference, deduction, summarisation, evaluation and correlation. Teachers explicitly teach a number of strategies that relate to both factual texts and fictional texts including scanning, skimming, search reading, KWL, reflective reading, brainstorming and categorising, sequencing, predicting etc. by modelling the language and process for children. Comprehension skills are developed through oral and written work with an emphasis on meaningful discussion. We use Martin Gleesons Building Bridges of Understanding as our reference. (Appendix 4)
Reading Material
We aim to use a variety of reading material such as big books, class readers, parallel readers, poetry anthologies, etc. Big Books are used to expose children to reading in order to develop their receptiveness to language. It also provides children with an opportunity to talk about reading and expose them to the conventions of print. The class reader is used to develop reading skills such as word attack skills, dictionary work, comprehension, information retrieval skills etc. Teachers ensure that their use of questioning on the class reader is differentiated to cater for the varying needs within the classroom. Parallel readers serve to give children the opportunity to read independently at their level to ensure they view reading as an enjoyable activity, to develop fluency and heighten their self-esteem. We endeavour to select reading material that lends itself to group/individual recitation, and we aim to include expository, narrative and diagrammatic/representational texts in our selection. We recognise the importance of using reading material as a means to develop our children emotionally and imaginatively and engage in activities such as character development, discuss why they chose a particular text, respond to material read through drama, art and music, etc We have adopted a variety of approaches such as collaborative reading, independent reading, group reading, whole class approach, etc and we aim to strike a balance throughout the year. The LS/RT supplements the reading programme by implementing early intervention programmes during the year, devising the phonics and phonological awareness programme in consultation with staff, etc.
The core list of texts for each class is attached in Appendix 5. However this list is to be added to during the year by each class teacher in order to cater for childrens needs and interests.
Writing:
The Process of Writing
The schools approach to writing concentrates on the writing process in order to develop the childs expressive and communicative abilities. Through the process of writing, children will explore a selection of independently-chosen topics, through a variety of genres for different audiences within a whole school that values childrens writing. We also draw on materials from www.pdst.ie, in particular the Newsnote from the PDST Newsletter Write? Right!(See attached Appendix 6)
Fostering the Process of Writing
The school will provide opportunities for children to write for real purposes and real audiences, recognising that drafting, editing and redrafting are at the heart of the writing process. An approach to symbols used for editing has been agreed (see appendix 7). Free writing will be used to enable the children to become independent writers. (See PPDS Seven steps to teaching writing - Appendix 8)
Genres of writing
The purpose of the writing and the audience for whom it is written will determine the genre. We teach genres appropriate to each class level from the list below:
Recount school trip
Report writing factual e.g. life history of the butterfly book review
Explanatory writing how a volcano is formed
Procedural writing rules, directions, recipes
Persuasive writing - debate
Narrative story e.g. Cinderella
Creative
In teaching the genres of writing, the children will encounter the genres through reading/being read to, teacher-modelled writing, shared writing, guided writing, leading to independent writing.
Poetry
In order to develop the child emotionally and imaginatively we will encourage children to write a variety of poetry. Children will be given the opportunity to work as a whole class, in groups and pairs as well as individually when writing poetry and the writing of different types of poems will be modelled e.g. Limericks, acrostics, Cinquain, riddle poems, rhyming poems, pyramid poems. However this list is to be added to during the year by each class teacher in order to cater for childrens needs and interests.
Handwriting
Good habits in handwriting are developed at an early stage e.g. posture, paper position, pencil grip. At Infant level the teacher demonstrates on board for month of September. In order to make handwriting more accessible to Na. Shis., the letters taught are based on the print style in their reading material. In Na. Shis. children write with thick pencils and crayons, Na. Shn go Rang a Ceathair use standard pencils and Rang a Cig + Rang a S use pens. In Na. Shis. we will focus on pre-writing skills and lower case letter formation. This is developed at Na. Shn. In Rang a hAon they will focus on upper and lower case letter formation. Cursive writing will be introduced at Rang a 3. In Rang a Tr, children will continue to refine their skills in cursive writing. By Rang a Ceathair children will be expected to write in legible joined script and in Rang a Cig and Rang a S children will be expected to develop a legible, fluent personal style of writing. As and from September 2012, all classes with the exception of Junior Infants will be using the Just Handwriting Series.
Spelling
In Our Lady of Good Counsel Boys School we recognise that spelling must be viewed as a fun activity by the children, and we acknowledge that spelling activities must be written, as oral spelling is of little value. We understand that mastering spelling is a developmental process and when children attempt to master the complexities of English spelling they go through a number of overlapping developmental stages:
using sound-letter relationships
using pattern
using meaning.
We also believe that spelling must never be a barrier to childrens writing. While we do not want to dampen a childs enthusiasm to write, we will endeavour to promote accurate spelling. To this end we are very conscious of the value of invented/approximate spelling as it allows children to self-correct their attempts as they move through the different stages. However direct instruction can be of benefit to those who fail to spell accurately, particularly children who find it difficult to develop literacy. Direct instruction in spelling should be undertaken in the context of reading and writing and should be guided by information derived from the children's approximate spelling. (TG. P85. ) The content for childrens spelling programmes will be sourced from a combination of the childs own writing, words from the Dolch list, words from the Phonological Awareness Programme, and words from the class reading material. The spelling programme used in our school is Spellbound. We endorse the Teacher Guidelines which states that progress in spelling takes place when children experience a consistent and systematic approach to its teaching. They need to master strategies for learning new words which ensure that they don't rely totally on spelling out words letter by letter. Their attention needs to be directed to the whole word with the intention of reproducing it (TG p 85). In keeping with this rationale, we will enable children to learn spellings through the Look and Say, Cover, Write and Check method.
