Big Books and Bingo

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Big Books and Bingo

At the regular meeting yesterday with Calabash and the teachers involved we were able to discuss the placement and progress. In general, considering the faltering start, it seems to be working. It was interesting to hear how the teachers have selected the groups. It would be impractical to work with all the children in all three classes. Two of them have selected the brighter children to give them some stretch and the other teacher has sent a random mix. I did point out that I was hampered by the fact there were no sets of readers for me to use. Although they said they would find them they have not yet materialized. It limits what I can do as I have to make flash card resources and play games and devise activities to develop and reinforce the phonics without being able to use contextual clues which they would get in books from pictures and text. I know the teachers are anxious to be cooperative.
Outside the meeting, I did say that they might have a better idea of how helpful it was if I had just worked with one class but all the children. That does not fit with the very egalitarian ethos of the school.
I managed finally to find some good story books which fit with the phonics and are big enough to work for a group of six. I still hope some of the sets I left last time will turn up. I have found individual books and some of the slightly more advanced sets but nothing suitable for the grade 2 level.
I made a bingo game which went down well today. I am also doing some basic vocabulary building. I am grateful for the volunteer who bought Joe Slovo a guillotine as it makes cutting up the card much easier.
At lunch today, there was a container of chicken and chips in my place as there was for everyone. It was two teachers’ birthday and that is what they do.

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