Reading and Phonics - the ED Specially 4U way

Introduction to Reading and Phonics: The ED Specially 4U way

Over the past 7 years the ED Specially 4U literacy programs have taught hundreds of children how to  read or started them on their road to literacy.  We are immensely proud of the unique program that has been developed based on over 20 years of classroom instruction.

What is phonics?  Quite simply it is letters and their sounds.

We developed our program using resources that are bright, colourful and motivating.  Our students love learning their letters with refreshing and 'hands on' learning resources.

LETTER STARS

This is our first step to phonics instruction.  Stars are the shape that we use within our program to signify that the sound is a 'beginning' sound of a word.  So from the first, we introduce sounds on these stars as we teach them in relation to real words that start with that sound. 
For example: /a/ is for apple.

Each different letter is given a colour, and this colour remains constant throughout all of our resources to assist in optimum learning.

Each letter has a group of words in which the targetted sound is the beginning of the word.  Coupled with the words is a graphic which can be represented in either line drawing or photograph dependent on the learning styles/ability of the student.  Each letter has 5 graphic cards to correspond with the letter star (with letter x as the only exception, with 3 graphic cards)

Letter Stars

Letters are introduced and letter name and sound is taught at the same time.  This activity becomes a lot of fun when it is presented with our Phonics 4U CD

PHONICS 4 U

This CD reinforces the letter name, sound and the names of each graphic which start with this sound, through repetition that the students quickly learn.

To further practice and reinforce the letter and it's sound we introduce each letter with an ED Specially 4U READER in both A4 and B4 sizes (which allows for classroom use).  Each student holds a B4 reader and completes tasks while looking at the letter which is printed in both Upper and Lower case as well as each of the graphics and their printed word.

B4 Beginning Letter Reader

A4 Beginning Letter Reader

As can be seen in this picture our students enjoy interacting with the reader.  This is a great opportunity to model and practice correct letter writing formation.  Our students also enjoy finding the targeted sound for the week at the beginning of the word - sometimes the words have the sound more than once and as an extension our students find the letter in different places in the word (ie. beginning and ending - 'w' for window).  This activity also allows discussion of what is a letter and what is a word - often something that our students are thinking about for the first time.

Our letters are reinforced with several different resources:

A4 wall display

Wall displays and charts are a fantastic tool to reinforce the letters, their sounds and the words that start with that sound.

a-z Letter Cards

Letter cards are extremely useful and we use these in both the coloured and non-coloured backgrounds.  The coloured backgrounds are used only in the beginning of instruction for those students who require extra support in identifying the letters.  Usually we practice with the non-coloured letter cards when we are starting to blend the sounds together to form words.

For students who have difficulty identifying the letters and recalling their sounds we use the
'3 & 6 Grid matching' activity.  This resource provides support to match the letters only for those who can, or to increase their skill to selecting the correct letter when requested by the teacher, until they are confident to name the letter and it's sound.  This resource is tailor made for our students who require extra learning support.

3 and 6 Grid Matching

Once we introduce the letters we then continue to reinforce them throughout our program as we learn new letters.  We try to do this consistently through games and hands-on learning opportunities to ensure that we are offering a multi-sensory learning approach.

Sometimes we reinforce the letter and sound learning by making playdough letters, writing in sand or shading sandpaper letters.  This can be achieved by using the laminated letter cards as a guide or the children can do this with just the letter as a model.

Each week we enjoy making a craft activity using the beginning sound we have targetted for the week.

/a/ is for ant

Students also practice their letter writing on our customised and personalised writing worksheets

Games are used weekly to reinforce the previous week's learning, and letters are constantly reviewed and reinforced this way. 

Look out for the ED Specially 4U beginning sound games blog to learn more about the games offered in our program.

Learning phonics at ED Specially 4U is a fun and motivating experience

For the Love of Learning

Donna

TERM 4 - Getting Ready 4 School

Welcome to Term 4!
This is always our busiest term with many new students joining our classes in preparation for classes or starting school next year.

It is such an exciting term, and the lead up to Christmas is so busy that this term always rushes by too quickly.

