Further Reading Activities

Reading Analysis

The sentences are in the red folders, the symbols are next to them, these are used in the first stages. The chart on the third shelf down to the left is Analysis Chart 1, used to analyse the nouns and verb and the chart to the right, Analysis Chart 2, for the later stages of analysis.

Simple sentences

Stage 1, Levels I to VI

When the child can perform actions with sequential commands (Extensions to the Verb) the child is able to comprehend sentences which are not in the imperative mood (not just direct commands)

Material Description:

There are red circles and blank,black arrows and the adult’s tray. Later there are arrows in another box with questions written on them and more symbols.

For the exercises there are envelopes numbered I to VI, with around ten printed sentences on cards or paper with control cards. These sentences of graded complexity are chosen from the best authors of children’s classics, such as ones by; Roald Dahl, Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickers, Lewis Carol C.S. Lewis and so on. Sentences chosen should give the possibility of interpretation by the child.

Presentation for Level I:

The Verb – 1 subject, 2 actions (using the verb symbol and black arrows)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “He bowed and smiled”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “How many actions did you do?”
Cut the verbs from the slip and put them, in sequence on the red circles one below the other
Say, “Who is it that bowed?”
Place the subject to the left of the verb and join with an arrow (pointing towards the subject)
Say, “Who is it that smiled?”
Join with the second arrow (pointing towards the subject)
Place the conjunction between the verbs

Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical
Reconstruct the sentence and check it with the control
Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope I

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards and to write her own e.g. “She walked and talked”

Presentation for Level II:

The Subject – 2 subjects, 2 actions (using the verb symbol and black arrows)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “He bowed and she smiled”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions, she will need to invite another child to help her to do so
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What words tell us the actions?”
Cut the verbs from the slip and put them, in sequence on the red circles one below the other
Say, “Who is it that bowed?”
Place the first subject to the left of the verb it correlates with and join with an arrow (pointing towards the first subject)
Say, “Who is it that smiled?”
Place the second subject to the left of the verb it correlates with and join with the second arrow (pointing towards the second subject)
Place the conjunction between the verbs

Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical
Reconstruct the sentence and check it with the control
Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope II

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards and to write her own e.g. “He cooked and she ate”

Presentation for Level III:

The Object – 1 subject, 1 action, 1 object (using the verb symbol, black arrows and black circles for nouns, large for subject, small for object)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “I love you”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions, she may need to invite another child to help her to do so
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What words tell us the actions?”
Cut the verbs from the slip and put them, in sequence on the red circles one below the other
Say, “Who is it that loves?”
Place the subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with an arrow (pointing towards the subject)
Say, “Who/What is it that is loved?”
Place the object to the right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with the second arrow (pointing towards the object

Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical. When transposing first switch the subject and the object, saying, “Things always happen around the verb”
Reconstruct the sentence and check it with the control
Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope III

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards and to write her own e.g. “She tied a bow”

Presentation for Level IV:

Two Objects – 1 subject, 1 action, 2 objects (using the verb symbol, black arrows and black circles for nouns, large for subject, small for objects)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “He served juice with cookies”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What words tell us the actions?”
Cut the verbs from the slip and put them, in sequence on the red circles one below the other
Say, “Who is it that served?”
Place the subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with an arrow (pointing towards the subject)
Say, “What is it that was served?”
Place the first object to the upper right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with the second arrow (pointing towards the object)
Say, “What else was served?”
Place the second object to the lower right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with the second arrow (pointing towards the object)
Place the conjunction between the objects

Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical. When transposing first switch the subject and the object, or the objects saying, “Things always happen around the verb”
Reconstruct the sentence and check it with the control
Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope IV

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards and to write her own e.g. “I have a pencil and a paper”

Presentation for Level V:

Compound Sentences – 2 subjects, 2 actions, 2 objects (using the verb symbol, black arrows and black circles for nouns, large fro subject, small for objects)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “He writes books and they tell stories”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What words tell us the actions?”
Cut the verbs from the slip and put them, in sequence on the red circles one below the other
Say, “Who is it that writes?”
Place the first subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with an arrow (from the appropriate verb, pointing towards the first subject)
Say, “Who is it that tells?”
Place the second subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with an arrow (from the appropriate verb pointing towards the second subject)
Say, “What is it that he tells?”
Place the first object to the right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with the second arrow (from the appropriate verb, pointing towards the object)
Say, “What is it that they tell?”
Place the second object to the lower right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with the second arrow (pointing towards the object)
Place the conjunction between the objects

Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical. When transposing first switch the subject and the object, or the objects saying, “Things always happen around the verb”
Reconstruct the sentence and check it with the control
Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope V

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards and to write her own e.g. “The King counted the money and the Queen ate the honey”

Presentation for Level VI:

