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Whitney Westrope
Professional Portfolio
Know the content and how to teach it
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area.
At the beginning of Term Two, the Kindergarten phonics program was implemented. The program focussed on the sounds of letters and each sound is taught in a particular sequence. The students are exposed to the sounds each letter makes in isolation as well as connecting this sound to the initial sound within simple words. Songs, inquiry play, actions, whole class and small group work as well as visual representations are used to immerse the students in each sound. The sounds are revisited during each subsequent mat session to re-enforce the learning that has taken place.
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The learning that is taking place when teaching the phonics programme is intentional and targeted at the students needs. As they are still in the early stages of their phonics journey, at times the teaching is explicit but there are still many opportunities for the students to explore the sounds at their own pace and in a way that allows for scaffolding or extension. At the forefront of our planning is the EYLF and Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines. We have chosen outcomes that directly relate to sounds patterns, oral language and sound/letter relationships. At this early stage, it is vital the students are exposed orally to the sounds as this will help later in their learning journey when it comes to blending and segmenting sounds and getting ready for reading simple texts.
Visual representations of the sounds are incorporated into the mat sessions to not only expose the students to what the letters look like but allow them to begin to make the connection between letter and sound patterns.
Within the phonics programme, skills such as tapping the beats (syllables) in words are also looked at to not only incorporate the specific sound, but also expose the students to simple phonological awareness skills and develop their understanding of word and sound patterns.
As well as whole class mat sessions, the students are given opportunities to explore the sound focus in various purposeful play experiences. They are hands on, authentic and at times inquiry based to allow for discovery, wonder, investigation and negotiation.
EYLF Outcomes: 5.2.5, 5.2.8,
NQS Quality Areas: 1 & 2
Domains: Physical, cognitive, linguistic.
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