Literacy & Numeracy?

[Guest]

Hi, I am new to EYFS having moved down to FS2 in November from KS2.

 

I am struggling with the need to teach literacy and maths, but without the formality of the 'lesson' that would be taught further up school.

With the concept of 'child led' planning, do people still 'block' literacy into Units, and if so what units do you do?- I can't find a link on the Primary Strategy website anywhere.

Any ideas would be much appreciated!

 

Also, in my class I do individual sound books for each child, a personalised word box of HF words, and reading books.

Does anyone else do similar, and if so how do you manage it?

It seems most of my afternoons are taken up with sounds, word boxes and changing reading books, instead of observing, playing and interacting with my children.

 

Any advice is welcome!

[AnonyMouse_25084]

I don't block my literacy into the units from the strategy but that's not saying you shouldn't. I tend to identify the core next steps of the class and plan activities to teach these skills that can be met through a theme or interest. I ensure I do a balance of narrative, non-fictions, poetry etc over the year though. I only do 1 formal literacy based carpet session - either shared reading and/or a writing a week. Then I do phonics daily, 1 adult led CLL activity (usually guided writing) and 1 guided reading a week. I get my children to change their reading books twice a week (they do it themselves from a box of 'choice books' after they have completed their guided reading or writing activity so doesn't take any time. They take home a 'proper' levelled reading book once a week which is usually the book they have read during their guided reading session.

 

I do sound and word books too, children hand them in on a friday and I check them on a one-to-one basis with them on friday morning as I have a parent helper in that day so have an extra pair of hands.

 

It works for me! Hope that is useful. x

[Guest]

Hiya

We do pretty much the same in terms of whole class carpet sessions, but do work with children individually with their levelled reading book (which also goes home) once a week in addition to guided reading group work. Literacy does pretty much take over, especially this term, but we view it as a necessary tool for independence so it is a choice we have made, and we go for total immersion pretty much.

We don't use the literacy strategy as a planning tool, but plan from the EYFS objectives directly, building in progression and breadth as we go through the year.

We do struggle with writing as it seems to lag far behind reading and phonic attainment; children take a long time to grasp the mechanics of letter formation, orientation of text and writing conventions so we begin with captions and gradually introduce punctuation and finger spaces with lots of modelling. And then confuse everything by introducing different forms! Writing is often cross-curicular to give it a purpose - describing a cooking investigation or recording a design for a 'junk' model for example - depends very much on what our weekly/fortnightly topic is. We spend time with each child writing individually during the first term or so, and gradually reduce the level of support as they become more confident.

We have a writing area in each class where children are free to mark-make as they like, with lots of visual support around should they choose to use it, and a pleasing number do. Outside we have chalks and water with big paintbrushes and writing trolleys etc and againg children use these happily and are proud of their efforts - often a talking point as they cross the playground with carers at hometime.

It does feel asthough everything revolves around literacy sometimes, but keep smiling and they will get there!