Grammar and Punctuation
We aim to teach grammar and punctuation in the context of the childrens own writing and/or reading and we emphasise the oral aspect of teaching. See attached lists for details of content at each class level. Appendix 9
3. Assessment and Record Keeping
Assessment is integral to the teaching and learning process. We consider all the different assessment tools we use very valuable:
Teacher observation
Teacher designed tasks and tests
Running Records and Free Writing
Work samples, portfolios and reports
Diagnostic Tests e.g. Early Literacy, Diagnostic Reading Analysis. The York Assessment of Reading and Comprehension and the British Picture Vocabulary Scale have just been purchased.
Standardised Tests
Standardised Tests used: Senior Infants MIST (Middle Infant Screening Test) This test is administered in February.
1st- 6th Classes
Micra T Reading Test
Drumcondra Spelling Test
The Micra T is given to all classes from 1st to 6th in May and to 1st class only in October. As and from September 2012, the Drumcondra Spelling Test will be administered at the end of September.
Each of these has a contribution to make in helping to monitor individual childrens rates of progress and levels of attainment as they engage with the language curriculum and by using the information provided in them, we can build up a profile of each child as they progress through the school. An analysis of the results of the Micra T is conducted each year. Results of this test are also given in the Summer reports together with the NCCA explanation leaflet. Scores are discussed and explained to parents at the formal Parent/Teacher Meetings in November.
Assessment of Learning as evidenced in test results will inform Assessment for Learning thus ensuring that areas of weakness are given priority. Results are analysed on an individual, class and whole school basis. They are also discussed at staff and BOM meetings. Results of all standardised tests are kept on file by the Principal and the Special Education Needs Co-ordinator, Mairin Ryan
(See Assessment Policy which outlines what assessments are kept, how long, in what format are they retained, who has access to records etc.)
4. Children with Different Needs
(See Schools Special Needs Policy)
All mainstream teachers are aware of the need to differentiate within the class.
Teachers work in collaboration with learning support/ resource team to ensure needs of each child is met.
For those children who have a psychological report or allocation of low incidence hours every effort is made to ensure class teacher works to recommendations given.
Where a child is entitled to an S.N.A. great attention is given to ensure integration into classroom /school environment both socially and academically.
A collaborative approach is taken in drawing up of I.E.P.s
Access to school and class library
EAL students are supported by the LS teacher using visual cues where appropriate
Parental participation in school life
Stimulation for Exceptionally Able Pupils to include mind-mapping, hypothesis and new learning opportunities. They are supported by SEN team.
5. Equality of Participation and Access
All pupils are given the opportunity to.
Participate in class discussions, presentations, projects, and activities relating to competitions.
Participate in all reading activities, have access to the library and avail of all books in the school which are deemed age appropriate and non-sexist.
Avail of, and use all resources in the school related to literacy including ICT.
Participate in all writing activities including the Write a Book project.
Have access to services, facilities and amenities in the school environment.
All our pupils are boys but we encourage gender awareness through promoting consideration of the roles associated with men and women in literature, the media, advertising, elections etc. as well as consideration of the language associated with such roles.
Organisational Planning
6. Timetable
Curriculum allocation hours to English
In the Infant classes 6.5 hours per week are allocated to English. Discrete oral language permeates the entire school day
In 1st to 6th classes 8.5 hours are allocated per week. Particular attention is paid to specific language related to each individual subject.
The process of language development is also supported through integrated activities, cross curricular approach and thematic topic work.
7. Homework
See Schools Homework Policy
8. Library
The school has a school library and individual class libraries
All classes are timetabled for the library.
A wide range of books is available from both class and main library.
A wide range of fiction, non-fiction, dictionaries, reference and poetry is available catering for pupils at all levels.
Junior-big books, books with graded levels of difficulty, books covering a wide range of interest, audio books, books based on favourite television programmes, poetry books, supplementary readers and books with ICT software.
Each class teacher is responsible for organising their class library.
The library is organised by a group of parents of children attending the school. The stock of the library is funded by revenue from the annual Book Fair, which is usually in March/April
Children are encouraged to participate in the annual Write a Book project.
The school actively supports reading initiatives undertaken by the Local Library. Children are encouraged to join their local library.
9. Resources and ICT
Each classroom is equipped with an interactive whiteboard
Access to digital cameras, CD players, DVDs , resource books
A central resource room is currently under development
LS/RT resources are located in a central location adjacent to the SEN team
We are aware of the value of ICT in the teaching and learning of English by contributing to the print-rich environment, in supporting the development of word identification, spelling and other reading skills through reinforcement software, the Internet and reference books available in CD-ROM. We are very aware of the value of content-free software e.g. Microsoft Word, in enhancing the process writing approach advocated in the curriculum and children in our school are encouraged to publish their work using ICT in order to enhance the standard of presentation of their work, giving them added pride in the final product.
