How To Get My Reception Class Reading?

[Guest]

Hi there. In my reception class - and this is my first year EVER teaching reception by the way, I'm used to nursery - I have three groups of children: those who can read, those who recognise many sight words and high frequency words so SHOULD be reading by the end of the year and those who are struggling. We have asked the parents to get the children to practice four or five high frequency words a week and now have sent home flash cards, plus a letter stressing the importance of reading regularly with your child and we do writing very regularly and also sometimes flash cards with high frequency words as well. I am also going to put half of those flash cards on the wall near the writing area. We also have free writing tables inside and out and lots of books. Occasionally I will write a poem and get the kids to try to read a line at a time or else a big book. What else can I do? My boss said all the children should be reading already and at the very least ALL reading fluently by the end of the school year - HELP I am really trying and remember there's also writing, outdoor area and the foundation stage topics (Minibeasts etc) to cover and P.E. and more! They are starting to write independently, using memory and phonic knowledge and some have been doing this for a while. What else can I do??? I am honestly trying my best!

[Guest]

Sounds like you are doing really well! I started teaching Reception 3 years ago and knew very little about teaching these basic skills. But I have been amazed at how much the children learn and develop over the year.

A few thoughts on the words and reading. When they first come in to school I let them choose library books to take home and have their praents read to them - very valuable.

We use Jolly Phonics and give them a good grounding in sounding and blending. They take the sounds home to practice. Then they have reading books. I introduced word walls this year. On each wall there are 5 key words and they practice and colour in when they know them. When all 9 are complete they take home writing walls following a similar principle. If you are interetsed I could try and attach an example. I found a book, I think it's Scholastic, which has key word work - little books to make and activity sheets connected. That's quite useful.

I'll keep thinking and get back to you

Have fun - and try to get a holiday! heyjude

[Guest]

Sorry Phoenix I can not help you. I am from a Pre-school.

 

I have started to do Jolly Phonics with my children, we try to do a letter each week, we use our magic pens. (fingers in the air) and they draw the letter on a large A3 paper or in wet sand, using paint or in a craft activity.

 

Do you think this is a good idea? Some of the children who leave the pre-school for school in September love it and are now forming words with the letters that we have already covered.

 

I would like to know peoples views on this, how I can or how other settings introduce letters of the alphabet, should I been doing this in the first place?.

 

From September the school have asked me to join them in having regular meetings with them for planning in the foundation stage. Looking at what I do in the pre-school. Although the pre-school it committee run and we just rent the mobile from the school, I see this as being an important move.

 

I do feel alittle nervous thou, they may think what I'm doing is not to their standards. Well I'll some find out!.

[Guest]

Hi there Phoenix, Do You have a copy of the guided Reading bands with clear objectives to cover.You can find a copy of objectives at www.thegrid.org.uk/learning/english

or go into the Foundation stage area and the objectives can be downloaded there.

Do you have a reading band structure to help support the progression?

I have 10 mins a day working on Jolly Phonics, sky writing and key word recognition and also do a guided reading session once a week. I do some Big Book activities and share other texts too, fairly regularly. All my Year R are reading but I do have able children . I have a reading diary where I share the objectives /targets with parents and give tips to support their children.

My Year F1 children are working on simple skills such as turning pages 1 at a time and spotting letters that are in their name in the words and working out which page comes next, and thinking what might happen next - adult saying let's read it and find out

It will then flow into the next stages

Ther's lots more I could say but hope this might help

Regards Lynda

[Guest]

Hi there Phoenix - you sound as though you are on the right lines with the children you have - I remember my first year in Reception and panicing that they couldn't read. I have an early admissions Reception class and bearing in mind it is now the end of May, 10 of them are still 4! Half are reading confidently ( CVC and beyond + most of the first 45 key words) a quarter of them are at what I call ' breakthrough point' - they can sound, they can read some key words and reading is just beginning to make sense to them, and the remainder are picking up about a dozen key words at the most - their phonetic ear still hasn't tuned in - they can memorize texts, point, turn pages, talk about stories and non fiction but they aren't quite there.