Compound Sentences with the object as a pronoun – 2 subjects, 2 actions, 2 objects (using the verb symbol, black arrows and black circles for nouns, large fro subject, small for objects, the symbol for the object as a pronoun is introduced much later)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “She brought flowers and he accepted them”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What words tell us the actions?”
Cut the verbs from the slip and put them, in sequence on the red circles one below the other
Say, “Who is it that brought something?”
Place the first subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with an arrow (from the appropriate verb, pointing towards the first subject)
Say, “Who is it that accepted something?”
Place the second subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with an arrow (from the appropriate verb pointing towards the second subject)
Say, “What is it that she brought?”
Place the first object to the right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with the second arrow (from the appropriate verb, pointing towards the object)
Say, “What is it that he accepted?”
Explain that, “We do not write ‘flowers’ again, we write ‘them’, ‘them’ takes the place of flowers’”
Place the second object to the lower right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with the second arrow (pointing towards the object)
Place the conjunction between the objects

Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical. When transposing first switch the subject and the object, or the objects saying, “Things always happen around the verb”
Reconstruct the sentence and check it with the control
Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope VI

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards and to write her own using all the pronouns, it, them, him/her e.g. “He planned a party and I attended it”

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Printed Control Slips

Direct Aim:

To prepare the child for total reading, through analysis and interpretation which helps the child to appreciate reading and to read dramatically

Indirect Aim:

Preparation for further grammar and syntax analysis

Age at Presentation:

From five years, after the Command Cards

Footnote:

The black circles for the subject and object are introduced any time after Level III
Around this time or earlier, from Stage III, encourage the child to use the symbols of the Function of Words (Parts of Speech)
Introduce the symbols for the pronoun (purple triangle) much later, when the child works independently
Change the cards in the envelopes frequently

Reading Analysis

Simple Sentences

Stage 1, Levels VII to VIII

Material Description:

Wooden arrows with questions for the subject and object, written on.

Circles for the verb, subject and object

Analysis Chart I, the adult’s tray, envelopes with printed sentences and Control Cards

Presentation for Level VII:

Using the wooden arrows – 1 subject, 1 action, 1 object (using the verb symbol, black circles for nouns, large for subject, small for objects, and the arrows with questions)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “Katie eats her sandwich”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What words tell us the actions?”
Cut the verbs from the slip and put them, in sequence on the red circle
Say, “Who is it that ate something?”
Place the first subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with an arrow with that question written on
Say, “What is it that she ate?”
Place the first object to the right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with the second arrow with that question written

Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical. When transposing first switch the subject and the object, or the objects saying, “Things always happen around the verb”
Reconstruct the sentence and check it with the control, stress the effect of the comma and give other examples of sentences with lists of verbs
Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope VII

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards and to write her own e.g. “The pilot guided the plane”

Analysis Chart I

When the child has worked with the wooden symbols she can use Chart I in the same way, asking the questions.

Presentation for Level VIII:

The Comma – (using the verb symbol, black arrows and black circles for nouns – large for subject, small for objects)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “He opened the door and checked the room and entered it”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What words tell us the actions?”
Cut the verbs from the slip and put them, in sequence on the red circles one below the other
Say, “Who is it that did these things?”
Place the first subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with an arrow with that question written on
Ask questions to identify the objects
Place the first object to the right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with a black arrow, do the same for the other two objects
Place the conjunctions between the objects, then explain that we just use one ‘and’, the earlier ‘and(s)’ should be exchanged for commas. Take the first ‘and’, reverse it and write a ‘,’ in coloured pencil and place it. Say to the child, “Remember only use ‘and’ once n a sentence.
Reread the sentence using the control to show the pause that the comma indicates
Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical. When transposing first switch the subject and the object, or the objects saying, “Things always happen around the verb”

Reconstruct the sentence and check it with the control
Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope VIII

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards, and to write her own e.g. “The athlete ran and jumped and landed”
Give other pieces of punctuation her (e.g. Capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, explain their functions and let the child write examples of how they can be used, she could use one or two sets of the Moveable Alphabet III

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Control cards

Direct Aim:

To prepare the child for total reading, through analysis and interpretation which helps the child to appreciate reading and to read dramatically

Indirect Aim:

Preparation for further grammar and syntax analysis

Age at Presentation:

From five years, after the Command Cards and the first stage of Reading Analysis, parallel with Interpretive Reading

Footnote:

Give printed slips which the child is allowed to cut and transpose. The child analyses one part of a sentence or a phrase at a time asking the questions herself. This activity marks a significant advance in the child’s progress to ‘Total Reading’.

Reading Analysis

Stage 2, Level IX, both parts

With Adverbs and Adverbial Phrases (extension)

Material Description:

There are loose red and black circles. Blank arrows like in Box 1, 9 small orange circles, 9 blank orange arrows, a small black circle for the indirect object, with a black arrow

Envelope IX (Adverbs, Adverbial phrases (Extensions)) has printed slips of the sentence with extensions. Some of these have sentences with indirect objects in them. Make control cards for the sentences
Analysis Chart II
In a separate box there are;

9 orange wooden circles
9 orange wooden arrows which have the following questions written on them;
How? Where? When? Why? What for? With whom? With What? By whom? By what? By means of whom? By means of what? From what? From where?