10. Individual Teachers Planning and Reporting
Each teacher follows the guidelines of the whole school Curriculum Plan.
Fortnightly/termly/yearly plans are prepared by each teacher
A cntas mosil is submitted to the Principal where it is kept on file.
11. Staff Development
Teachers are encouraged to attend courses available in the various Education Centres.
Teachers are encouraged to share their expertise gained at such courses. -A strong collaborative work ethos exists among the staff.
Time is allocated at staff meeting to discuss such courses.
12. Parental Involvement
The school recognises that parents are the primary educators and that they play a crucial role in the language development of their children. This plan and the Curriculum documents are available for parents to inform them of the programme for English and the new Literacy Strategy. Children are encouraged to discuss the content of their homework.
An annual introductory meeting for new parents of Junior Infants is held each June and parents are advised on the importance of their involvement in supporting their childs oral language development and literacy skills. This is done by the Principal and the Infant teachers. A meeting will also be held in September to inform parents of the Jolly Phonics programme and their input into same.
13. Community Links
The following members of the community can become involved in supporting the schools language programme: nurse, doctor, garda, fireman, lollipop lady, school chaplain, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Johns Ambulance, Jack and Jill foundation and Operation Christmas Child, Active Retirement, Green Schools Liaison
Write a Book Project organised by Blackrock Education Centre
INTO handwriting competition
Visits from story tellers from both home and abroad
Visits from past pupils who share their experiences
Childrens work is displayed in the church for First Communion and Confirmation ceremonies and all around the school during the year.
Success Criteria
The success of the English Plan is one which needs to be evaluated over a period of several years.
Results from the MIST and Micra T are valuable means in giving an overall view of progress but we must bear in mind that they are only a partial representation of progress
However the observation skills of the class teacher are a major indicator of success particularly in the area of oral language which in itself is difficult to evaluate as each child may be developing at his/her own rate.
How will we know that the plan has been implemented?
Teachers preparation based on this plan
Procedures outlined in this plan consistently followed
How will we know that the plan has achieved its aims? What are the indicators?
Feedback from teachers/parents/pupils/community
Inspectors suggestions/report
Feedback from second level schools.
How has the plan enhanced pupil learning?
Children have a positive attitude and appreciation of the value of language-spoken, read and written
Children have an interest in expression and communication
Children have an ability to engage appropriately in listener-speaker relationships
Children have confidence and competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing
Children are engaging with a variety of genre in reading and writing
A process approach is evident in writing
Comprehension & higher order thinking skills are developed through oral language, reading, writing
Childrens emotional, imaginative and aesthetic development is enhanced through oral, reading and writing experiences.
Implementation
(a) Roles and Responsibilities
This plan will be developed, implemented and supported by the Principal, all staff members, parents and pupils.
(b) Timeframe
This revised plan is currently being implemented and will be reviewed at regular intervals
Review
(a) Roles and Responsibilities
An informal review will take place at planning meetings/staff meetings by class teachers at different levels
(b) Timeframe
A formal review will take place after a period of three years and will be the responsibility of the Deputy Principal, Mairin Ryan
Ratification and Communication
This plan was ratified by the Board of Management on 19th November 2012.
It is available on the school website.
19th November 2012
Signed :.. Date :.
Michael J. Hunt
Chairperson B.O.M.
19th November 2012
Signed :.. Date :.
Neil Cadogan
Principal.
Appendix 1
Basic Sight Vocabulary for Junior Infants to 2nd Class
BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARY
JUNIOR INFANTS
a
h
on
and
I
see
at
in
sat
an
is
the
am
it
that
big
like
this
can
me
to
day
my
up
do
do
we
Nouns Junior Infants
birthday
box
sake
car
day
school
sun
BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARY
SENIOR INFANTS
all
has
now
are
have
play
as
he
ran
be
her
run
but
here
said
did
him
she
dog
his
so
for
if
they
from
house
was
get
live
went
go
man
with
had
not
you
Nouns Senior Infants
boy
egg
girl
house
Christmas
BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARY
First Class
of
look
there
some
out
then
little
down
could
when
what
were
them
one
would
will
yes
come
long
came
ask
very
over
your
its
ride
into
just
blue
red
good
any
about
around
want
dont
how
know
right
put
too
got
take
where
every
pretty
jump
green
four
away
old
by
their
here
saw
call
after
well
think
ran
let
help
make
going
sleep
brown
yellow
five
six
walk
two
or
before
eat
again
who
been
may
stop
off
never
seven
eight
cold
today
fly
myself
round
Nouns First Class
cow
pig
dog
doll
door
duck
farm
farmer
father
feet
fish
game
garden
good-bye
grass
hand
head
hill
home
money
mother
name
nest
night
party
pig
rain
ring
Santa Claus
sheep
sister
snow
song
time
top
toy
tree
BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARY
Second Class
tell
much
keep
give
work
first
try
new
must
start
black
white
ten
does
bring
goes
