Tag Archives: Literacy

Alphablocks Multi Sensory Reading Programme

November 4, 2014Education, ReviewsAlphablocks, Literacy, readingSensory Seeker

Our little Sensory Seeker is doing much better than we imagined at school but is still developmentally far behind his peers in many areas. In fact he only got one tick in the expected box at the end of the Reception year. Although we are not going to worry about it, it is always nice to hear of fun ways we can tap into the way he learns best and give him a helping hand. Therefore when I heard about how Alphablocks magazine had launched a multi-sensory Alphablocks Reading Programme to support foundation stage children develop and progress their reading ability. The programme consists of 15 Alphablocks Reading Programme magazines and Alphablocks resources – including finger puppets, letter tiles, games, pencil and pencil case, flashcards, stickers and gold stars to reward the achievements. Split into 3 packs that build on each of the stages of development – £39.99 (plus p&p)

Pack 1 is Red and Orange levels (first steps and next steps

Alphablocks: Introducing the alphabet and its sounds

It is important that children learn the correct sounds for each of the letters. If you are unsure then visit the website. They may also learn actions to accompany the sounds, to help them better remember. Our Sensory Seeker is in year 1 now as so already has amazed us by learning all his first sounds so this really helped developed his confidence. It made it less of a challenge to encourage him to practise writing these sounds too. Again this is organised progressively and I was able to stop and move onto the next letter when the task became too difficult for him.

Blending

I was worried that our Sensory Seeker wouldn’t get blending. It must be extra hard for him to try to filter out the extra sensory input whilst he remembers the sounds and tries to put them together again. This is really important for his Phonics test at the end of year 1. In this children are given 40 words and nonsense words that can be phonetically sounded out. The children need to use the rules of phonics with the correct sounds even for the nonsense words, to demonstrate that they understand the rules of phonics.

Alphablocks: High Frequency Words

High frequency words are those that cannot be sounded out phonetically (such as THE). To read them then you just have to remember what they say by sight. We have them attached to walls and doors around our house. By the end of the Reception year children should know 45 high frequency words. Our Sensory Seeker could read about 10 when going into Year 1 so I was pleased to see so many fun ways to help him catch up with his peers.

Pack 2: Yellow Level (arriving December 2014)

After the first 2 levels in pack 1, pack 2 moves onto Diagraphs. Diagraphs are when two letters make a team to form one sound – such as ch and sh. They can appear at the beginning, middle and/or end of a word. For example when you think of the word “church” it starts with a “ch” sound not a “c” “h.”

Pack 3: Blue and Green Levels (arriving Easter 2015)

This final stage moves onto words with letter blends, magic E (also known as a split diagraph eg. A_E), and long vowels. The programme concludes with a certificate.

What I thought to the Alphablocks Reading Programme

I liked all the different sensory input for my son. So many different visuals, puppets for tactile, stickers to help develop his hands – obviously writing and drawing practise, cutting and gluing – all good for fine motor skills. I liked how it is very much focused on fun and that it can be done at our Sensory Seeker’s own pace. It is so straight-forward that many different members of the family have been able to engage him into the activities and games. It was also easy to adapt – we used some bubble wrap to pop when on the popping balloons activity (good for fine motor and tactile stimulation). I like how the resources include the diagraphs, and hope that the next pack has trigraphs (sounds made with 3 letters).

I’d love to see the series continue onto homophones (words that are pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning, and sometimes also spelling) and other things they will be required to know grammar-wise for their SATs in Year 2. The box was very comprehensively packed with resources so it would have been nice if everything required was readily available (pencil crayons, scissors and glue were still required). All in all though I thought that the pack was absolutely amazing and a fantastic price (think how much you pay for those foreign language courses!) – as well as being a lot of fun.

You may also be interested in my Writing Skills Development post.

We received this programme free in return for an honest review. I will update further when the other 2 packs arrive. All words and opinions are my own.

Reading

October 1, 2014EducationLiteracy, readingSensory Seeker

This week in Literacy class we covered reading. Did you know that 130,000 children in the UK every year leaving primary school not reading as well as they should? We learnt about letters and sounds. It was explained that our school teaches reading by using phonetics. That it is really important that we make the right sounds when talking to our children and helping them to sound out words. We covered blending, digraphs (2 letters together that make a single sound, these can be at the beginning, middle or end of a word), trigraphs (the same but with 3 letters), split diagraphs (known to most adults as the magic E). We also covered the Year 1 Phonics screening test and tricky high frequency words.