Presentation for Level IX:

Without Indirect Object – 1 subject, 3 actions, 3 objects, 3 adverbial phrases (using the verb symbol, black arrows and black circles for nouns, large for subject, small for objects and the orange arrows and circles for the adverbs)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “Today Bianca attentively examined the roses in the garden”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What word tells us the actions?”
Cut the verb from the slip and put it on the red circle
Say, “Who is it that examined?”
Place the subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with a black arrow
Say, “What did she examine?”
Place the subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with a black arrow
Lay out all of the arrows with questions written on them and begin by asking questions which are not answered by the sentence e.g. “Does it say why Bianca examined the flowers?” or “Does it say with whom Bianca examined the flowers?”
Later ask the questions which the sentence answers e.g. “Does it say when Bianca examined the flowers?”, “Does it say how Bianca examined the flowers?” and “Does it say where Bianca examined the flowers?”
When a question is asked to which the answer is found place an orange arrow from the verb pointing upwards or downwards
Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical. When transposing first switch the subject and the object, or the objects saying, “Things always happen around the verb”

Reconstruct the sentence and check it with the control
Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope IX

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards, and to write her own e.g. “Joan went shopping to the shoe shop with her mother yesterday”
At first the child will need assistance, later let her use the cardboard arrows and Analysis Chart II to ask question. Although these sentences are lengthy attempt all parts.

Presentation for Level IX:

With Indirect Object (using the verb symbol, black arrows and black circles for nouns, large fro subject, small for objects and the orange arrows and circles for the adverbs)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “The knight bowed low and gracefully to the lady”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What word tells us the action?”
Cut the verb from the slip and put it on the red circle
Say, “Who is it that bowed?”
Place the subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with a black arrow
Introduce the smallest black circle as a way of representing the indirect object.
Place the black circle above the usual place for the direct object and link it to the verb with the black arrow
Say, “Who did he bow to?”,
Place the subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with a black arrow
Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical. When transposing first switch the subject and the object, or the objects saying, “Things always happen around the verb”

Reconstruct the sentence and check it with the control
Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope IX

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards, and to write her own
Later let her use the cardboard arrows and Analysis Chart II to ask question and those from the Function of Words, she can also look for sentences in newspapers and magazines.

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Control cards

Direct Aim:

To prepare the child for total reading, through analysis and interpretation which helps the child to appreciate reading and to read dramatically

Indirect Aim:

Preparation for further grammar and syntax analysis

Age at Presentation:

From five years, after the Command Cards and the earlier stages of Reading Analysis, parallel with Interpretive Reading

Footnote:

Give printed slips which the child is allowed to cut and transpose. The child analyses one part of a sentence or a phrase at a time asking the questions herself. This activity marks a significant advance in the child’s progress to ‘Total Reading’.
Reading Analysis

Simple Sentences with Adverbs, Adverbial phrases, Attributes and Appositions

Stage 2, Levels X to XI

Material Description:

Symbol Box II – dark blue arrows, with adjectival questions, e.g. “Which/What kind of?”, written on them. The dark blue triangle for the attributes and the black triangle for the apposition

Envelope X – sentences with extensions and attributes

Envelope XI – sentences with extensions and appositions

(An attribute is an Adjective used to give more information about the subject. An apposition is a noun which describes and could be exchanged for the noun)

Reading Analysis Chart II

Note

Have sentences which link to all areas of Culture to help the child connect further with these areas. These activities are ‘Keys to Reading’ about the World, not simply further Reading Analysis.

Presentation for Level X:

The Attribute – 1 subject, 1 action, 1 object (using the verb symbol, black circles for nouns, large for subject, small for objects, and the arrows with questions and the dark blue arrows and triangle for the attribute)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “The old man told fanciful stories”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What words tell us the actions?”
Cut the verbs from the slip and put them, in sequence on the red circle
Say, “Who is it that told something?”
Place the subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with an arrow
Say, “What is it that he told?”
Place the object to the right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with the second arrow
Introduce the dark blue arrow and symbol, asking, “Which man?”, place the attribute on a dark blue triangle under the subject and the arrow pointing towards the attribute, then ask, “What kind of stories?” and place the symbols under the subject
Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical.

Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope X

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards and to write her own e.g. “The brave yachtswoman steered the stormy seas”

Analysis Chart II

Let the child use Analysis Chart II with these envelopes and the symbols for the attribute

Presentation for Level XI:

The Apposition – 1 subject, 1 action, 1 object (using the verb symbol, black circles for nouns, large for subject, small for objects, and the arrows with questions and the dark blue arrows and black triangle for the apposition)

Bring the symbols, sentences and adult’s tray to the chowki
Write a slip to be analysed and it’s control, e.g. “Susan, the engineer started the motor”
Let the child read the slip, interpret it and perform the actions
Ask the questions and analyse the sentence with the symbols
Say, “What words tell us the actions?”
Cut the verbs from the slip and put them, in sequence on the red circle
Say, “Who is it that started something?”
Place the subject to the left of the verb on the larger black circle and join with an arrow
Say, “What is it that she started?”
Place the object to the right of the verb on a smaller black circle and join with the second arrow
Introduce the black triangle, asking, “Which Susan?” or “Who is Susan?”, explain that the black triangle is used when we refer to the same person by another name and that we can swap the apposition for the noun.
Place the apposition on a black triangle under the subject and use the dark blue arrow to pointing towards the apposition
Collect all the slips and transpose in all the possible combinations, asking the child each time if the sentence is logical. When transposing first switch the subject and the object, then the noun and apposition

Arrange the symbols neatly on one side and then give the printed card

Envelope XI

Let the child read from the card a list of similar examples, choose one and read it out loud, perform and write it, then cut and use symbols, transpose and check the sentence with the control.
Encourage her to work with other sentences on the cards and to write her own e.g. “My Dad, the Police Constable helped the dog”

Analysis Chart II

Let the child use Analysis Chart II with these envelopes and the symbols for the apposition

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Control cards

Direct Aim:

To prepare the child for total reading, through analysis and interpretation which helps the child to appreciate reading and to read dramatically

Indirect Aim:

Preparation for further grammar and syntax analysis

Age at Presentation:

From five years, after the Command Cards and the whole First Stage of Reading Analysis, parallel with Interpretive Reading

Footnote:

Remind the child to use the Function of Word Symbols on occasion, and to use the questions on the arrows to think of extensions for her own questions, if she needs support
Always analyse in this sequence: verb, subject, object, adverbial and adjectival phrases
Give printed slips which the child is allowed to copy, cut and transpose. The child analyses one part of a sentence or a phrase at a time asking the questions herself. This activity marks a significant advance in the child’s progress to ‘Total Reading’.

A note on Reading Analysis

The overall Purpose of Reading Analysis is to give the meaning of the words and the grouping of words so that the child can better interpret what she reads. She becomes conscious of the change in meaning and in the style of writing used by authors, which helps her use grammatically correct and expressive speech and writing.

At this stage the child should be surrounded by a variety of fiction and nonfiction and allowed to pursue her own interests. The child will now be able to read with greater comprehension, to herself. Expressive reading by the adult is important to help the child acquire listening skills, to follow drama and to be able to read expressively herself. The children are encouraged to express themselves in conversation, with poems, delivering speeches of prepared writing and tell their own events in News Period. Encourage written expression through the writing of stories and accounts with the Moveable Alphabet III and handwritten work. Older children should be encouraged to produce books, diaries, reports, letters to friends and children in other schools.

Introduction to Word Study

Purpose:

Expand Vocabulary
Richness in expression
Reading practice
Influences in speech and writing

Topics

Introduction using complex material

Simple to Complex (Rotation)

Antonyms, Synonyms, Homonyms
Compound Words
Positives, Comparatives, Superlatives
Collective names: male, female, young
Singular and Plural
Contractions
Prefixes and Suffixes
Proverbs – Idioms

Presented with;

Writing Tray

Independent Cards

Exercises with partner

Book research and Dictionary

Reading Charts

Spontaneous Activity

Writing Charts

Word Study

Collective Nouns (correct expression)

If the child joins the Casa at two and a half years of age, she will, having completed oral language activities earlier, be ready by five and a half to six to do these activities. To study the words analytically requires a level of previous understanding, so these activities are not given early. Doing these activities will demonstrate to the child that sometimes words change in unexpected ways

Material Description

Have cards three and a half by five centimentres with,

Groups of Animals – The Groups are written on black cards, the animals are also written on black cards and the headings card are in brown
Things to do – Verbs are written on red cards, things to do on black and headings on brown
Voices of Animals – voices are written in red, nouns on black cards and headings in brown
Young of Animals, movements, habitats on cards with control charts or cards written in full sentances for each set.

On the back of each card the numbers are written in order according to which group they belong, check that they are in order befre begining

Presentation

Preliminary Exercises

With a small group of children do a preliminary oral activity around this aspect of grammer, linking it to previous work with Nomenclautre Cards, Definiton Stages or Real Experiences.
Give a Three Period Lesson with the words on the Heading Cards, linking the specific Nomenclature with the child’s daily experiences
Explain the topic, tell the child you will be taking about groups of animals or noise animals make and give few examples

Note: Use pictures or objects to reinforce examples

With an individual or a small group of children, collect the material and take it to a chowki
Take out the cards, show the Headings Card, and ask the child to read the cards, these go at the top of the chowki
The black cards are placed in a stack at the bottom of the chowki, beneith the Heading Cards
Read each of the black cards with the child, place them in order
See if she can recognise the theme of the activity or tell her, “we are looking at words that tell us if there are many things or just one”
Re-read all the cards from the begining, notice and discuss any new vocabalry and unusual linguistic features