write
always
drink
once
soon
made
run
gave
open
has
find
only
us
three
out
better
hold
buy
funny
warm
ate
full
those
done
use
fast
say
light
pick
hurt
pull
cut
kind
both
sit
which
fall
carry
small
under
read
why
own
found
wash
show
hot
because
far
live
draw
clean
grow
best
upon
these
sing
please
thank
together
wish
many
shall
laugh
Nouns Second Class
bell
bird
boat
bread
brother
chair
chicken
children
coat
corn
eye
fire
floor
flower
morning
paper
picture
rabbit
robin
seed
shoe
squirrel
stick
street
table
thing
watch
water
way
wind
window
wood
Onset and Rime
Rimes (C V C Words)
__an
__en
__in
__op
__un
__am
__ed
__id
__ot
__up
__at
__et
__ip
__ox
__ut
__as
__eg
__it
__or
__ug
__ap
__er
__ig
__ob
__um
__ad
__ey
__ix
__og
__ub
__ag
__em
__is
__on
__us
__ar
__ib
__ow
__im
500 words can be derived from the following set of 37 Rimes
ack
ank
eat
ill
ock
uck
all
ap
ell
in
oke
ug
ain
ash
est
ine
op
ump
ake
at
ice
ing
ore
unk
ame
ate
ick
ink
ot
an
aw
ide
ip
ale
ay
ight
it
Appendix 2
Possible Programme for Phonological Awareness Development
In the Infant classes, children will be enabled to:
Blend syllables e.g. post/man, black/bird, win/dow, doc/tor, vid/e/o etc
Clap, stamp, tap out the syllables in 2 and 3 syllable words
Recite rhymes, songs, tongue twisters and alliteration sentences
Understand the meaning of terms such as word, letter, letter names, letter sound
Identify words that rhyme
Supply a rhyming word for another
Supply a word that has the same initial sound as another
Recognise and name the letters of the alphabet
Associate initial sounds in words with letters
Tap a rhythm in response to the syllables in a word
Divide spoken cvc, ccvc words into onset and rime
Identify first and last sound in a spoken word
Identify the medial vowel in spoken cvc words
Blend 2 or 3 phonemes e.g. a-t, i-f, c-a-l.
Delete initial sound/phoneme from words e.g. gold/old, bus/us.
In First and Second Classes, children should be enabled to:
Use analogy to spell unfamiliar words (take, rake bake )
Identify and blend onset and rhyme in phonetically regular words (t-ill, b-un, s-old etc )
Blend 2, 3 or 4 phonemes to make real words and nonsense words
Identify constituent syllables in multi-syllabic words
Recognise common endings (-ed, -ly, -ing, -er, -est)
In Third to Sixth Classes, children should be enabled to:
Continue to refine their ability to encode and decode words phonemically
Identify common prefixes and suffixes and how they affect meaning
Become proficient in learning to recognise and pronounce words by using root words, prefixes, suffixes and syllabication
Use the pronunciation key in the dictionary
Phonological Awareness Training through the Primary school.
Part 2: 1st to 6th Classes
Note: (i) The activities in Part 1 of this two-part handout can be used as a starting point for activities to develop all levels of phonological awareness. With older classes you may need more age-appropriate activities.
(ii) You will find a comprehensive checklist of objectives for the three levels of phonological awareness training on pages 8-9.
(iii) Once children start formal reading, phonological awareness activities will almost always be integrated with other aspects of literacy, especially phonics, word reading and spelling. In fact every opportunity will be used to help the pupils apply their phonological awareness skills to reading/writing.
A. Activities to develop Syllabic Awareness
First check out Part 1 of this two-part handout, pages 1-3.
Syllable Blending; Syllable Segmentation; Syllable Counting; Syllable Isolation
Children from 6 years up will probably have a good awareness of syllables. However, continued practice in syllable segmentation, counting and isolation is advised to keep the skill near at hand for literacy tasks. An aural and oral ability with syllables will support pupils when visually breaking up words into syllables.
Check their syllable blending skills by saying multisyllable words with one-second interval between syllables. Words from any subject category can be used.
Continue to test and teach syllable segmentation skills by asking pupils to count out the syllables in words (using fingers). For example, they can divide the names of children in their class (or names of favourite football players, animals, months of the year etc.) into one-syllable, two-syllable, three-syllable groups etc.
Check pupils ability to isolate syllables by presenting (orally) two-syllable words and asking pupils to say either the first or second syllable on its own. It is better to start with compound words (e.g. starfish, seesaw, earring, football, playground, cowboy, blackberry, doorbell, oilskin, rainbow, outside, toothbrush etc.) and then move onto other two-syllable words that are not compound words. Three-syllable words can then be attempted asking pupils to isolate perhaps the middle syllable etc. Continued use of paper post it stickers as explained in Part 1 (Syllable Isolation) is useful at all ages to give a visual representation of the syllables and the removal of one syllable etc.
Working out with Phonological Awareness (Schreiber, Sterling-Orth, Thurs, McKinley) is a little book with 50 short workouts on phonological awareness. Each workout has a section on syllables.
B. Onset-Rime Awareness (Rhyming)
1. Rhyme Recognition
(i) You may need more age-appropriate ways of testing/teaching pupils rhyme recognition than described in Part 1. A suggestion is to simply ask children to supply a name of a food which rhymes with a given word.
Examples: red (bread); parrot (carrot); please (cheese or peas!); seat (meat); gutter (butter); shingles (Pringles); lisps (crisps); Pam (ham or jam); Jake (cake) etc. It is easy to create such word lists based on the childrens interests, e.g. childrens names, drinks, school words, animals, soccer players etc.
