MONTEVIDEO Training at London Institute International House

On June 4th I was invited by the London Institute International House to train teachers in Uruguay on Synthetic Phonics.
 I was more than surprised to see the amount of teachers attending the course on a Saturday...and how very interested they all were and are on synthetic phonics!
There were around 210 teachers...full house, what´s more as there were no more seats available, people had to sit on the floor! The room was bursting with energy and enthusiasm, all participants were so engaged and willing to learn! They asked very intelligent and clever questions which made my whole job of delivering the training so very smooth and useful!
It was a long day which started early at 9.30 and ended up at 4.30 in the afternoon, but such an enriching experience...I have no words to describe how well I felt and how proud I am of all of the teachers who attended the course, specially of Rosario Estrada and her wonderful team who organised the event and made this came true.
Thank you and congratulations Uruguay!
See you back in September for Part 2 and Follow ups!
Grace

JOLLY PHONICS video clips

A demo video for Jolly Grammar, which may be useful to you:
http://youtu.be/Vh6V4_ZEkwA


Jolly Phonics for the whiteboard
http://youtu.be/rPVu5kjG0mw

Jolly Music
http://youtu.be/v5fyjooOn3A

Very useful Phonics Links

 Oxford University Press School Improvement Site
Click here:    Phonics made easy: Questions
http://www.oxfordschoolimprovement.co.uk/experts/view/debbie-hepplewhite
Oxford Owl - advisory site for parents to help their children to read. Includes FREE ebooks!
 Click here: http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/FindBook 

The rationale and structure of the Phonics International online synthetic phonics programme designed by Debbie Hepplewhite

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/final_rationale_and_overview.pdf
Choices for basic phonics lessons (Debbie Hepplewhite)
http://www.phonicsinternational.com/choices_for_basic_phonics_lessons.pdf

KP91 ESSARP - Synthetic Phonics Part 3: A follow up course for those who are applying Synthetic phonics

ESSARP: May 4th and 18th from 2pm to 5 pm. 
We get together to share, learn and improve our phonics teaching practice.


Objectives:
• This training course is to share teaching practices and learning experiences. To develop
Phonics through exploring in more detail the teaching of synthetic phonics reinforcing its
teaching practice. To adjust the existing teaching practice to the children's needs, to
know how to follow up as a whole school approach to phonics and spelling.
• How to handle the struggling child and how to implement a timely and effective
intervention programme.
Contents: In this follow up training course you will:
• Share teaching practices and classroom experiences.
• Show evidence of learning through samples in videos, photographs and children's work.
• Compare and contrast teaching practices and come up with new ideas.
• Develop in more detail the teaching of phonics, reading and writing reinforcing the
teaching practice.
• Learn more about a whole school approach to phonics and spelling. Debbie Hepplewhite's
programme.
• Learn how to handle struggling children through intervention programmes.
• Learn how to identify problems and how to apply a timely intervention programme.
Bibliography:
• Debbie Hepplewhite's www.phonicsinternational.com
• Jolly Phonics online training course.
• Participants' evidence of learning samples in forms of videos, photos,
children's writing

Debbie Hepplewhite´s Phonics International programme
Phonics International Part 2 video

May 18th, 2nd JP P3 gathering of synthetic phonics teachers at ESSARP


The meeting was a success. We shared teaching experience, we cleared queries, we came up with new ideas, we analysed results and we talked about strategies for improvement.
All very enthusiastic teachers willing to improve and grow in the field.

We are meeting again in September!

Tomas reading with Miss Mary.avi

This is a Reading Comprehension lesson in Year 1 CSA. Children are reading a text from their Literacy Letts books and answering some questions.

Last session of Synthetic phonics teachers gathering at ESSARP

It was a wonderful and very enriching experience! We shared teaching practices, we learned more about how to develop reading and writing, we saw the videos of different schools and everybody participated with very thoughtful and intelligent comments. 

This time the group received two lovely Uruguayan teachers from Woodlands School in Montevideo. They shared their teaching experience and brought a lovely video of How they do Reading at Woodlands. 

Again wonderful and enriching experience that we will certainly repeat in 2011!

CSA Reading Time in Year 1 August 2010

Reading Time in Year 1 takes place twice a week. The class is divided into reading groups according the reading strategies the children need to develop and practice. This is our "Guided reading" where the teacher reads with one group for 15 minutes while the rest do some "reading cards". These reading cards aim at each group´s needs so they practice while they are waiting for their turn to read.