Language: English

Building Sight Vocabulary in Junior Infants

Many of the most common words used in all literature will recur again and again in the childrens engagement with print in the above emergent reading experiences. Below are suggestions on how we can structure an approach at this stage in the Reading Process for Junior Infant classes Big Books: Choose a number of Big Books (a minimum of 5) to work on for the year with your class Selection should include: Fiction, non-fiction, picture-only (i.e. no text at all) and some written in rhyme Some that children might be familiar with from playschool Colourful, detailed illustrations Rich text opportunities for vocabulary extension Phrases or sentences that are repeated again and again through the story Stories that lend themselves to higher order thinking activities e.g. prediction, what if?, Some that are available in small format also There is a very comprehensive selection of recommended titles in Book Choice For Primary Schools (2001 edition in A4 layout on pages 66 68)

Sight Vocabulary Development

Language: English

When you have made your book selection: a) Read through them, picking out the high frequency words that occur in them all (what youll end up with essentially are the words from the familiar Dolch/Murray McNally/or other similar list of high frequency words in all literature) b) Write/Type these words in the top half of an A4 sheet c) Next, go back over the books and pick out words that are used frequently in each book but are not on the first list youve made e.g. Splash (from The Pig in the Pond) or Love (from Guess how much I Love you) d) Write this list (around 20) on the bottom half of the A4 sheet. e) This sheet of words contains those that will recur again and again during the year as we expose the children to many print rich experiences. It is useful as a reference list for the teacher in terms of planning and structuring activities in the 7 different contexts mentioned at the start above. Real Books and Little Books Choose a selection of Real Books (i.e. the ones found in the class library) and sets of little books (commercially available) for shared reading. These will be sent home with the children on a rotation basis during the school year. Same criteria as for Big Book apply when choosing books for shared reading. It is advisable that the selection would include real books about 6 copies of each of the big books in normal library size (5 big books X 6 = 30 books for this part of the J.I. programme) Little Books are commercially available in sets. The criteria for choosing big books (detailed above) apply for little books also, especially regarding variety of fiction, non-fiction, picture-only and rhyming books. Buy a heavy duty zip loc bag for each child (available in stationary shops) Children start bringing home books in the first term Make out a simple reading log (A4 or A5 size) and photocopy it for each child. Parent fills in the name of the new book, the dates the child started and finished the book. This is done on a new line for each new book the child brings home. Teacher makes out some guidelines for the parents a few bullet points

Sight Vocabulary Development

Language: English

on a sheet inside each book (A5 or smaller) Teacher decides how often the children change their books: e.g.: Once a week, twice a week etc. From an organisational point of view it might be useful if the teacher decides that, for example, he/she is only going to use her five sets of Real Books for the next five weeks or so. In this way children will be rotating the same style of book (e.g. small versions of the big books being read in class) Then he/she might decide to have a few weeks where only the sets of little books are going home. He/she could also have a block of a few weeks where only books written in rhyme are going home. In the last term he/she could have an open collection i.e. children are free to choose any books from all the ones they had in the first two terms. This gives them an opportunity to revisit their favourites again and again.

Nursery Rhymes: A suggested structured approach 1) 2) 3) 4) Choose 10 easy nursery rhymes. Look for: Familiar ones Ones with a lot of repetition Ones that have a close relationship to the childrens language experience Find colouring books with the text and illustrations of the rhymes chosen. Each child needs a small booklet of polypockets This programme is divided into three phases roughly one phase per term. Parents are informed of: a) the important role of nursery rhymes in the process of reading b) the rollout of the Nursery Rhyme Programme over the school year c) the importance of having Nursery Rhyme Books at home (bought and/or borrowed from the Library) This programme will operate alongside the childrens other reading experiences

5)

Sight Vocabulary Development

Language: English

Phase One This phase will take 10 weeks one week per rhyme. Choose a suitable time in the first term to start the programme. Spread the following activities over the WEEK: Introduce the Nursery Rhyme using a poster of it if possible Sing/recite it for the children Play it on audio/video tape if possible Children sing it with you/all together/in groups/in pairs etc. Talk and Discussion throughout the lesson e.g. discuss the poster/picture, explain vocabulary, discuss the rhythm and pace, the length of it, rhyming words, the humour, absurdities, the story behind it etc. Give out the colouring sheet and the children complete this on the Monday The rhyme is sent home in the polypocket booklet on the Monday and the childs homework each day is an ORAL activity - to sing/recite it with their parent and to talk about the picture. (It is not a reading exercise the text is useful for parents who may have forgotten parts of the traditional rhymes) Week by week introduce a new rhyme in this way

Phase Two Start this phase sometime in Term Two Children revisit the first rhyme in their booklet Now that they know the rhyme well orally, they can begin to read it informally i.e. the apprenticeship approach to reading For homework they will share read the rhyme with their parent every day. Next week move on to another rhyme