(ii) Activities with pictures that rhyme continue to be a good teaching resource for older pupils. The 64 rhyming pictures and the 64 corresponding word cards of the Oxford Reading Tree Rhyme and Analogy Card Games (16 rhyming families, 4 in each set) can be used for such activities as:
(a) Matching pictures that rhyme such activities can be timed for increased motivation.
(b) Timed odd-man-out exercises up to 16 sets of 4 picture cards can be displayed with one odd-man-out in each one.
(c) Snap games (pictures only).
(d) Matching words to rhyming pictures you can see to what extent pupils analogy skills are developed by doing one picture-word match in each of a few rhyming sets and seeing if they can work out the others.
(e) Snap games using pictures and words.
2. Rhyme Completion Exercises
Sounds Abound (Catts and Vartiainen) and Sound Linkage (hatcher) have lots of rhyme supply riddles/exercises.
Sounds Abound Game (Catts and Vartiainen) has a game involving rhyming and sound blending which can be quite testing:
e.g. What word rhymes with log and starts with the sound /f/? (fog)
Other examples using the same structure as this item involve rhyming pairs as follows:
night (fight); race (face); can (fan); door (four) etc. Because this involves phoneme substitution according to specific requirements, it can be quite a good test of phonological awareness and an activity worth practising,.
3. Rhyme Production Exercises
Some pupils need lots of practice at producing rhyme, e.g. daily drills in which they produce rhyming words to a given stimulus. They need to build up a dictionary of rhyming words if they are to be able to use the rhyming skill productively in reading and writing.
Rhyme Time Game (supplying rhyming words to a given picture stimulus)
This game, already described in Part 1 of this two-part handout, plays a more important role in older classes. It goes beyond phonological awareness in that it involves not just rhyming but also reading and drawing attention to the shared spelling patterns (i.e. analogy training). Some children are very reluctant to look to rhyming and analogy as a first support in instances of encoding or decoding. For example, when they want to spell or read the word stack they will not readily relate it to black even though they may know how to read and write the word black. Research (such as that carried out by Usha Goswami) has shown that children with the best rhyming skills use analogies the most. Perhaps it is because they know they have a rich dictionary of rhyme near at hand that they can access and use. For children who are naturally weak at phonological awareness, we must not only train them to rhyme and to build up this data base of rhyming words but also show them how to apply this knowledge to help them read and spell by analogy. This game serves this purpose.
Materials required for this game: Picture as a rhyming stimulus, cards with words that rhyme with the stimulus (see lists below).
Steps:(a) Show the picture, e.g. picture of a train and ask for rhyming words.
(b) List pupils (correct) responses on BB. List real words only but let pupils suggest nonsense words if they wish. Explain the difference between real and nonsense words.
(c) When the pupils finish guessing, show each of your word cards. If they had guessed the word on the card, they keep it, if the word on the card was not guessed by them, the teacher keeps it. If the teacher manages to win four cards (i.e. if there are four rhyming words on cards that the pupil hadnt guessed) she wins. If the teacher ends up with less than four cards, the class wins. (Of course you can negotiate with the class how many unguessed cards constitute a victory for the teacher).
(d) At this stage ask what sounds all these words have that are the same. Then ask what letters they all have in common. This is training in analogy which is the objective of onset-rime awareness work.
Some further points about this game:
(i) Children will quickly realise that if they go through all the initial consonant sounds of the alphabet they can make rhyming words. In switching initial sounds they are really getting practice at substituting phonemes thus phonemic awareness is also being developed here. It is also a good opportunity for them to see how a blend of two sounds, e.g. /sp/ can be used as an onset and thus give further possibilities for rhyming. This helps develop an awareness of blends.
(ii) Sometimes rhyming words have different spelling patterns, e.g. in the case of words rhyming with train, the words crane, pane, plane, sane etc. If this happens it can be a good opportunity to see that this is indeed sometimes the case and the frequency of its occurrence will become clear to them as more Rhyme Time games are played.
Part 1 of this handout has a list of CVC stimulus words and lists of rhyming words for the younger classes. The following 12 are some further possibilities but of course the list is endless.
PINK: drink, stink, wink, rink, sink, brink, link, kink, shrink, slink, think
MATCH: catch, latch, batch, patch, thatch, scratch, hatch
WINE: pine, mine, twine, spine, shine, dine, fine, brine, vine, Rhine, whine, shrine
FACE: place, pace, grace, space, trace, lace, brace, race, embrace
TRAIN: pain, plain, rain, brain, drain, Spain, grain, stain, strain, main
ROOM: broom, gloom, groom, bloom, doom, zoom, boom
HEAT: meat, seat, treat, wheat, bleat, beat, eat, neat
SLIDE: ride, side, stride, wide, bride, glide, pride, tide
PLATE: gate, hate, grate, skate, mate, slate, late, state, rate, crate, fate, Kate
NIGHT: bright, sight, fight, fright, light, might, right, tight, slight, height
CAKE: sake, make, bake, take, rake, drake, wake, fake, flake, shake, quake, brake
MICE: nice, lice, spice, slice, rice, twice, dice, ice, price, thrice
The P.A.T. Phonolotical Awareness Training: A New Approach to Phonics (Wilson) is a word reading programme based on onset-rimes. It involves getting children to generate their own list of words for reading based on rhyme. These words are then reinforced in reading, spelling and dictation. (See Resources for details of various levels available).