Mix one set of the cards and ask her to arrange the cards adjacent to the fixed set
When complete she checks with the control

Mix the other set of the cards and ask her to arrange the cards adjacent to the fixed set
When complete she checks with the control

Mix the both sets of the cards and ask her to sort and arrange the cards below the Heading Cards
When complete she checks with the control

If she wishes she may write the words

To tidy she uses the Control Booklet to put the words in ordr behind their Heading Card and stacks the pile together

Exercises:

Encourage the child to make her own lists with new words, to make sentances with the words, write sentances about them, make booklets, poems, stories and add designs in the borders.
The children can use books and dictionaries to research further
The children can work with these cards in small groups, and play spelling games

Further work with different cards of correct expression:

To teach the nomenclature for groups of people, habitats, animal noises and movements, animal’s young the presentation is the same

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Booklets and Control Cards

Direct Aim:

To make the child aware of the correct usage of common vocablary
To help broaden the child’s vocablary
To encourage her to explore her language throught he study of words

Age at Presentation:

Five to five and a half years

Further Exercises:

When the child is between five and a half and six give her questions to answer around the area of Word Study as verbal games

Word Study

Singular, Plural (Number)

Material Description:

Have picture card and objects, for exercises have written cards. The sets are written on black cards with heading cards on brown cards. Have control Cards or booklets coded accordingly.

For the first activity use the Article Box.
For the second activity have Box I with different numbers of objects and their corresponding cards.

Presentation

Preliminary Exercises

Play games to show that some words refer to one object while others to a whole group of similar objects, e.g. (refering to a flower and a bunch of flowers) say, “I have a flower and I have six flowers. Ask, “If I had two would I use a plural?”, “If I had a hundred would I use a plural?”. Encourage the child to say the words singular and plural in a sentance, e.g. “Flower is singular, flowers are plural”, stress that if there is more thn one of the same kind of object it is a plural
Ask the child to look for singular and plural objects in the Casa, “Can you find any object that is singular/plural”

Presentation Part 1

With an individual or a small group of children, collect the material, including the article box and the adult’s tray and take it to a chowki (for this example there is one clip and many pencils amongst other objects)
Take out the objects and the printed tickets, and ask the child, “How many clips are there?”, the child says “only one”. Reply, “Remember that we said that when there is only one object the word is singular, and stays the same, ‘the clip’. Leave the printed slip.
Continue, this time ask the child, “How many pencils are there?”, the child says “three”. Put them in your hand, saying, “Remember that we said that when there are two or more objects the word is plural, and changes, ‘the pencils’. leave the printed slip and write a new one, underlining the ‘s’
Continue to arrange the objects around the printed and newly written slips
Ask the child what has been added to the word, pointing to the handwritten slips
Then refer back to the singular objects, saying, “What about the clips? There was only one clip so nothing has been added.”
The child realises that the word only changes if it is a plural form

Singular and Plural Box I – Cards Only

With individual objects and groups of objects of various quantities,

Remove the slips and show the child one at a time (begining with a singular word e.g.‘cork’, asking her to read the singluar cards and place them in a column. Read and place the plural forms in a column to the right
Show the child the objects and let her arrange single ones and plural ones by the appropriate card.
The child and adult can immediately verify the child’s understanding.

Later continue with Singular and Plural Box II and others

Singular and Plural Cards (Box II and above)

Material Description:

This box contains words with Singular and Plural words. The plural Words are formed by adding an ‘s’ to the endings of singular words

Later boxes form plurals by adding ‘es’, ‘oes’, ‘ies’, ‘ves’, or words which don’t change

The singular an plural cards are placed in two stacks, in order, at the bottom of the chowki, beneith the Heading Cards
The child reads each of the cards with the child and places them in order
See if she can recognise the theme of the activity or tell her, “ ‘s’ is used to make plurals”
Re-read all the cards from the begining, notice and discuss any new vocabalry

Mix one set of the cards and ask her to arrange the cards adjacent to the fixed set
When complete she checks with the control
Mix the other set of the cards and ask her to arrange the cards adjacent to the fixed set
When complete she checks with the control

Mix the both sets of the cards and ask her to sort and arrange the cards below the Heading Cards
When complete she checks with the control

If she wishes she may write the words or read other cards and booklets with different examples

To tidy she uses the Control Booklet to put the words in order behind their Heading Card and stacks the pile together

Exercises:

Encourage the child to make her own lists with new words, to make sentances with the words, write sentances about them, make booklets, poems, stories and add designs in the borders.
The children can use books and dictionaries to research further
The children can work with these cards in small groups, and play spelling games

Singular and Plural Cards (Box III to XIII)

