Wonderful article! Please inform teaching students and the 'powers that be' in schools. There has been a huge shift in the last 20 odd years to having 'formal' phonics lessons in nurseries. I have always been opposed to these and still believe children learn through play, life experiences and planned activities. The idea of teaching up to 13 x 3 year olds in a group (sitting down), two phonics sounds per week is ridiculous. Also the pressure from management to get the children 'reception ready' is ill informed at best. Most 3 year olds recognise words and sounds in the form of logos eg the M in Macdonalds, the Tesco banner, the opening title of their favourite TV show, their favourite cereal etc. Start with what they know - have an interactive 'print in the environment' display that can be added to by children, parents and staff in a 'Literacy area'. Prove to people that children CAN learn through their own experiences. (This would of course be enhanced through other play activities by nursery staff)
I would be very interested in hearing more about the nursery programme and the reception intervention. If possible to point us in the right direction that would be amazing, thank you.
Wonderful article! Please inform teaching students and the 'powers that be' in schools. There has been a huge shift in the last 20 odd years to having 'formal' phonics lessons in nurseries. I have always been opposed to these and still believe children learn through play, life experiences and planned activities. The idea of teaching up to 13 x 3 year olds in a group (sitting down), two phonics sounds per week is ridiculous. Also the pressure from management to get the children 'reception ready' is ill informed at best. Most 3 year olds recognise words and sounds in the form of logos eg the M in Macdonalds, the Tesco banner, the opening title of their favourite TV show, their favourite cereal etc. Start with what they know - have an interactive 'print in the environment' display that can be added to by children, parents and staff in a 'Literacy area'. Prove to people that children CAN learn through their own experiences. (This would of course be enhanced through other play activities by nursery staff)
I would be very interested in hearing more about the nursery programme and the reception intervention. If possible to point us in the right direction that would be amazing, thank you.
I would very interested in both the nursery and the intervention programmes too. Thank you
Does Sally’s book give details of the reception intervention she refers to in the article, or is it available to buy separately?