C. Phonemic Awareness
First check out the Phonemic Awareness activities in Part 1 of this two-part handout (pages 6-9)
(i) Phoneme Segmentation, Counting, Identification, Addition and Subtraction
The following sequence of activities may be useful both to help find a pupils level in phonemic awareness and to supply more practice:
(a) Say-it-and-move-it using Elkonin boxes (see Part 1 of handout, p7)
This is a good place to start looking into pupils phonemic awareness. Show a picture of e.g. a tap with three boxes drawn underneath (Elkonin picture it can of course be homemade!). See if they can move a cube into each box as they say the phonemes /t/ /a/ /p/. This will need to be demonstrated clearly getting the one-to-one correspondence between cube and phoneme is very important. When the cubes are in place, point to one of the cubes and ask them which phoneme it represents. Examine others similarly. Pupils can also do this with letters. CVC words in which a digraph represents a sound can also be used. (e.g. ship, peach). In such examples, when doing the say-it-and-move-it exercises with letter cards, it is important that the two letters of the digraph should be on one card to avoid confusion.
Road to the Code (Blachman, Ball, Black and Tangel) as referenced in Part 1 of the handout has say-it-and-move-it exercises such as these as a central part of its programme. Though intended for Kindergarten level, they can be used for remedial work with older children. It has Elkonin pictures for the following words map, let, nut, zip, mat, lip, fan, net, sun, man, ink, sit, web, pin, bag, pot, dog.
Having done the above encoding exercises it is a good idea to present the same words in written form afterwards for decoding. Some pupils will not be able to decode the same words they were so easily able to encode a few minutes earlier! They may need practice at every step of the transfer process.
(b) Phoneme Substitution/Sound Switch
Continuing from (a) above (the word tap), tell pupils you want to change one cube to make the word nap. See if they can change the first cube. Now ask them to change one cube to make the word rap. You can also change the end sound, e.g. change one cube to make rat. Again this can be done with letters. A suitable list for such substitution exercises is cat, cap, cop, pop, pot, pit, sit, set.
Again, check their ability to decode the same words after they have encoded them.
(c) Phoneme addition to create a blend
Continuing from the above (from the word rap), ask pupils to add a cube to make the word trap. And where would they add another cube again to show the word strap? Check that they can also take away the added phoneme to get back the original word. Also do with letters. A suitable list for such exercises is: Lips, flips, flaps, flap, lap, clap, clasp, crasp (from The Phonological Awareness Kit Intermediate (Robertson and Salter, p. 42). As before check their ability to decode the same words immediately after.
Reading Reflex (The Foolproof Method for Teaching Your Child to Read) by C. McGuinness & G. McGuinness (1998, Penguin) is a reading programme that works essentially from sounds to symbols. It has several auditory processing activities which are similar to the above.
It is worth spending some time on aural exercises which get pupils aware of blends it will precipitate their acquisition of phonic blends in reading and spelling. A structured approach to this could be as follows:
First deal with adding an initial phoneme to make a blend:
-Ask them to make the word lap with 3 cubes. Make sure they know which phoneme each cube stands for;
-Ask them to add a cube to make the word slap. Other such examples are lip-slip; rat-brat; rim-brim; top-stop; rip-trip; rot-trot etc. Check that they can remove the right cube to get back to the original word each time.
-You can get them to do these two steps with letters if you are sure they are familiar enough with the sound-letter correspondences in question.
-See if they can respond orally (without cubes/letters) to examples of words presented orally, e.g. what do I add to top to make stop? Can they tell you which phoneme is added and where. Also include examples (orally) of pairs like low-slow; row-crow; ray-pray; rye-cry; way-sway which might be too confusing or difficult to do with letter cards.
Now deal with adding an internal phoneme to create an initial blend:
-Ask pupils to make the word bat using three cubes. Make sure they know which phoneme each cube stands for.
-Ask them to add a cube to make the word brat! Other examples are: Sam-slam; sit-slit; tap-trap; fat-flat; pan-plan; bed-bled etc.
-See if they can do these steps using letter cards.
-See if they can respond orally without cubes or letter cards to examples of words presented orally, e.g. What do I add to the word pan to make plan? Again you can include words for oral work that may be too difficult to do with letters, e.g. so-slow; bow-blow; sigh-spy; pay-pray etc.
-Similarly work can be done on final blends. It is not necessary of course to cover all blends. Reflective work on a sample will give them a productive understanding of the system.
Children should be able to do letterless and lettered versions of the above exercises, adding and subtracting cubes and letters until they are quite confident with encoding and decoding VC, CVC, CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC words. As our emphasis is on phonemic awareness, it is better not to make demands on them to use letter cards if you think they are not sure of the sound-symbol correspondences involved.
(ii) Deleting initial and final phonemes
Phoneme deletion games as described in Part 1 of the handout are popular with older children too. Present words (orally) without their first sound giving them the category as a clue, e.g. drinks and see if they can identify the original word and tell you what youve done to it (examples: -ine for wine; -uice for juice; -oke for coke; -offee for coffee etc). Finally see if they can present similar examples with the initial phoneme deleted. If not, they will need further practice at a receptive level with this type of exercise.
