Hi Cherful,

OR: don't worry about the pissy words, cat, hat, run, etc., but as Sylvia Ashton-Warner advocated, let kids pick their own words: she worked with Maori kids up go the seventies and let them choose words from their own lives, pretty active, hectic, often violent words like kiss, murder, gun, rifle, punch, beer, drown. My wife let her pre-schoolers pick words and they even chose words like helicopter, crocodile, laugh, fight, arse, chops, tractor. THEIR words, words that interested them.

Once kids are turned onto reading by making words meaningful, and maybe stringing them together into a story, then we can get them studying Shakespeare and Proust and Derrida and Chomsky. But let them enjoy it first before they trek off into those limitless deserts.

Joe

Thank you David for a clear and logical argument. Phonics is an important skill. However, do we need to test out Yr 1s? No. Why do we need to waste money on another highstakes test that is not for making things better for kids but to add even more accountability measures on schools? Especially when Australia does better than the UK in international tests on reading.The CIS are getting too much traction, we need to offer other opinion and facts to the Minister.

My apologies - my reply was meant for PAUL!

Hi Say NoToCommonSense,

We shouldn't test Year 1s ?! Of course, we should, tactfully of course, but surely any Year 1 teacher would be constantly aware of which kids are having trouble, and which kids are already flying. And of course you focus on the kids who are having trouble, interesting them in story books, even in just the pictures at first, connecting things in the pictures to the words for those things, dragon, horse, flying, danger, etc. Meaningful words that relate to the story.

Surely any capable Year 1 teacher would be aware of who to concentrate on by the end of the second week, and precisely what stage in the learning process they were at ? With so few kids in the average class these days, it should be a doddle.

Joe