Our School Readiness program gives our students exposure to the academic skills they will further develop at BIG school. As always we recommend that you spend some time reinforcing the skills that we have taught each week.  Please refer to any of our hand outs and information on the blog, facebook, instagram and pinterest- ED Specially 4U sites.  Don't forget to discuss any other academic ideas with your teacher or refer to our website www.edspecially4u.com.au to see other games and resources to reinforce your child's academic learning.

For our students who are heading to BIG school next year, I have compiled a list of other suggestions to develop your child's social and emotional skills in preparation for the exciting times ahead.

1.  Orientation:  hopefully by now you should have chosen your school and enrolled your child.  Part of the enrolment process will include some orientation sessions for your child at their new school.  This activity is HIGHLY encouraged.  This gives your child the opportunity to see their new surroundings, as well as complete some academic skills in the new classroom.  They will also meet some of the teachers at the school including the principal.  They will work with other children who will be starting with them next year and will probably have the opportunity for social interaction in a play area at this time.  A lot of research and support is given to schools to make the orientation process a successful and interesting process.

2.  Social:  If your child knows any children starting school with them, make sure you organise 'play date' opportunities for your child.  This gives your child additional confidence when they start BIG school.

3.  Sport and Activities:  think about how you can assist your child to be confident in the playground.  From an early age we have taught our children to share and hope they will use these skills with other children at school.  Unfortunately the playground can be a very difficult area for our children - even those that have been encouraged socially.  After the preschool play area, the school playground can often seem boring with only minimal play equipment to occupy their time.  Teach your child how to play games they can use in the playground.  Children are creative and will quickly learn new games from their friends, however, learning some games to play can assist them to have a strong start to the school playground

4.  School Lunches:  Food can be a significant challenge for both parents and children.  It is always a challenge to find healthy choices that your child is happy to eat.  There are many internet sites that give better detail into healthy food choices, I only want to mention the importance of helping your child to eat their food

•  Schools have two different eating times during the day (with some having a third break - crunch and sip for a fruit and water break)  Your child needs to recognise which foods they should be eating at the different times of the day.  A great way to do this is to find out the times of your future schools' food breaks.  For instance, some schools have lunch earlier followed by a later afternoon tea break while other schools have this in reverse.  You can practise having food at these times with your child at home.  Pre-prepare a lunch box as you would for school.  Pack the lunch and recess foods into seperate containers/paper bags/ zip lock bags.
• Don't forget to teach your child to open all of the packaging.  If you are going to send pre-packaged foods, also teach your child how to open these.  If this is too difficult for your child make sure that you open the packaging for them to take to school - don't forget your child is one of a big group at eating times and teachers do not have time to assist each child with their lunches.

5.  Bathrooms:  another important area to assist your child is understanding how to use the toilet independantly.  This includes being able to undress and dress as necessary as well as using the bathroom facilities.  Children need to be independant in this area when they start school as teachers do not assist them in the bathrooms generally during the day.

6.  Hand Washing:  When you start a new school (whether you are a teacher or a student) you are exposed to lots of new germs.  Explain to your child how important good hand washing is.  Teach your child to wash their hands using soap and hopefully staying healthy as a consequence.

7.  School Uniform:  Your school will organise a time that you are able to buy your child's uniform.  This is a lot of fun for your child.  They will love dressing up as a BIG school student.  Be organised and enjoy this lovely time with your child.

8.  Looking after their own belongings: As every mother of a school child will tell you, school is a constant opportunity to lose your hat, jumper, socks?  All of your child's belongings need to be clearly labelled.  Your child needs to be able to recognise their own belongings, and you need to teach them strategies for keeping their belongings safe, ie. take your jumper off and place it in your bag.

9.  Sleep Routines:   A happy, successful day at school can be greatly influenced by the amount of sleep your child has had.  It is recommended that children between the ages of 5-12years have approximately 10-11 hours of sleep.  If your child is not currently in a good sleep routine, now is the time to encourage this.  Your child will work and play very hard at BIG school.  It is important they are fully rested to facilitate this.z

10  Morning Routines:  A huge cause of stress in households is the morning routine of preparing for school. Believe me! I know this all too well.  Assist your child to get ready for school in the mornings by giving them a visual schedule of the morning routines.