Keep stressing to parents the importance of regular reading ( 5 mins a day ) At this time in the year I target the lower group reading more frequently with them individually and in small groups. I use support staff to hear these children read first thing each morning ( if possible). We learn key words alongside characters names and other essential first vocab from the scheme. We use key word cards - an animal shape with 5-6 words on it - children take these home alongside other reading material and change them when they know them - we have them up in the classroom too and the children enjoy moving from one animal to the other - its a bit competetive but works well for some!I use reading scheme material for guided reading to begin with so the children can use familar vocab ( we also have guided reading material) When I can't find a book that's at the right level I write the children simple letters, postcards from myself, characters in the scheme, soft toys etc. We had a letter last week from Mary Mary and shopping lists to read and use in the garden centre. I play more phonic games with them and alphabet games and do lots of oral sounding too. My children like to add pictures to sentences in mini books - these have been written to reinforce vocab that they know or can sound e.g. 'a cat and a rat ' Biff and Kipper had a run' - Keep other areas of the curriculum linked in e.g. outdoors - play hopscotch with key words, throw balls into buckets labelled with letter sounds or words, go on a treasure hunt with instructions in text and digi photo, hide envelopes / bottles outdoors with messages in. Give children instruction cards with their names on e.g. 5 hops, 3 jumps - all the time keep reminding the children of the searchlights they need to use to decode new words . We constantly talk about being word detectives and list what we can do when we are stuck with a word. This works well for beginning readers and those that are more confident - through the year you can add more strategies to the list - I begin with picture clues, then the first letter and then later add spliting words, using the rest of the sentence as a clue etc... Keep going with shared reading if you do it and keep the phonics going. Your children will get there in the end.. some might have to wait until year one - but the children need to be ready for it. Hope these ideas help and don't worry you are not the only one that feels pressure at this time of year.

[Guest LucyQ]

Hi Kap. I too work in a pre-school and I would say DON'T teach them to read or write - it's too early.

 

Our children need time to play and socialise and when they are older, encouraged to do something under your direct supervision and control for say 10-15mins a session. This may be sitting and drawing and writing, block play, PE or whatever you feel that group of children will benefit from.

 

We are not here to prepare them for school life or make it easier for teachers (although I suppose the 15min activities above will prepare them for more formal work). We are here to help our children reach their potential at their ages now.

 

At my pre-school the session is made up mainly of freeplay, with some quality activities, routines and environment which encourages fine & gross motor skills, independence/self esteem, concentration, respect for others. The children are free to use the equipment when they need to and for as long as they need to.

 

I have had meetings with the reception teacher at the school where nearly all of my children will be attending and she is quite happy with how we are doing things and is even thinking about changing how they operate.

 

It won't be long before all reception classes are allowing thier children more freeplay and less teacher directed play/work.

 

Sorry Phoenix - seem to have hijacked your post!!!

[Guest]

Sounds like you are doing really well! I started teaching Reception 3 years ago and knew very little about teaching these basic skills. But I have been amazed at how much the children learn and develop over the year.

A few thoughts on the words and reading. When they first come in to school I let them choose library books to take home and have their praents read to them - very valuable.

We use Jolly Phonics and give them a good grounding in sounding and blending. They take the sounds home to practice. Then they have reading books. I introduced word walls this year. On each wall there are 5 key words and they practice and colour in when they know them. When all 9 are complete they take home writing walls following a similar principle. If you are interetsed I could try and attach an example. I found a book, I think it's Scholastic, which has key word work - little books to make and activity sheets connected. That's quite useful.

I'll keep thinking and get back to you

Have fun - and try to get a holiday! heyjude

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Hi,

I know it has been a couple of months since you wrote this, but I am very interested in the examples you talked about. I would be very grateful if you could e-mail it to me.

Thank you very much.

Boogie