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Topic “English Writing”
writes on a screen
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Writing on a computer screen Computer Symbol for computer Mouse Attractive programme like 'dazzle' for paint effects. You can make a symbol card using the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint. | 1. Show the child a symbol of the computer and lead the child to the computer holding the symbol for the child to see. 2. Model clicking on the mouse to make a change to the computer screen. 3. Comment on the change. E.g., 'Look... its gone red.' 4. Gradually give the child less and less help to click with the mouse. 5. Print out some of the screens that the child has made by using the mouse. 6. Comment on the print outs using one or two words e.g. 'Look......... green'. 7. Help the child take this print out to another adult for comment and praise. 8. Make a scrapbook of the printouts. Write the child's name under the print out. | Gradually fade out any help and allow the child to complete more and more of the task till they are doing all the task themselves. Give lots of praise or offer a reward bag for a task completed. |
spell phonically regular words
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Play four in a row Materials Sheet of paper, filled in as a 'board' A dice Different coloured pens Preparing the board Create a landscape page with 6 columns and 7 rows. On the first row number each column from 1-6. Select the short vowels (e.g. a, e, i, o, u, y) or vowel digraphs (e.g. ay, ai, ee, ea, oi, oy) that the children need to reinforce. Next to each number write a different vowel or vowel digraph that the children need to reinforce. | 1. Establish the sound of each vowel (or vowel digraph) with the players. 2. Give each player a different coloured pen. 3. The first player rolls the dice and chooses any of the empty boxes in the column that corresponds to the number on the dice. 4. They write a word containing whichever short vowel or vowel digraph is at the head of that column. For example, if they throw a 3 and the 3 column is 'ee' they could write the word see. They write it in their own colour, underline the vowel or vowel digraph and read the word out loud. 5. No one else can now use that box. 6. Each player has one throw per turn. 7. If one of the columns becomes full and the player throws that number they are allowed one more throw. If it's still the same number they cannot write a word during that go. 8. The winner is the first person to get 4 words in a row either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. 9. If there is a time issue it can be 2 or 3 in a row. | Children need to learn the phonic spelling patterns to enable them to read and write fluently. At the beginning of the game it is important to establish what happens when they can't think of a word or they get it wrong. Do you give them a word? Do they forfeit their turn? Sensitivity is required depending on the pupils' needs. The aim is to have fun whist learning! |
spell high frequency words
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Using a race track game to learn high frequency spellings Set of 20+ cards with target high frequency words Race track or loop Dice Counters | 1. Read through the words with the player(s). 2. Place the cards face down. 3. Players take it in turns to pick up the card, use S.O.S. to spell the word, throw the dice and move around the board. 4. Winner is the first person to finish. 5. Repeat the game after reading through all the words again. 6. A spelling 'test' could be introduced when the child thinks he is ready to try this. | New words need to be added gradually. There could be several copies of each word or selected word. S.O.S. = simultaneous oral spelling = saying the word and then saying each letter of the word while writing it. The card can be turned over while they are trying to spell the word. A variation could be asking the child to write the word on a whiteboard. |
| Using mnemonics to teach spelling A short list of words the child is finding particularly difficult to remember - 'tricky words' Whiteboard and pen | Mnemonics are memory triggers to help learn words. They are especially useful for irregular words such as 'said' and 'because' e.g. said = said ant itching, don't. Include the word to remember as the first word in the mnemonic and use short vowel sounds as far as possible. because= because eagles can add up so easily |
use a strategy to remember spellings
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Visualisation A4 paper Thick marker pen Paper and pencil or pen for pupil to use. | 1. Ask the pupil to visualise (see inside their head) something familiar: e.g. their TV and what's on top of it, beside it, etc; or their kitchen. 2. Write words in large unjoined lower case letters in thick felt tip on A4 paper - maybe important bits in a different colour or larger. 3. Hold the word up in front of the pupil. 4. Discuss visual features (e.g. two o's looking out of the middle of the word school). 5. Pupil shuts eyes and tries to 'see' the word. 6. Ask 'What colour are the letters?' 'Change the colour' 'What's the first letter?' What's the last letter?' 'Put the letters inside a picture' etc. 7. If the pupil gets something wrong, ask him/her to have another good look. 8. The pupil writes the word down, and checks it is correct. 9. It may help visual recall if the pupil looks up towards his/her top left when trying to remember the word. | Phonics is especially important in spelling, but it is not enough. Pupils need to remember the spelling of specific words. Phonics will make some bits of any word easy to learn. When using the methods described here, focus especially on the bits which are difficult to remember. Research has shown that if pupils establish their own best method, it helps them remember words better. Some people find it easier to visualise with their eyes open. If your pupil prefers to do it this way, allow it. If they can say the letters in reverse order, this is a good sign they are visualising the word. |