If children have managed the Sally Sound Snatchergames as in Part 1 of the handout, p7 they can be extended as follows:
Parts of the Body: When Sally Sound Snatcher took away the first sound from these words she was left with some part of your body. What part is it?
Snail (nail)Farm (arm)
Pie (eye)Stow (toe)
Clip (lip)Stung (tongue)Fear (ear)Clap (lap)
Now Sally Sound Snatcher is going to steal sounds from the ends of words: If she changes beef to bee shes taken away the lasat sound /f/
What sound does she snatch if she changes toad to toe?; if she changes teeth to tea?; if she changes pipe to pie?; if she changes bean to bee?; if she changes peel to pea? etc. Now ask what word Sally Sound Snatcher is left with when she takes the final sound from the following words: pain (pay) train (tray) tent (ten) bone (bow) safe (say) heel (he) tide (tie) etc.
Childrens Names: Sally Sound Snatcher wanted to collect more childrens names so she snatched the final sounds from the following words. What names did she make?
Joke (Joe)Soon (Sue)Cake (Kay)Face (Faye)Rain (Ray)Gate (Gay)
Join (Joy)Ant (Anne)
Deleting medial sounds is the most difficult form of phoneme deletion. Sound Wizard; Strategy-Building Games for Phonological Awareness (Lenchner) has already been mentioned in Part 1 of this handout in relation to its decks of cards. It has a deck of picture cards with Elkonin boxes. On each card one of the boxes is black and the child has to delete that phoneme to pronounce a new word. Without such visual backup, dleting sounds can be difficult. Once children can do it easily with Elkonin boxes, you can present words orally for them to work out. Sound Linkage (Hatcher) has one of the most comprehensive lists for this kind of aural/oral work. Examples: What sound can you hear in cloak that is missing from coke?, Say the word click without /l/ sound in the middle.
Nonsense Spelling tests
A good insight into pupils phonemic awareness is got by giving children a nonsense spelling test. This is a test of both phonological awareness and sound-symbol awareness.
(a) The following list tests the childs phonemic awareness and sound-symbol awareness in CVC words:
gat, yef; mip; sot; num; har; lem; hig; bon; mus.
(b) More difficult is a test involving blends as follows:
gron; cled; mond; fust; flant; brulk; spink; shrept; splant; sprift
(c) A nonsense spelling test involving long vowel sounds gives you an idea of how pupils view what you present to them and you will see what strategies they are using to encode such words, e.g. if they are using rhyming words to help them spell. Of course in many cases there are a few acceptable ways of spelling.
shile; croat; spake; preed; flube; heech; waint; brool; grike; dreek.
Appendix 3
Phonics Programme
Each class teacher has a copy of the Phonics Programme relevant to the class level.
Appendix 5
Class Novels
Rang 2The TwitsRoald Dahl
Rang 3The Butterfly LionMichael Morpurgo
Rang 4The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeC.S. Lewis
Rang 5Kensukes KingdomMichael Morpurgo
Rang 6War HorseMichael Morpurgo
The Boy in the Striped PyjamasJohn Boyne
Reading Scheme
Infants Rang 2FolensReading Zone
Rang 3 Rang 6Gill and MacMillanFireworks
Appendix 7
Editing Codes Rang 5/Rang 6
H - Heading missing
U Underline in Red pen
P Punctuation (. , : ; ? ! )
Caps Capital Letter
I Capital I
sp - spelling
gr - grammar
str sentence badly structured
ss - shorten sentence
fs - full sentence
exp? - explain point / expand
para new paragraph, skip a line and indent
\ - new line
- speech marks missing
. - 2 spaces after a fullstop
- piece missing
Editing Codes Rang 3/Rang 4
H - Heading missing
Caps Capital Letter
I Capital I
sp - spelling
gr - grammar
para new paragraph, skip a line and indent
- piece missing
Editing Codes Rang 1/Rang 2
Caps Capital Letter
I Capital I
sp - spelling
- word/words missing
Appendix 8
Seven steps to teaching writing
Step 1: Familiarisation with the genres
Integration with reading and oral language is vitally important, for example, comparing samples of the genre.
Step 2: Use an example to devise a framework
Use a problem-solving approach where the child is active in their own learning, when teaching a new genre of writing. Ask children to look at various examples and through teacher-questioning and paired discussion children figure out the framework.
Step 3: Modelled writing (teacher only)
The teacher thinks aloud as he/she writes, while the class observe. The teacher justifies decisions, for example, in relation to the content or the language that is to be used, and also clarifies thoughts and ideas.
Step 4: Shared writing
The teacher has the pen and continues to think aloud but uses childrens ideas also. This is an effective and non-threatening way to support childrens writing and involves the teacher and the children writing together. Children make suggestions and the teacher writes these down on a flip chart, thus modelling the writing conventions.
Step 5: Children plan their writing
Children compose with a partner, or in a small group, so that there is peer support as they write, using the framework they have devised. The teachers role is to guide and encourage students by giving explicit feedback that refers to the structural or language features required in the text form.
Step 6: Independent writing
The child writes independently using the framework, as a reference. The teacher is always on-hand to facilitate this process through encouragement, feedback, guidance and affirmation.
