AnonyMouse_4562 Posted December 3, 2013 Posted December 3, 2013 Hi I need some inspiration! We have been advised by a literacy advisor to have a literacy working wall up in every classroom from Nursery up and that this wall should include building up a sentence appropriate to the age of children. I want my wall to be relevant and useful for the children not just a wall of words. Any ideas? I'm in Nursery. Thanks Green Hippo x
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted December 3, 2013 Posted December 3, 2013 what about commentary on what they have done...ie if they have drawn a picture some words to describe, then for those who are not at this stage you could just put up speech bubbles with their talk on it...hope that makes sense ...very tired....xmas nativity! 1
AnonyMouse_19782 Posted December 3, 2013 Posted December 3, 2013 I think Cait does these at her pre-school, a bit like when a topic takes over - I remember she did one on cats because she had a core of children interested in cats, firstly she recorded what they already knew about cats, then they found out as much extra they wanted to about them, and made pictures and collected info and downloads etc. I think Cait scribed what the children had said and this all went up on the wall, and by the end i think she had several walls covered in what the children had found out......... in fact we have some who are puppy mad at the moment and if this should continue in the New Year, think I might do the same!
AnonyMouse_4562 Posted December 3, 2013 Author Posted December 3, 2013 Thanks for your replies. From the BRIEF description! the suggestion seemed to be along the lines of providing a model to support independent writing. I've done similar working walls to Cait (pinched idea from Cait I think, thank you!) I'm trying to think how to develop this wall so it can be 'used' by the children. E.g. should we have a group-time where we label things (teacher as scribe) or create simple sentences or possibly take repeated refrains from known stories? I feel that to be used by the children I will have to 1. develop this with the children and 2. have some sort of visual prompt to help children to 'read' the words? Thanks, Green Hippo
Guest Posted December 3, 2013 Posted December 3, 2013 we use communicate in print - software for children with speech and language issues. called widgit as well i think. so you type in a word, press enter and it inserts a picture of whatever you typed. this suits nursery and reception, as they don't need to be able to read the word to find it. we are nursery. we currently have words like mummy, daddy, love, from, to, all with pictures to support. we add topic words, and when we start to do a letter of the week after easter we put several words beginning with that letter on the wall. words get removed and put in tupperware boxes with label to show what words are in the box, e.g. pets. these words are more relevant in summer term but more able access now. it doesn't seem to make them any less confident in doing their own emergent writing - i did worry it might when we tried it out last year. i think you can get some symbols on free download. try here http://www.widgit.com/resources/index.htm
AnonyMouse_4562 Posted December 3, 2013 Author Posted December 3, 2013 Thanks sooty99, this sounds like a good idea! I will have a look at it. Where do you display these words and phrases? Where do you put your little boxes of words? Having looked at a number of displays and ideas for Literacy working walls, it appears that it is better to have examples from the children with adult annotation in the Foundation Stage, not just 'correct' models from the adults (which is how it was described to me!) I'm still a bit unsure of how to go forward with this, particularly as I like my writing table right in the middle of the room as it seems to encourage more writing but then has no direct display board. I have created a couple of display spaces above the shelves but I think this needs to be a bigger display. At the moment, I'm starting it above my book corner but I'm not sure this will work hmmmm.... Help!
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted December 3, 2013 Posted December 3, 2013 one thing i did see this week was speech bubbles hung in the garden...with quotes from the children about what they were doing. I often find if these are on display i can start to encourage the more able to add their own words/sentences. The other thing they are in to at the moment is sending notes/letters/cards/pictures to the staff! i am thinking of ways to extend this...i guess probably sending them messages back would be the obvious! :blink: :rolleyes:
Guest Posted December 4, 2013 Posted December 4, 2013 our graphics area is by a radiator which i have turned off, and i put words on it. it is enclosed by a unit on each side so it's cosy, and units house resources - wooden shelves one side and drawers on other. word boxes kept on wooden shelves. when we have a health and safety check i take them all off the radiator!!!! it is always full of busy children. the new children in september (22), came in extremely low in writing - half were not even distinguishing between marks made. and not showing any interest in drawing, let alone writing. i had commercial letter cards in a basket for older ones and they were cut up and scribbled on. so have had to remove them for the mo. the children seem to be coming in with less and less skills, but we have to get them to be able to do the sorts of things they were expected to achieve in reception 5 years ago. it is hard to get the balance right for what is appropriate in school, and nursery - good luck x
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