shape and colour coding sheila davies and lisa davies

Shape and Colour Coding

Sheila Davies and Lisa Davies

History

» Originally just colour coding – adapted from schemes by John Lea and ICAN’s colour coding used within the Language through reading scheme [LTR].

» Shape was later added by Speech Therapists Carol Kaldor SLT and Catherine Redmayne’s.

» Recently adapted by Wrexham Speech Therapists Matthew Cruse, Katie Monk and Helen Still.

Acknowledgements to Wrexham S and L Therapists for their advice re. Shape and Colour Coding

What is Shape and Colour Coding?

» A simple, visual, structured means of supporting language development and sequencing sentences.

» A method for discussing and analysing grammatical forms and structures with young children.

» Concrete, tangible and visible, it can therefore support children’s auditory and visual memory.


Who can Shape and Colour Coding be used with?» Children who have delayed or disordered language

development» Children who benefit from the use of visual

strategies to support auditory memory and processing.

» EAL children, particularly in instances where the home language uses alternative grammatical structures

» All pupils who benefit from additional support to develop understanding and use of spoken or written language


Developmental Progression of Questions

» There are seven core question words that are used in shape and colour coding and these are:

» Who? What doing?

» What?

» Where? When?

» What like?

» Shape and Colour Coding aids children’s understanding and response to the above questions


Starting Points - Oral Language Development…

Who?

» Start with ‘Who?’» Hold up the shape whilst talking

about the person» Use a clear red circle to discuss

and identify the ‘Who’ in pictures, stories, games, role play areas etc

» Can be used to reinforce and teach pronouns – he, she, they


Adding verbs

» What … doing?

» Get the children to do actions whilst holding up ‘What ..doing?’ shape

» Again, use visuals, stories, games and curriculum based activities

» Sorting ‘what doing’ and ‘who’ pictures

» Introduce the simple sentence structure - Who is it? What are they doing? What is he/she/it doing?

» Start with the present continuous – The boy is reading

Who?

What … doing?


What?

» What?

» Introduce the ‘object’ of the sentence, through progressive questioning

» Who is it? The boy

» What is the boy doing? reading

» What is the boy reading? the book

» Use the sequence of shapes to develop this sentence structure.

» The boy is reading the book

Who?

What … doing? What?


Practical

Materials:

Book

Large, clear colour-coded shapes.

Activity:

In pairs, practice asking and answering questions about the pictures using the appropriate shapes.


Adding ‘Where?’

Where?

» Again, use this question independently at first, prior to introducing it within a sentence.

» This introduces prepositions e.g. on, in, under, at, behind, in front…..

» Where is the boy reading?» ‘The boy is reading the book in the

park’

Who?

What … doing?Where?

What?


PracticalMaterials:

Dice

Small colour-coded shapes.

Activity:» In groups of 4, take turns to throw the dice.» After each throw select the corresponding shape and colour

card.» Think of an appropriate word to match the shape.» Continue until you have sufficient shapes to sequence and

say a sentence» The winner is the first person to make a sentence with at least

3 different shape and colour cards


Adding ‘When?’ » This introduces the concept and language of ‘time,’ including the correct use of tenses.

» E.g. yesterday, this morning, last week, tomorrow, after school, before dinner, on Saturday, at 3 o’clock, in March…..

» It is an abstract concept, which benefits from the use of sequential images, time-lines, real life situations.

» Can be situated at beginning or end of a sentence e.g.

‘Yesterday Sam went swimming.’

‘Sam went swimming yesterday.’

» When?

When? Who?

What … doing?

Who?

What … doing?When?

Examples

Sam is running.

The bell is ringing.

The boy is behind the tree.

The girl is reading the book.

Yesterday Jane went swimming.

Oral Activities Throw a ‘shapes’ dice in turn, (pick up corresponding card

and provide a word / leading on to building sentences). Select shapes from a feely bag – make a sentence. Talkabout pictures e.g. answering Who? What? Where?

When? Questions. Shapes can be used during plenary/whole class activities to

support the discussion and questions asked by the teacher. Encourage story telling, providing a bank of pictures /

symbols displayed on corresponding shape and colour. Silly Sentences.


Practical

Activity:

» In groups of 4 discuss how shape and colour coding could be used to develop literacy skills.

» Feedback ideas


Using Shape and Colour Coding to Support Literacy –

» Once familiar with the visual sequence, pupils may be more successful at understanding and constructing grammatically correct sentences.

» Shape and/or colour code phrases/words within a text» Use this to highlight and explain the different grammatical

and sequential structures of different text genres. e.g – The use of verbs in instructional writing.

» Focus on specific grammatical concepts within a text, and use colour coding to discuss where/how they have been used. E.g Vocabulary related to time, Prepositions

» To improve comprehension and assess understanding of the text, ask the questions using the colour coded shapes. These are developmental.


Using Shape and Colour Coding to Support Literacy

» Build up a word bank of colour coded words.» Practice making sentences using the above words, following

a specific pattern or structure. » Worksheet planning. A story board can be produced using

the shape coding. » Practice interchanging one part of the sentence to create

new/better meanings – e.g replacing verbs for stronger examples, running…sprinting

» The shapes can be used for marking written work – for example by adding corrections with the appropriate shape i.e if a verb is missing/in the wrong place a yellow rectangle can be added



» Use the ‘What like?’ cloud to introduce adjectives and adverbs into pupils writing.

The horse galloped

The black horse galloped

The black horse

galloped quickly

Who?

What … doing?

Who?What like?

What … doing?

What like? Who

?

What … doing?

What like?



» At a higher level, colour coding can also be used to demonstrate and encourage the correct use of conjunctions and clause structures.

Conjunction/connectiveConjunction/connective

Sam is running because he is late


Practical

Materials: Written texts

Activity:

» Use shape and colour coding to explore and discuss the structure of a text.


shape and colour coding sheila davies and lisa davies

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