| Tracing Paper - A4 size or larger Thick felt tip Pencil and extra paper to write on | Use the style of joined handwriting the pupil uses or is being taught. When he/she is quite confident with tracing, you may want to ask the pupil to trace with eyes closed, and focus on the movement. It is important the pupil checks at every stage - otherwise he/she may be learning a misspelling. | |
| Spelling pronunciation Pencil and paper, or whiteboard and dry-wipe pen | This is useful for irregular words, especially those containing 'silent' letters or vowel sounds that are not very clear. It assumes the pupil has enough phonics to allow them to spell the word the way you have pronounced it. For instance, if you emphasise the "or" sound in motor, this will only help if they know that this sound is spelled with the letters o and r. Examples of other spelling pronunciations are fry-end for friend, skissors for scissors, |
form lower case letter shapes
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Formation of a letter / linking to it's sound (1) Some or all of the following: Feely letters / magnetic letters & bag (or water tray) - use lower case letters Play dough (or similar) (LDA Rol 'n write alphabet letters and marble, if available - see www.ldalearning.com) Small sand tray with dry sand or salt Finger paints?! (Messy but fun!) Rough surface (e.g. carpet) Smooth surfaces Paints Big white board & pens Small white board & pens Selection of coloured pens / pencils | 1. Child closes eyes - selects feely letter or magnetic letter from a bag (or water tray). 2. Child guesses letter by feeling the shape. (Make sure they holding it the right way round.). 3. Child opens eyes & watches while adult models using forefinger to trace over the shape of the letter saying the sound - child copies. 4. Child makes the shape of the letter using play dough and / or in similar material. 5. Child rolls the marble on the Rol 'n' Write letter (if available) watching the direction the marble rolls, then goes over the letter with forefinger, saying the sound. 6. Child traces the shape of the letter with forefinger (while saying the sound) on different surfaces - rough carpet, smooth table, soft cushion, etc. 7. Child copies the shape of the letter (while saying the sound) using different writing tools - painting, wax crayons, big white board / pens in different colours etc (as available). 8. Go onto the next activity 'Formation of a letter / linking to it's sound (2)', or end with adult tracing a letter shape on child's back / child guesses it. | This activity is best done one to one - especially for children struggling to remember grapheme phoneme correspondences (gpc's). Child should already be able to recognise (read) the letters by sound or name. As a general rule - work on two or three letters at a time but move at child's pace. Child will need the necessary motor skills in order to do this work - although these activities could also link to a child's Occupational Therapy work. Additional activities: Could also - make the lower case letter shapes in collage, in pegs on a peg board, in Lego or in cooking with a letter shaped pastry cutter. Or outside - in soil, in wet sand, 'water' paint on the ground etc / try to link to child's interests. Links with other TAP activities: This activity links to TAP Activity ER P8 recognise half the letters of the alphabet - but can be used for digraphs and trigraphs as well. It also links to "PA Phon listen for beginning and ends of words") on www.commtap.org. |
| Formation of a letter / linking to it's sound (2) (Based on the principle of 'Multisensory Links' from the Dyslexia Institute) Small white board & Pens A4 sheet of paper divided into quarters Pencil Coloured pencils or felt tipped pens | This activity follows on from the previous activity. Remember to Teach: *Correct grip of writing tool *Use of hand rather than whole arm movements *Correct sitting *Correct position of paper. If the child knows the letter names as well, instead of just saying the sound when writing the shape of the letter, encourage the child to say for example: "SSSS" (letter sound) "is Es" (letter name). For letters that are frequently confused or reversed e.g. b / d - it will help to have a picture clue to show from step 1, and focus on the starting point of the letter - so for letter b have a picture of a bat and ball and focus on the top of the handle of the bat as the starting point (unless the school encourages full cursive writing in which case all letters start from the baseline - check the school policy). Further activities Link to ICT - useful letter formation demonstration and activities: Words and Pictures Magic Pencil Handwriting at https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize. |
