North West Education Action Zone, supported by Inspire Rotherham are going to be delivering their ‘Reading Riot’ Project to schools within the North West area of Rotherham.
This exciting programme is a range of reading and developing stories opportunities, using a variety of techniques to engage children in listening to and enjoying reading. As part of this, 20 practitioners received continued professional development in the ‘Big Talk’.
The ‘Big Talk’ gives children the ‘reason to talk’ using different techniques, activities and exercises. Practitioners were shown ways to encourage children to talk leading on to give them the reason to write.
Shonette Bason, who led the training session, encouraged practitioners to use ‘wow’ words with children, getting them to use a different word in a sentence every week. This technique familiarises children with longer, more complex words in speech before they start to write them. Shonette argues that if children cannot say it, they won’t be able to write it. Once they have used ‘wow’ words in speech, they will then begin to use them on their own whilst writing.
Did you know…
Children at 5 from a middle class family know 15,000 words.
Language Development.
12months: 1-2 words to say with meaning
18months: 1-2 words which convey meaning ie. cup for drink
2-3 years: 2 to 3 words asking or using short phrases
Activities to prompt speech:
Weekend Bags: Fill ‘feely bags’ with different objects and let the children make a sentence about what happened and/ or why objects are in the bags.
Get talking: weekday activities to promote talk inside of the classroom.
Make it up Monday: Make up a story about the weekend.
Talk about it Tuesday: Talk about a subject of your choice.
Wonder what Wednesday: What are you wondering today?
Thoughtful Thursday: What are your thoughts about the world today?
Fish for a wish Friday: What do you wish would happen at the weekend? Be as imaginative as possible!
WOW Ball Activity.
Stick or write ‘wow words’ onto a blow up ball, get the children to write them (around 3) then in a group throw the ball from person to person. The first person to catch it should start off a story, using a word from the ball in a sentence. As the ball is thrown around, the story should
Did you know??
You need to walk for 40 minutes before you come out of a pre- sleep state. 20-25 minutes of TV sends all people into a pre- sleep state.
Talking in the home…
Send home a question- it could be about anything! The question has to be discussed by the family, each person having their own input. This encourages positive communication.
Questions could be:
If you had one wish what would it be?
My favourite day has been…
Shonette’s session was interactive, dynamic and humorous bringing exciting new examples of ways in which we can all encourage children to talk.
For more information on Shonette and her sessions visit:
www.shonettebason.com
www.andrelleducation.co.uk