The presentation is as for Box II, with examples of different ways to form plurals, e.g. adding ‘es’, ‘ies’, ‘i’, ‘en’, ‘ves’ and irregular plurals

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Booklets and Control Cards

Direct Aim

To make the child aware of the correct usage of common vocablary
To help broaden the child’s vocablary
To encourage her to explore her language throught the study of words

Age at Presentation

Five and a half to six years

Word Study

Gender – Masculine and Feminine

Material Description:

There are sets of black cars for different activities and heading cards in brown. Have control Cards or booklets for each set, and a control behind each card. For the game activity markers or disks to use with Box V

Presentation:

Preliminary Exercises

Define Masculine and Feminine by saying to the child, “Some words refer to boys and some words refer to girls, the ones that refer to boys are called ‘macsculine’, such as brother and grandfather. The ones that refer to girls are called ‘feminine’, such as, mother, daughter and sister’
Give the children other examples and aske them to say if they are maculine or feminine, e.g. boy, uncle, woman, grandma

Presentation

Box I – familiar terms in which the whole word is different

Put the ordered cards onto the chowki, arrange the ‘headings’ cards, ‘maculine’ and ‘feminine’
Arranging the examples on the black cards beneith the headings in order, follow the same proceedure used to form plurals, so that they are horizontally matched for meaning. E.g. ‘brother‘ – ‘sister’
The child reads the cards as they are placed

Mix one set and let the child sort, then mix the other, she can check using the booklet or numbers on the back of the cards.

Mix both sets together, the child classifies and sorts them.
To tidy replace the cards in order

Further Exercises

The child can

use the paired words to illustrate and make booklets
write sentances using the words
make her own list of words for each category

Box II – Words which become Feminine by adding an ‘ess’

e.g. lioness, tigeress,
Follow the proceedure A, B and C

Box III – Masculine, Feminine and Common cards

e.g. ‘father’, ‘mother’ and ‘parent’
Follow the proceedure A, B and C, with three columns, mixing all sets, working from left to right

Box VI – Combining Gender and Number

e.g. ‘boy’ ‘girl’ ‘boys’ ‘girls’
Follow the proceedure A, B and C, with four rows, mixing one set, two sets together and thre sets together in B and all four sets for step C

Box V – Masculine, Feminine Common and Neuter cards

e.g. ‘boy’ ‘woman’ ‘parent’ ‘table’
Follow the proceedure A, B and C, the difference here is that words do not match horizonatally for meaning. As the child places the Common cards draw her attention to their applicability to either gender.

Note:

The Child can write the ‘common’ forms for all the cards in Boxes 1, 2 and 4

Game with Box V

On a Working Mat arrange the ‘headings’ cards. Below each place ten markers. Mix all the black cards and display them on another mat.
Demonstrating if necessary, ask a small group of children to take a black card, places it under the correct heading and takes the marker. They continue until all the cards have been placed
Check with the children to see if any markers have been left – this would indicate an error and then read the words in the columns together.

Further Exercises:

Look for words in books, newspapers and magazines
Make a list of her own examples and cut them out and organise them under the Headings cards
Practice spellings and dictate with a friend
Write sentences and make booklets

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Booklets and Control Cards

Direct Aim

To build the child’s awareness of gender
To distinguish between Masculine, Feminine Common and Neuter forms
To encourage her to explore her language throught he study of words

Age at Presentation

Five and a half years to six years

Word Study

Compound Words, Word Families, Suffixes, Prefixes

Material Description:

Have large reading cards, each part of the compound word is written in a separate colour. Second or third Moveable Alphabet boxes and a set of pictures and cards for the compound words.

Presentation:

Compound Words

Preliminary Exercises

Ask the child to make new words by combining two words together, e.g. ‘fire’ and ‘fighter’ to make ‘firefighter’, ‘bed’ and ‘time’ to make ‘bedtime’
Then ask her to seprate two words from a comound one, saying, “In ‘tablecloth’ can you show me the table and show me the cloth?, So, what do we man by ‘tablecloth?”
Tell older children that, “These are compnd words, when things are made of two different things we say they are a ‘compound’”

Presentation

Arrange and display the picture cards depicting the two words which form compound words and the large reading cards, reading them outloud as you arrange them. Ask each child to identify the image in the picure, e.g. ‘cow’ and ‘boy’, ‘cup’ and ‘cake’, ‘door’ and ‘bell’ and then say them together to bring out their compound meaning
Review all the cards before collecting them
Show the child the simple word cards and arrange them into neat columns to show how words are put together to make compound words, then place the Control Compound word cards to the right of the corresponding simple ones, saying the compound word outloud.