Phase Three This phase can be organised as a separate section in the Third Term or can be incorporated into Phase Two As the children revisit each rhyme for the second time the focus is more specifically on elements of the TEXT. The children will work on aspects of the phonological awareness programme using the rhymes as a CONTEXT for the lessons e.g. taking the word wall from Humpty Dumpty and finding lots of other all words (i.e. onset

Sight Vocabulary Development

Language: English

and rime p.58 and59 Teacher Guidelines) to write on the blackboard/copy from the blackboard into their copies/on blank sheets/ make with magnetic letters on biscuit tin lids. They can draw pictures of the words where appropriate. Many of the words in the rhymes will be words from the original list the teacher will have made out (remember the list of common words mentioned above in the Big Book section above?). We can, and sometimes the children will make connections e.g. we had that same word before in The pig in the pond. Do you remember.. They can make a book (the folding technique using an A3 sheet ending up with an 8 page booklet) e.g. My all book. Every page will contain an all word with a matching picture which they can draw or find in a magazine, cut out and stick on. TIP! The teacher could make the A3 booklet, write in the -all words that the children had come up with a phrase at the bottom of each page e.g. a red ball, a brick wall etc. Then open out the page fully and photocopy it for each child. Fold each one back into book form and the children draw the matching picture so it still is essentially their own personal writing.

It is envisaged that this programme would continue on into Senior Infants and First Class. The Senior Infants would work on a different set of Nursery Rhymes (ten). The First Class would also have a set of ten more detailed Nursery Rhymes (perhaps with a number of verses in them) resulting in a rich bank of Nursery Rhymes in the childs experience. It is advisable that the whole staff is involved in the decision making process on the choice of rhymes for each of the classes to ensure continuity of the programme over the three years. This will form an essential part of the Whole School Plan for Phonological Awareness.

Sight Vocabulary Development

Language: English

EXPERIENCE CHARTS There is a detailed lesson on using experience charts in the Teacher Guidelines p.55. Again, we will be trying to highlight the common familiar words that occur in the childrens news. E.g. a child might say I saw a stolen car on the green last night. It was on fire. The teacher will write this on the flip chart substituting the childs name for I. Out of those 14 words 11 are from the first 100 most used words in all literature! Many of them will also be on the original list the teacher made at the start of the year from the big books etc. So the more often experience charts are done with children the more often they are exposed to these common words in the most meaningful of all contexts My News! Again, the teacher can draw the childrens attention to words they recognise /have seen before in other contexts. For more information on Experience Charts go to Experience Charts Exemplar on this website. Children making books: Once again, in the context of this activity, children will be meeting many of the most common words in meaningful ways. School/Class/Group Books: For example: Our Red book - every child draws and colours a picture of something red. Teacher acts as scribe or children write with guidance e.g. a red car, I have a red coat etc. Our cuddly toy Book Our favourite Toys Book Our I like Book Individual Books: The easiest model for these is the A3 folded page book (mentioned above) where each child ends up with an 8-page booklet. Accordion books are also handy for these very young children. Children can draw their own pictures or cut out relevant ones from magazines for their books. For example: At School - either the teacher or child writes a phrase on each page and the child draws a picture to match e.g. I like school, my schoolbag is blue, the yard, Me My family I Like (Each page starts with I like. Dogs, my teddy, Pokemon etc)

Sight Vocabulary Development

Language: English

Halloween (a big bonfire, a scary mask, a goodie bag, a witchs broom,) Christmas Easter Food I like

Children can be encouraged to swap their books with the person beside them and read each others for homework. Older children in the school can be encouraged to make books suitable for Junior Infants. (This could be part of a book buddy policy in the school) Environmental Print: Teacher Guidelines p.50 The emphasis is on increasing the childs awareness of the fact that the world is full of print and the importance of that print in our lives. Their attention will be drawn to print in the home, classroom, school building, shops, community buildings, etc. and in the wider world. For example: Job / weather / golden rule charts Posters Labels Shop signs/ logos Food wrappings (their lunches etc) Toy packaging Signposts Newspapers/ magazines / flyers I.C.Ts: Computers Teacher Guidelines p.91 Computers are a major contributor to a print-rich environment. (p.91 T. Guidelines) Activities with Junior Infants can include: The reading of on-screen instructions (developing word recognition). Children become familiar, very quickly, with key computer words such as exit yes no level and phrases like are you sure you want to exit now? Childrens Books and Stories on CD-Rom. Children can follow the print and illustrations on the screen as the computer narrator reads the story aloud.

Sight Vocabulary Development

Language: English

Audio Visual Resources: Activities for Junior Infants can include: Stories on tape: children can follow the print in the book while listening to the story on tape. This can be an individual activity using a tape recorder/walkman with a headset. Alternately, if the school has a listening centre, a group of children could listen to the story and share a few copies of the book as they follow the story. Stories on video: children can watch good quality programmes from the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 etc. They can listen to a story being told with the benefit of interpreting it using the two symbolic codes pictures and print.

The above eight contexts for sight vocabulary development should collectively provide an enriching bank of sight words for the Junior Infant child and immerse him/her in a printrich environment and whole language approach to Reading.

Sight Vocabulary Development