The sounds in my name - experience plan

This experience can be applied to many different contexts where children and educators are writing their names.

It involves intentional teaching of the letter-sound relationships (phonics) as well as developing phonological awareness (identifying sounds in words) and can be applied to all writing experiences.

This experience should be differentiated depending on the individual child/group level.

This learning experience plan relates to:

• emergent literacy
• language and emergent literacy learner (36-60 months)
• learning focus: phonics and phonological awareness
• teaching practice: writing with children.

Collect information

• What information has been gathered as evidence to inform this experience?

Links to VEYLDF

• Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF, 2016)

Outcome 5: communication

Children engage with a range of texts and get meaning from these texts

• Begin to understand key literacy and numeracy concepts and processes, such as the sounds of language, letter-sound relationships, concepts of print and the ways that texts are structured.
• Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media
• Begin to use images and approximations of letters and words to convey meaning

Victorian curriculum levels F-2: language

• Identify rhyming words, alliteration patterns, syllables and some sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.
• Create simple print or digital texts in the language and English, such as captions and labels, for the immediate learning environment.

Learning intentions

• For children to understand the relationship between letters and the corresponding sounds in words (i.e. phonics).
• For children to identify the sounds in words (i.e. phonological awareness).

Assessment of learning

Learning is demonstrated when children:

• make the link between the phoneme/sound and the corresponding grapheme/letter. E.g. “That’s a T, it makes the /t/ sound in Ttt…thomas”
• identify the various sounds in their name spontaneously or in response to a question. E.g. “My name starts with /sssss/” Note - this is different from a child saying the letters in their name. Here they are identifying the phonemes, i.e. the individual sounds.

Resources

• paper/artwork
• markers – texta, pencil, crayon or pen.

Group size

Individuals or small group (2-5 children).

Differentiation

Differentiation should be based on prior assessment of the child/children’s communication skills. Examples of differentiation:

• for a child who is not yet attempting to write their name, educators could focus on letter and name recognition. E.g. they could print the child’s name and have this available for the child to stick onto their various works.
• for a child who is able to identify sounds in their name as well as make the letter/sound link for all letters, educators could focus on writing short descriptions of their works and intentionally teaching letter-sound correspondence.

Experience process

This experience process can be applied to any context where the child and educator are focusing on writing the child’s name.

1. The educator joins the child at an appropriate time to support them in writing their name.
   • explain the learning intention to the child. e.g:
     • “when we are writing your name, let’s think about the sounds that these letters make”
     • “when we write your name, we are going to think carefully about the sounds and letters in your name”.
   • provide explanations about the letter-sound correspondences as the child or educator writes their name:
     • “this letter P makes the /ppp/ sound”.
   • ask questions which prompt the child to think about the letter-sound correspondence and/or the individual sounds in their name. e.g:
     • “that’s the letter T, what sound does that make?”
     • “what sound is at the beginning of your name?”
2. Point to the letters as they are named to link the auditory and visual information.
   • use summarising statements to highlight the learning:
     • “so let’s look back at each letter and the sounds that they make…….”
     • “so the /sssss/ sound is at the beginning of your name and the /nnnn/ sound is at the end”.
   • use clarifying statements and feedback to promote the child’s understanding E.g. “That’s actually the letter, this is the sound it makes……” This will help the child to understand the distinction between letters and sounds.
   • provide encouragement and affirmation when the child makes attempts at linking the letters and the corresponding sounds and/or identifying individual sounds.
3. To consolidate and assess understanding, invite other children to join the experience and have the children who have been writing explain the letters and sounds in their names to their peers.

Going further

This experience can easily be followed up and extended using different words and in varying contexts. For example, writing signs for the kindergarten room or writing other children’s names in chalk outdoors.

Reflect and review

Reflective questions for educators may include:

• what learning has occurred? How do you know?
• what have you realised about the child’s interests, knowledge, and capabilities?
• in discussion with colleagues, what would you plan next to consolidate or extend children’s learning?

Alternate resources for this learning experience

• chalk and chalkboards
• white boards and markers
• iPad® – using ‘drawing’ tools/functions so the child can write using their finger
• computers – typing the letters in their name
• finger painting
• sculpting with clay or playdough
• magnetic letters with boards
• natural materials – for example sticks or stones to make the letters of their name.

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