Do the above exercise in reverse, splitting compounds into simple words, starting with the Control Compound word card before reading the simple ones

Show the child how to reorganise and put away the material

Further Exercises with Compound Words

The child can write the compound words using two sets of he Second Moveable Alphabet, making the simple words in contrasting colours

The child can also

Read the paired words in the control booklet and illustrate and make further booklets
Look for words in books, newspapers and magazines
Make a list of her own examples, illustrate them
Practice spellings and dictate with a friend
Use Compound words to write her own sentences

Word Families

Cards wth a shared simple word are shown e.g. ‘workplace’, ‘workbook’, ‘worker’, ‘workbench’, ‘worker’ are shown
Suggest a word to the child and ask her to think of other words which can be joined to it e.g. ‘sun’, ‘Christmas’, ‘tea’
Encouage the chld to write her own list of words which contain a shared simle word and make illustrations and sentances which show how the word is used

Prefixes

Letters added to the begining of words can change their meaning. Have two cards and ask the child to join them and use the example to write her own sentances and lists of other words with this prefix. e.g. ‘un’; ‘do’, ‘dress’, ‘lock’, ‘fasten’

Suffixes

Letters added to the ends of words can change their meaning. Have two cards and ask the child to join them and use the example to write her own sentances and lists of other words with this suffix. e.g. ‘ed’; ‘walk’, ‘dress’, ‘lock’, ‘fasten’

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Booklets and Control Cards

Direct Aim

To make the child aware of compound words and enrich her vocablary
The child discovers thatcertain word combinatns result in new words
To learn spellings and the corrct meaning of words
The child learns that some words alter their meaning when prefixes and suffixes are added

Age at Presentation

Five to six years

Word Study

Comparative and Superlative

Material Description:

These are three sets of cards corresponding to the degrees of comparison. The regular cards are brown; e.g. dark, darker, darkest, then ones which add have an additional word, e.g. beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful, then irregular ones are pink; e.g. more, most. Lastly, forms for good, better, best are given, keep these more difficult ones in a separate box and have a control card.

Presentation:

Preliminary Exercises

Review with the children the language for Sensorial Materials, e.g. for the Red Rods we have the positive forms (short and long), the Comparative forms (shorter and longer) and the Superlative form (shortest and longest)
Ask the child, “What is the sound you hear at the end when I say ‘shorter’?”, to help the child identify ‘er’ for the Comparative and ‘est’ for the Superlative.

Presentation

Box I – Regular Adjectives

Place Heading cars with ‘Positive’, ‘Comparative’ and ‘Superlative’, telling the child, “These are the degrees of comparison”. Place the black cards with examples beneith them in order
Follow the proceedure A, B and C

Box II – ‘More’ and ‘Most’

Show pink cards to give the impression of how some words show their degree of comparison in conjunction with the word ‘most’. E.g. ‘beautiful’ ‘more beautiful’ and ‘most beautiful’

Box III – Irregular degrees of comparison

Show brown cards to give the impression of how some words show their degree of compariosn in an irregular way. E.g. ‘good’, ‘better’, ‘best’

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Booklets and Control Cards

Direct Aim

To make the child aware of the correct usage of common vocablary
To help broaden the child’s vocablary
To encourage her to explore her language throught the study of words

Age at Presentation

Five to six years

Word Study

Homophones

Material Description:

There are prepared reading booklets showing pictures and words, e.g. ‘flour’ and ‘flower’. There are printed slips to match real objets or have pictures. Also have matching card words, homophones

Presentation:

Preliminary Exercises

With real objects e.g. a bag of flour and a flower explain that the words sound the same but have different meaning s and are spelt differently; they are ‘homophnes’. Explaint he different meanings and show the spellings with the cards. The children can copy the words, dictate and spell them from memory

Presentation

Place the Heading Cards ‘Homophones’ and the picture and word card below to give one example for each homophone.
Encourage the child to read and write a sentance using one word and then show it’s homophone pair and ask her to write a sentacne which fits this word
Encourge the child to write her own lists, sentances, look up words in books and magazines and do dictations.

Put the ordered cards onto the chowki, read and explain the meaning if necessary

Mix one set and let the child sort, then mix the other, she can check using the booklet or numbers on the back of the cards.

Mix both sets together, the child classifies and sorts them.
To tidy replace the cards in order

Homonyms

Material Description:

These words are spelt the same, sound the same but have different meanings, depending on the context, e.g. ‘key’, ‘match’, ‘blade’, ‘pupil’, and ‘fork’.

Have booklets and cards

Presentation:

Place the Heading Cards ‘Homonyms’ and the picture and word card below to give one example for each homonym. Pair one example with the child if necessary, after that she completes the activity independantly.
Encourage the child to read and write a sentance using one word and then show it’s homophone pair and ask her to write a sentacne which fits this word
Encourge the child to write her own lists, sentances, look up words in books and magazines and do dictations.

Put the ordered cards onto the chowki, read and explain the meaning if necessary

Mix one set and let the child sort, then mix the other, she can check using the booklet or numbers on the back of the cards.