write simple sentences
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| The daily sentence Paper / pencil or pen (and grip if needed) Scissors Story book or picture (optional) (Optional, if available: Clicker grid with the words from the child's sentence in random order. The programme Clicker is available from: www.cricksoft.com.) | 1. Child / adult generate a meaningful sentence orally that is made up of words which are easy to sound out or are high frequency. This could be just 3-4 words to begin with. This could be based on the child's 'news' or a sentence from a book or a sentence based on a picture. 2. Child / adult rehearse the sentence together orally - especially checking that it makes sense. 3. Adult scribes - and writes the words as the child repeats each word slowly. Child watches the adult writing (adult adds capital letter / full stop). 4. Child reads the sentence. Adult ensures child can read all the words. 5. Child writes the sentence without looking at the adult's version. (Adult helps with spellings as appropriate and gives prompts if a word is missing - depending on the needs of the child.) 6. Adult cuts up their (adult's) copy of the sentence into separate words and mixes the words up. 7. Child attempts to re-assemble the sentence. 8. Child reads the re-assembled sentence and checks it makes sense and compares it to the sentence they wrote before. Child makes corrections if any are needed. 9. Child writes a final 'best' copy in a book. | This activity assumes that the child has: basic writing skills e.g. forms letters and can write & spell simple words, can speak in sentences and can identify sentences in reading. It links reading and writing. Focus is on construction of a sentence, so help can be given with spellings where necessary. When repeated every day the adult can reduce the amount of support given gradually (in step 5). Sentences can be gradually extended - simple connectives e.g. 'and' could be added Further activities: Choose a keyword to work on in reading / spelling. Use ICT - use the words from the child's sentence in a Clicker grid - child can work on writing sentences independently by clicking on each word in the correct order. Child could practice writing the sentences to adult's dictation at the end of the week - and compare to sentences made before. Child could take the book of sentences home to practice reading - and draw pictures to illustrate each sentence. |
distinguish letter b from letter d in writing
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| b and d fingers No resources needed other than pupil's hands. | 1. Make sure the pupil can recite the first 4 letters of the alphabet in the correct order, without hesitating: a b c d. 2. Make sure they know that the alphabet is written from left to right. If not, practise this with moveable letters. 3. Show them how to make a b shape with their left hand. The tips of the thumb and forefinger touch to form the rounded part of the b. The other fingers go straight up to form the upright part. 4. Show them how to make a d shape in the same way with the right hand. 5. They then recite the first four letters of the alphabet. When they say b, they hold up their left hand in the shape of a b. When they get to d, they hold up their right hand in the shape of a d.
|
With this technique, children will not need to rely on anyone or anything else to help them check which way each of these letters faces. All they need to remember is to hold up their left hand first - but if they know the alphabet goes from left to right this is unlikely to be a problem. Encourage them to see what they are doing inside their head, so that as they grow older, they do not have use their hands. |
| Reducing capital B Pencil, paper and rubber, or whiteboard and dry-wipe pen | 1. Ask pupil to write a capital B. 2. Slowly rub out the top curve of the B. 3. Show them how this finishes up as a lower case b. 4. Ask them to do this for themselves 2 or 3 times. 5. Ask them to shut their eyes and see the top of the B fading out inside their head. | Many children have no difficulty with capital B and D. This technique uses capital B to help them remember lower case b. |
| Writing b and d with the correct sequence of strokes Handwriting programme, pencil and paper | When written properly, b and d are not exact mirror images of each other. If they start with 'lead in strokes', they look more different still. It is important children do not form either letter as a stick and a separately drawn circle. | |
| 'c, d' Pencil, paper and rubber, or whiteboard and dry-wipe pen | This is a technique for remembering how to write d. They can remember the sequence 'c, d' either because the letters come in that order in the alphabet, or because it's what you put in a CD player. | |
| b and d drawing of bed Paper and pencil, or other drawing/colouring equipment. | For this activity to be helpful, pupils need to recognise that bed starts with a /b/ sound and ends with a /d/ sound. After they have used the picture of the bed for a while, encourage them to see it inside their head. | |
| Bat and ball Pencil, paper and rubber, or whiteboard and dry-wipe pen | This technique helps them remember which way round the b is. The pupil will need to be aware that the words bat and ball both start with a /b/ sound. Don't worry if your drawing is not great art! Repeat on several different days. |
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