"letter Of The Week"

[Guest]

my nursery nurse came up with a lovely idea to ensure we reflect a varirty of cultures in our room and planning as this is something we arent really doing, apart form the odd resource.

 

she suggested we focus on a letter each week/month and use something from different cultures beginning with that letter to discuss, either cirlce time or interest table- cant think of egs at the min but mayb different types of animals, clothing, food etc.

 

when she explained i was up for it as i thought she wanted the focus to be on learning about other cultures but as shes putiing it together it seems to be more focused on the letter- so far no work with children has been done but shes put togethr some pictures beginning with the letter A and a sign saying "letter of the week".

 

im assuming as shes started with A she will follow on to B etc etc

 

do you see anything wrong in this? should there be a "letter of the week" with the letters and sounds? as you know its my first time in preschool, but this sounds like something we should be getting away from??

 

heeellp????!!!! i dont want to put down her lovely idea in anyway!

[Guest]

I used to do this as well but with the coming of the eyfs our early years advisor has said that we should not be doing this. I would be interested in hearing what other authorities have advised

killowengirl

[Guest]

I used to do this as well but with the coming of the eyfs our early years advisor has said that we should not be doing this. I would be interested in hearing what other authorities have advised

killowengirl

 

what where the reasons given?

[AnonyMouse_6878]

what where the reasons given?

 

We have decided to do just this during our show 'n' tell time to ensure we comply with Phase 1 of the Letters and Sounds document - part of our "discrete" introduction of phonics.

[Guest]

We have decided to do just this during our show 'n' tell time to ensure we comply with Phase 1 of the Letters and Sounds document - part of our "discrete" introduction of phonics.

 

 

can you explain in more detail Di?

 

isnt phase one about listeening skills like songs, rhymes etc as oppossed to introducing the phonics/letter sounds/letters

 

thanks

[Guest tinkerbell]

many years ago we used to do this in the reception class..it took 26 weeks to do the whole alphabet!

 

I am not in nursery so please excuse me if this seems silly , could you have a colour a week or a shape of the week where children bring things in drom home to add to a collection/display??

 

Tinkerbellx

[AnonyMouse_6878]

can you explain in more detail Di?

 

isnt phase one about listeening skills like songs, rhymes etc as oppossed to introducing the phonics/letter sounds/letters

 

thanks

 

Yes, you are right - children are not expected to be introduced to the written letter (grapheme) in Phase 1. No, I'm not clever - I just read up Phase 1 on this website!:

 

http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/local/cll...s/phase_one.pdf.

 

We choose show 'n' tell as our part of the day to ensure speaking and listening skills happen, and chose letter sounds as a topic for parents to follow as they like to know what to help their children bring in from home. We only use the written letter to back up the sound so that those children who already have some knowledge of their letters can build on their interest.

 

Glad you made me think about it, as our CLL Co-Ordinator has the Phase 1 documentation, and I didn't realise how much help and advice it contained until now. Many thanks.

[AnonyMouse_4544]

many years ago we used to do this in the reception class..it took 26 weeks to do the whole alphabet!

 

I am not in nursery so please excuse me if this seems silly , could you have a colour a week or a shape of the week where children bring things in drom home to add to a collection/display??

 

Tinkerbellx

When I started teaching it was the norm to have a letter of the week in reception but as Tinkerbell says this was really slow. I would concentrate on speaking and listening skills with younger children unless they are very able.

[Guest]

I agree with your sentiments northernbird, not wanting to dampen your staffs ideas, but as others have said, introducing 'letters' in a formal ABC way is not conducive to how children learn letter sounds.( or indeed how they learn about 'objects' )

I also believe that enabling cultural diversity experiences, needs to be more subtle and less 'seperate' from everyday experiences. Cultures are inclusive of our society, and not 'show' pieces.

 

As this member of staff has shown an interest in diversity, maybe just thank her for the idea but say it would be really helpful to you and the children if she could maybe look at each 'play' area of the setting and think of various resources that are used from different cultures to include within each play area. Encourage her to talk to the parents of children who attend who are from a different cultural background, this ensures assumptions or stereotypes aren't used. Maybe this member of staff would also relish being the settings 'inclusion' officer, get her some of the DCFS publications about this subject and give her the responsibility to develop this area that has been identified as 'a bit lacking'. Hopefully she will respond to this positively and enjoy 'working' on helping the setting to improve. She could have a spot on the staff meetings agenda to report back to all how she plans for this area can be developed.

 

Peggy