Phonics Garden – Continuous Provision

Being in a mixed age group class on my most recent Professional Practice proved to be a challenge, especially being in a mixed Key Stage class. The class of mixed Reception/ Year 1/ Year 2 required the older children to be focussing on their upcoming SAT’s whilst the youngest were to be taught a completely different curriculum, encouraged to explore the enhanced learning areas and take a lead in their own learning. Because of the different styles of learning happening in the same classroom it was essential to enhance as many areas as possible to aid the younger children. I decided that due to the nature of our topic ‘Plants’, to enhance the Phonics area by making a garden, where the children could plant their phonics sounds and words if they could say them out loud. The area which I created looked like this:

The area was in the middle of the classroom with access from all angles. I decided to get a tuff spot tray and put it onto one of the stands, to make it elevated with easier access for the children. I filled it with compost and small planting pots. On each of the corners of the tray there was a  plastic pouch containing some flowers on lollipop sticks, each with a different sound or word from the Read Write Inc. programme which the children were familiar with. The sounds were on different template flowers to the green words, as were the red words. I also placed some grass along one of the edges with some other words along it. Above the tray I hung a watering can with water droplets ‘pouring’ from the spout which the children had previously completed, with everything they knew about plants on them.

The children found the area engaging and went to it frequently, and even though I was teaching another group in the classroom, I could clearly hear them pronouncing the sounds and words which I had made for the area. They became fond of the area and the new activity very quickly, engaged with their own personal learning.

The different words which I included were also appropriate for all of the children in the classroom, promoting reading and blending skills for all. As we introduced a new set of green words for the children, I made their corresponding flowers and inserted them into the pouches to encourage children to continue their phonics development.

How it meets the standards:

• TS1: This piece of evidence shows that I have been working towards parts A and B of this standard because it promotes a safe learning environment and it challenges children to enhance their own learning by reading the words which they know or are working towards in their phonics lessons.
• TS2: For this standard I have been working towards parts A and B because I had an understanding of where the children were in their phonic learning after teaching many lessons, and throughout about how the children could be progressed in this area of the continuous provision. They could be extended with new words and alien words as they become more familiar through the programme.
• TS3: Parts A, B and D are all shown in this piece of evidence as my knowledge of phonics and early reading had to be strong in order to teach the lessons and create this resource for the classroom.
• TS4: This evidence supports that I am working towards part E of standard 4 as I have contributed to the design and provision of an engaging curriculum which emphasises the importance of phonics in the Early Years and Key Stage 1 areas of the Primary Curriculum.
• TS5: Sub sections B, C and D have all been worked on and are displayed in this evidence because I understand how children develop in the earlier years of their development through schooling and that the activity had to be suitable for children of all backgrounds and abilities. Through the final weeks of my practice, a child who spoke little English was able to engage with this activity and develop her own English by using the activity put into place and the other children were able to help the child with this.
• TS8: Part A of this standard is being developed in this piece of evidence as it impacted not only the children in my class, but other children in the school who had difficulties in their English could access the activity to develop their communication skills.

Read Write Inc.

Throughout my most recent Professional Practice, I was assigned a class which was a mixed year group class in the Foundation stage/ Key stage 1. Because of the nature of a mixed Reception/ Year 1/ Year 2 class, it was compulsory to teach Phonics and the programme of choice for the school was Read Write Inc. I had personally never come across or previously read about this programme before commencing my placement, so naturally had to do some home work and read up on the new programme and its style of teaching.

First of all, I accessed the Read Write Inc. Phonics Handbook:

This handbook was able to give me an overview of the programme and how it is designed to meet the needs of all children in their phonics development throughout Key Stage 1. It showed how children progress from the speed sounds stage, to the green and red words which are read through blending, then through the ‘hold a sentence’ stage and finally onto the ‘Get Writing’ stage of the programme. It was very informative and helped to give me a thorough understanding of how I should teach the first two stages, as well as how the children were working in the other Phonics groups.

Then I accessed the Read Write Inc. Speed Sounds Lesson Plans book:

This book was essential for the start of my Professional Practice, as it provided me with lesson plans for the group which I was teaching. It enabled me to become familiar with the structure of the lesson and unpick it where possible to add some personality into my lessons. The ‘hold a sentence’ section of the structured lessons allowed for some personal flair and to incorporate elements of our Topic lessons into the Phonics sessions. It also allowed for some interactive activities which I could incorporate into our learning environment for the Continuous Provision elements in the Early Years curriculum.

How it meets the standards:

• TS3: I feel that reading these two texts has helped me to develop my subject knowledge of phonics, only experiencing the Letters and Sounds programme previously. It has helped me to develop in areas A, B, C and D, as it has broadened my subject knowledge in early literacy. They were key texts which I wanted to read in order to plan and deliver effective phonics lessons throughout my final practice.
• Part 2: This piece of evidence meets Part 2 of the standards because I completed some reading in order to develop my own subject knowledge in order to plan and deliver phonics lessons which would benefit all of the children in the class. Without accessing these texts I would not have been able to teach lessons to the standard which I did.