I had to change my inquiry focus as my teaching role has shifted. I am now focussing solely on structured literacy with two classes while collaborating with my colleague Susan in an open learning space. Susan will be taking the responsibility for teaching writing and mathematics which has prompted the change in my inquiry focus.
My focus is on fostering phonological awareness and explicitly teaching students the relationship between letters and sounds. By developing their ability to blend sounds, I aim to equip them with the foundational skills needed for their fluent reading and writing.
Our school is implementing the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA), which I completed the training for last year. I feel quite confident in applying the scope and sequencing for Taumata 1 and Taumata 2.
I have selected four students as my focus group, 2 boys and 2 girls.
- Student JJ
- Student MH
- Student LA
- Student NGW
These students started school last year as New Entrants and had a few weeks of BSLA- Taumata 1.
Baseline Assessment Data upon starting starting school.
From the data above we can see that:
Positives:
What can students do?
- they have some letter sound knowledge.
- they can blend sounds together.
What I need to work on:
1. Initial phoneme identity - playing whole class games where children can identify the sounds in the initial letters.
2. Letter sound recognition - games and activities using magnetic letters board games here are some letters what letters make the m sounds
3. Blending sounds together- BSLA whole class games as outlined in the lesson palns.
Presently:
The whole class is in Taumata 1- Week 6 and the Focus sounds are Gg Rr and Aa.
After completing Taumata 1, which is the first 10 weeks of the scope and sequence all students will get tested.
I am pleased with the progress we have made so far and believe it is crucial to continue revisting the sounds introduced in previous weeks, allowing students to reinforce their learning and build a strong foundation for ongoing progress.