This is a practical and easy way to help your child get ready for school.
Make this a laminated board or place it into a clear plastic sleeve, then use a whiteboard marker.  As each activity is completed, your child can place a cross through the visual representation.  Everyone enjoys that feeling of crossing off a list - and this way your child can do it each time they complete a task.  Whiteboard markers can be rubbed off at the end of the day, ready for the next morning's organisation.

If you would like to customise your own morning routine board here is the display board:

Use the routine cards included her to either cut each one out seperately and attach to your display board in a sequence that best suits your family or make your own graphic cards using the blank templates to include other activities in your morning routine. 

You can attach the cards to the display board by glue before you laminate the display board or laminate each seperately and attach to the laminated base board with blu tack/velcro to allow flexibility in your daily routine.

Term 4 disappears very quickly.  Make sure you enjoy every precious moment with your child before they go to school.  This is a special time for you both.

For the Love of Learning

 

Donna

School Readiness Resource Pack

PREPARING CHILDREN FOR BIG SCHOOL:

One of our very best selling resources is the: School Readiness Resource Pack.

This is a fantastic resource for children to use at home. For those students who attend our classes, this is a perfect representation of the concepts that we learn in School Readiness Classes and is a fantastic opportunity to reinforce the learning from the year.
Lots of packs are also purchased for children who have not attended school readiness; this is equally as beneficial as the pack is designed to complement the kindergarten literacy and numeracy program.

The additional benefit of this resource is that it is personalised for the individual child.
It is a write on/wipe off resource and can be used over and over again for additional practice.

The book of letters - each page contains one letter of the alphabet.  The letters are not in alphabetical order, but are in the same order as introduced in our classes.  This non-alphabetical letter order is detailed by research to be the best order to introduce letters to beginning readers.
This resource matches the Letter Star resource that we use to introduce beginning letter sounds.  This is coupled with a fun CD. 

Phonics 4U CD -  A CD designed with the Letter Star program, and is available with this resource as it is the way we introduce the letter names and sounds in our School Readiness Program.

 

 Writing Book -  The personalised writing book guides the child through the letters of the alphaet - using the letter order of the initial sound resources.  This resource uses the most assistance (outlined letter shapes) to lesser assistance (dotted letter shapes) and finally no assistance as children attempt the letters on their own.  Letters are written using guidelines

 Book of Numbers -  Another fun resource introducing the numerals 1-20, coupled with a visual representation of counting groups 1-20 and the printed word for each number. As with our literacy resources, the graphics used in this resource match the graphics used in all of the ED Specially 4U mathematical direct instruction resources (such as number concept cards)  This resource is also personalised for your child.

As well as the workbooks and CD, if this resource pack is purchased there is also two additional A4 posters which are great reminders of the initial letters/sounds of the alphabet and the numbers 1-20

This resource has been such a favourite for our students and children in the wider community.  We would love to hear how you have used your resource at home with your children in the comments below.

As with everything we do, we encourage you to enjoy our resources designed

For the Love of Learning

Donna

ED the ED Specially 4U dog

10 'Getting Ready 4 School' Activities for home

School holidays are upon us again!  As usual we can't believe how quickly Term 3 has flown.
It has been an amazing term of learning.  As teachers we love watching our students progress in this term.  A lot of confidence has been gained.
Our students are familiar with the structured learning routine now and have gained confidence in their own ability to complete the tasks. 
The holidays are a good opportunity to enjoy these new skills with your child.  So I thought I would compile 10 easy activities you can try at home:

1.  Rhyme: Share books with your child that enjoy the rhyming sounds.
                                   Our favourite is always Dr. Seuss' 'The Cat in the Hat'

Really any of the Dr. Seuss books are tremendous for reinforcing rhyme sounds.
Usborne books are always great for reinforcing rhyme with books such as 'The Fat Cat on the Mat and other tales' Phil Roxbec Cox and Stephen Cartwright 

 Mem Fox is always a fantastic choice for rhyming books (especially great as she is an Australian author!)