Step 7: Presentation to an audience
The children present the writing to a variety of audiences, for example, read aloud to parents, publish in a school newsletter, e-mail to a friend, or display on a notice-board.
Appendix 9
Grammar Suggested List of Topics per Class Level
Senior Infants:
Identifying / Ticking the correct sentence, e.g. I had some sweet / I had some sweets.
Rewriting sentences and putting the words into the correct order.
Agreeing / Disagreeing with statements, e.g. The dog flew away [Yes / No].
Filling in the missing words in sentences.
Selecting the correct word to complete a sentence, e.g. The cat was ___ the table [up / on].
Selecting the correct word to complete a sentence, using pictorial clues.
First Class:
Writing a sentence about a picture.
Rewriting sentences and putting words in the correct order.
Verb Finding the missing verb to complete a sentence.
Identifying verbs in a sentence.
Noun Completing sentences with appropriate nouns.
Adjectives Adding adjectives to enhance a sentence.
Constructing a sentence from a noun, a verb and an adjective.
Filling the blanks in short passages using nouns/verbs/adjectives.
Writing simple sentences to describe what is happening in the picture.
Writing sentences using verbs in past, present and future tense.
Writing sentences in singular / plural are /is.
Second Class:
Revision of concepts of singular /plural; past / present tense, as introduced in First Class.
Completion of a short story using suitable words / phrases [Cloze Procedure].
Rewriting instructions in the correct order.
Pronoun Exercises replacing nouns with suitable pronouns.
Selecting correct pronouns for different sentences.
Further exercises past / present tense, singular / plural.
Preposition Completion of sentences using correct prepositions.
Rewriting given passages / short stories in the past / present / future tense.
Writing about pictures, using nouns / pronouns, verbs and adjectives.
Third Class:
Verbs grouping into categories, e.g. run = dash, sprint, jog, chase, rush etc.
Making sentences more interesting by changing the verb, e.g. I went to school.
Writing short pieces, e.g. newspaper reports, diary etc. in the first, second or third person [singular / plural].
Completion of sentences using personal pronouns.
Collective Nouns writing the collective noun for different groups.
Find / Invent collective nouns for different groups.
Using singular / plural or both?
Changing from singular to plural.
Extending sentences.
Conjunctions rewriting sentences using conjunctions.
Adjectives Grouping adjectives by type, e.g. colours dull, dark, red, scarlet, beige, etc.
Changing a short written passage by replacing the adjectives.
Fourth Class:
Changing nouns from singular to plurals RULES.
List adjectives to describe a picture write a short passage using the adjectives from your list.
Adjectives comparative / superlative Making a table.
Using comparative adjectives to describe pictures.
Constructing sentences using comparative adjectives.
Changing adjectives to comparative adjectives spelling rules.
Compiling lists of comparative adjectives, going from least to most, e.g. tiny, small, big, huge, enormous.
Further tense work.
Adverbs classifying by where when how.
Sentence construction, using adverbs in the sentences.
Finding a number of adverbs that can be used with a list of verbs.
Fifth Class:
Adding prepositions to sentences.
In all writing activities, check for the correct use of words.
Agreement of singular and plural with nouns and verbs.
The use of double negatives, e.g. Im not going nowhere.
Classifying nouns by type proper, common, collective, abstract.
Review of personal pronouns.
Clauses Adding second clauses to sentences.
Direct and Indirect speech.
Sixth Class:
Clarifying / further practice with pronouns and prepositions.
Subject and Object in a sentence.
Correct use of formal language.
Review of past work.
This is a suggested list of areas / topics that I have found relevant at the different class levels. Schools should feel free to adjust / add / remove items on the lists that are not suitable for their particular needs or situation.
Suggested Punctuation Topics for each Class Level
Senior Infants:
Draw yourself and write your name
Find capital letters in words
Find capital letters in lists of letters
Matching lower case to capital letters
Copy lower case and capital letters
Write the correct lower case letter with the capital letter
Rewrite sentences using capital letters and full stops
Identifying correct sentences, i.e. with capital letter and full stop
First Class:
Revision of capital letters / full stops
Capital letters in months, days, titles, places
Capital letter I
Question Marks
Second Class:
Ordering the days / months capital letters
Commas writing lists
Writing addresses correctly
Rewriting passages correctly capital letters, full stops, commas
Use of comma not before and
Exclamation Marks!
Using exclamation marks as punctuation marks in a sentence
Speech Marks
Rewriting sentences / short passages using correct punctuation revision of above work
Composing short stories from pictorial clues, paying attention to correct punctuation
Third Class:
Revision of punctuation concepts to date
Changing sentences to questions
Identifying sentences where commas should be used
Further work on speech punctuation
Fourth Class:
Use of hyphens
Use of apostrophe
Apostrophes for possession
Apostrophes to shorten words
Apostrophe use with plural nouns ending in s
Semi-colon
Negatives
Fifth Class:
Revision of punctuation concepts to date
Contractions
Direct and Indirect Speech
Working with tenses, prepositions and clauses
I or me
Sixth Class:
Dashes
The Colon
Compound / Complex Sentences
The Passive Voice
Use of Brackets in sentences
Conditionals
These are only suggestions. Schools should feel free to adjust them to suit the needs of their own situation.
Appendix 4
Appendix 6
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