Activities to help aid reading

Making the link between letter sounds and shapes – by point them out when you see them in the environment. Our Sensory Seeker recognises the letter M for McDonalds – but then thinks that the M in Morrisons is also McDonalds! We are currently explaining to him that they are different colours. If your child struggles to blend sounds then say the sounds yourself slowly. Flashcards are good for teaching tricky high frequency words. I show him on one page and say what the word says and show my Sensory Seeker the same word on another page so that he can see (visually) that they are the same – and ask him what it says. Reading, reading and more reading. Let your child pick their favourite books – they are easier to engage if they are interested. Teach them to write – then they will learn the letters shapes – and if you say them at the same time they will learn the sounds. It is important to let them talk about the book – and don’t worry if they guess the words. We did an exercise where we “guessed” what some of the missing words would be. This showed us how we rely on grammatically rules, the story etc to fill in the blanks.

Letter Game

All the children picked a letter and then they had to think of a food beginning with that letter. For each food the children got that was unique (no other child had it) they gained 2 points, and 1 point if another child had it. Our Sensory Seeker struggle with this a bit. I think a good idea for him would be to have pictures of food so that he could match the picture with the letter.

Bookmarks

Then the children made their own bookmarks. This was really good for fine motor skills, as well as to help encourage a love of reading. I was really proud of our Sensory Seeker’s bookmark – I only made the holes (with a hole punch) for him – and he did the rest.

Speaking and Listening

September 28, 2014EducationLiteracy, speaking and listeningSensory Seeker

This week in Literacy class we covered speaking and listening. We thought about all the situations during the school day that the child would need their speaking and listening skills. From the first time knowing where to put things and where to go, deciding and communicating what they want for dinner, taking the register, following rules, sharing/getting along with peers, asking to go to the toilet, in all lessons (reading/maths/PE, etc) – to pretty much all of the day. We then thought about all the things required for good speaking and listening skills.

Good Speaking and Listening Skills

Speak clearly, at a pace that the other person can understand.
Use the right tone of voice.
Make sure that you have good eye contact – this will also ensure that non-verbal communication cues can be picked up.
Use NVC – most language is read through our body/facial actions (this is why it is harder for children on the Autistic Spectrum to communicate).
Respect the speaker – give them nods/smiles/say yes (at appropriate times) to show that you are listening. Do not interrupt. Do not have inappropriate responses (laugh when it is serious). Do not fidget or fiddle.
Ask relevant questions.
Ask for clarification/repetition of anything you did not understand or could not hear properly (do not do this too many times!)
Have patience and think before you speak.
Give the listener time to process the information – those on the spectrum may take longer to digest the information.

Developing Speaking and Listening Skills

The best way to help my Sensory Seeker to develop his speaking and listening skills is to just simply spending time with him – talking. We did two activities – the first was for him to draw a picture without me seeing it, then we had to talk to each other about it and for me to draw it (without seeing it). We sort of did this but he struggled with not showing it me, as he didn’t really understand that concept. Then we made a junk model together. He did a great job of discussing with me what he wanted to do, materials used. He absolutely loved what we created together and used lots of language to tell others about it. My boys really do seem to like “show and tell” sessions at school too. I think if they are passionate about something (especially if they are on the Spectrum) they find it easier to talk about.

I am really enjoying this course together, and I was delighted when he told me it was Monday (the day we do it). His face really lights up when he sees me come to collect him for it, and it has shown me how much I underestimate what he can do. We have homework too – finding the letters of his name in the newspaper, finding the score of his name in Scrabble, a punctuation hunt, a visit to the library – and lots lots more suggestions.

Literacy Development Ideas

September 18, 2014Educationlistening, Literacy, reading, spelling, writingSensory Seeker

Behind in Literacy

My little boy is behind his peers academically in every area apart from technology. He has what is known as a Global Developmental Delay – or at least that’s what I think he has. I guess he’s one of the SWANS – that is kids without an actual diagnosis. They decided what he didn’t have and that was it. I guess he is currently being supported and that is the main thing. But his school don’t just support children like mine – they support all children. So currently they are running a course on helping the Year 1s with their Literacy. The tutor told us that most people think about Reading, but Literacy covers speaking and listening, as well as reading and writing. Some of the session is work with just the parents, and then we bring the children in.

First she read some of the story of “Max and Lara’s Amazing Travelling Space Circus.” Then we had to discuss with the children about what they thought about the two main characters Max and Lara. We had a sheet with ideas of what to ask them (hair colour, favourite food, etc). I was really surprised (and proud) of how well my son did at the task so it was nice to try a fresh approach. I loved how all the fun things we have done about the Gruffalo had obviously made a difference as he talked of Gruffalo crumble and scrambled snake. It really brought home to me that all I need to do to help my son with his Literacy is just to keep having fun with him with it. Then he was able to draw his characters – and I talked about what he had said about them (eg remember you said she had big ear lobes).