SSP in Prep/ Reception/ Foundation - Phonics Skills and Concepts Check at Week 5 www.wiringbrains.com

1. Skills and Concepts covered within the first four or five weeks of Prep/ Reception/ Foundation
shown within this video.
Please see special references in clip to ‘learning to write sentences’. This video is on the home page
of Wiringbrains.com now, in Phase 2 info (public).
I have seen in Australia that a popular activity is teacher writing a sentence and the children copy it
underneath. Waste of their time, and can slow down the independent writing process. They don’t
learn to write a sentence, and usually copy without correct letter formation.
Until they can write green level sentences on their own, reinforcing the sound pics they are
learning, do not move them on. They need to learn sentence construction, punctuation (capitals and
full stops) with the sound pics they are learning and they then expand by adding one word in a
meaningful way as shown in this video.
Also give them opportunities to just write, eg by having a writing table, or role play where writing is
included (doctors surgery, library, shop..) but for the purposes of learning to write, they need to
start with what they know and be proficient in the basics of sentence construction, and build on
that. So Green Code Level, but starting to use the lines and numbers and clouds for words built with
sound pics outside of their level.
Another thing schools in AU do is give them half a sentence and ask them to carry on..aarrgggh. So
difficult concept wise, the first half is often made up of words they cannot code..another form of
whole language.
Whole language here is rife as teachers often don’t know anything else. Please stop the cycle. Start
from what the students know, and build on that. Scaffold their learning. Create solid foundations for
all.
Watch the video:-)
Miss Emma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qil7-YzhXiw