Where is the Green Sheep?  10 Little Fingers, 10 Little Toes, A Giraffe in the Bath, Possum Magic, Boo to a Goose and The Magic Hat are all books that feature throughout our program and may be stories that your children are familiar with

There are many other great options that you can access.  When you are enjoying the book with your child- make sure you reinforce the rhyme sound.  Are they able to continue the rhyme by changing the beginning sound of the words.  ie. cat/hat/mat/fat/pat/sat/rat etc.


2.  Nursery Rhymes and Finger play songs:
There is a reason that these songs/rhymes have stood the test of time.  They teach early literacy skills while the children are having fun!  It is easy to assume that your child might be tired of these, but if you revisit them during these holidays, you will probably find they love singing these with you.

3.  Fairy Tales:  these holidays are a great time to talk about some Fairy Tales with your child.  It is surprising that a lot of children start Kindergarten without knowing fairy tales.  You could take some time to enjoy this.

4.  I spy: this is a great game especially if you are spending time travelling a bit of distance.  A great way to reinforce the beginning sound in words - remember at this stage, it is best to refer to the sound instead of the letter name, ie. I spy with my little eye.....something beginning with /t/ (rather than saying the letter name T)

5.  Make your own book: This is a fun activity.  You could choose to make an alphabet book - revising all of the letters that we have learnt this year: amstifdroglhucbnkve.  Children can draw pictures, or find photos on the internet that start with these letter sounds.

6.  Reading with Understanding (Comprehension): As always, enjoy sharing books with your child.  Now is a good time to start to develop some comprehension strategies.  Comprehension is essential for reading competence and is often a reading skill that is not taught at this age.  In our School Readiness classes we reflect on comprehension, so reading at home is an ideal time to build on this skill. 

• make connections- how does that make you feel?, how would you feel if you were that character?  has this ever happened to you?  does this remind you of something? how is this different to what you do?.........
• question - I wonder why they are doing that?  I wonder what is in the lunchbox?  I wonder where they are going? .........
• predicting - make a prediction to work out where the text is leading to.  Predicting assists with reading skills. 
• review - the text.  Talk about what has happened in the story, what was the sequence of events

Of course, at this age reading for enjoyment is very important.   You should not try to incorporate all of these comprehension strategies into every book that you share with your child.  Use some of

the strategies as best suited to the text you are reading.

7.  Fine Motor Fun:  Throughout our program we spend time each week developing the children's fine motor skills through playdough, cutting, shaving cream, ripping paper, threading and art/craft activities including painting, gluing and stamping. 

During the school holidays you might like to work on some of these strategies with your child as well. 
 

Shaving Cream Play

 

Gluing

Stamping

Scissor Skills

Playdough creation

Playing with tongs

Threading

 8.  Writing Practice:  Now that our students are doing so well with their name writing.  They could practice writing their name on their own and forming the letters independently.  Our program will introduce surname writing to the Ready 4 School students in Term 4.

 8.  Numbers: Offer your child opportunities to count. 
Shopping for fruit and vegetables is a great activity for reinforcing counting skills.  Ask your child to gather 5 pears, 4 apples, 3 bananas, 10 carrots etc.
You could extend this activity by creating a fruit book at home.  Each fruit or vegetable can be drawn and the corresponding numeral written with it. For example: 1 banana, 2 apples, 3 pears, 4 oranges etc. 
Try this worksheet for some extra number practice:

  9.  Play: Give your child lots of opportunities to play during these school holidays.  Play is the basis of all good learning at this early age.  Make sure your children enjoy play opportunities such as gross motor (play equipment at the park is perfect for this), make believe and construction play is so important.  Play with your child when you get the chance.  Role play how to speak with each other, how to share and take turns.  These skills are invaluable when your child reaches school.

Have a great time and play with your child, as well as making arrangements for play opportunities with children at the same age.  Some of our school readiness students have organised play dates with their class friends during these holidays, a fantastic chance to work with your children on these essential play skills!

Dress up and Role Play

Construction Play

   10.  Relax and Have Fun: School holidays are meant for FUN.  Allow your family to relax and enjoy these two weeks.  Precious time with your family is the best educational experience for your child.  Happy, confident children need time to enjoy themselves and relax in their own environment. 

We are so proud of our clever students.  We hope that you all have a fantastic holiday, we look forward to working with you next term

For the Love of Learning

Donna