Mix both sets together, the child classifies and sorts them.
To tidy replace the cards in order

Homographs

Material Description:

These are words which are spelt the same, but pronounced differently and have different meanings e.g. ‘tear’, bow’, ‘lead’, ‘wind’, ‘read’ (with older children, above six years, the etymology of the words can be given)

Presentation:

Place the Heading Cards ‘Homographs’ and the picture and words card below to give one example for each homographs. Pair one example with the child if necessary, after that she completes the activity independantly.
Encourage the child to read and write a sentance using one word and then show it’s homophone pair and ask her to write a sentacne which fits this word
Encourge the child to write her own lists, sentances, look up words in books and magazines and do dictations.

Put the ordered cards onto the chowki, read and explain the meaning if necessary

Mix one set and let the child sort, then mix the other, she can check using the booklet or numbers on the back of the cards.

Mix both sets together, the child classifies and sorts them.
To tidy replace the cards in order

Antonyms

Material Description:

These words have opposite meanings, e.g. tall – short, rough – smooth, deep – shallow

Show them to the child ask her to pair them together or link two words to the same picture, write and illustrate them and find further examples

Presentation:

Place the Heading Cards ‘Antonyms’ and the pictures and word cards below to give one example for each Antonym. Pair one example with the child if necessary, after that she completes the activity independantly.
Encourage the child to read and write a sentance using one word and then show it’s homophone pair and ask her to write a sentacne which fits this word
Encourge the child to write her own lists, sentances, look up words in books and magazines and do dictations.

Put the ordered cards onto the chowki, read and explain the meaning if necessary

Mix one set and let the child sort, then mix the other, she can check using the booklet or numbers on the back of the cards.

Mix both sets together, the child classifies and sorts them.
To tidy replace the cards in order

Synonyms

Material Description:

These words have identical or similar meanings, e.g. thin – slender, game – sport, ancient – old.

Show them to the child ask her to pair them together or link two words to the same picture, write and illustrate them and find further examples

Presentation:

Place the Heading Cards ‘Synonyms’ and the pictures and word cards below to give one example for each Synonnym. Pair one example with the child if necessary, after that she completes the activity independantly.
Encourage the child to read and write a sentance using one word and then show it’s homophone pair and ask her to write a sentacne which fits this word
Encourge the child to write her own lists, sentances, look up words in books and magazines and do dictations.

Put the ordered cards onto the chowki, read and explain the meaning if necessary

Mix one set and let the child sort, then mix the other, she can check using the booklet or numbers on the back of the cards.

Mix both sets together, the child classifies and sorts them.
To tidy replace the cards in order

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Booklets and Control Cards

Direct Aim

To make the child aware of the correct usage of common vocablary
To help broaden the child’s vocablary
To encourage her to explore her language throught the study of words

Age at Presentation

Five to six years

Word Study

Numbers as Adjectives

Material Description:

Cards and Counters from Maths Group 1, the Arabic Numerals and Cardinal Word Cards, Ordinal Numbers and words and the Roman Numeral cards. Sets of brown cards for headings (Cardinal, Ordinal, and Roman Numeral), Numeric Command Cards and Alternative Counting Cards

Presentation:

Box I – Arabic Numeral and Cardinal Numbers

Let the child lay out a mat and the cards and counters as in the Maths presentation, give a Three Period Lesson for the names unless she is already familiar
Exchange the Cards of the Maths activity for the Arabic Number Cards for Word Study
Place the Cardinal Number Word Cards below each set of counters
Read the number and word cards

Replace the cards and counters.
Let the child put the numeral to the left and the Cardinal card to the right in sequence, say to the child, “We call these the Cardinal numbers”

Mix the Cardinal cards and let the child rearrange them.

Mix both sets together, the child classifies and sorts them.
The child can write the numerals and Cardinal cards

To tidy replace the cards in order

Cardinal Command Cards

Let the child read and perform the commands on the slips, e.g. ‘walk backwards three steps’, ‘hop forwards four times’, ‘shake hands with three friends’

Box II – Ordinal cards and their corresponding Numerals

Preliminary Exercises

Play verbal games, ask the cildren to line up in order, e.g. ‘Kevin arrived first, John came second, Lisa was third’

Presentation

Let the child read the cards as you arrange the numeral cards ‘1st’, 2nd’, ‘3rd’ in a column on the left the put the corresponding Ordinal Cards in sequence.

Mix the Ordinal cards and let the child rearrange them.

Mix both sets together, the child classifies and sorts them.
The child can write the numerals and Ordinal cards

Ordinal Command Cards

Let the child read and perform the commands on the slips, e.g. ‘build the brown stair and place the ordinal numerals on each step in sequence’, ‘make a line with the farm animals putting the horse second and the cow sixth’.

Box III – Roman Numerals and Arabic Numeral Cards

Place the Arabic Cards in a column on the left and the corresponding Roman Numeral to the right e.g. 3 – III

Mix the set of Roman Numerals and let the child rearragne.

Mix both sets together, the child classifies and sorts them.
The child can write the numerals

Explain that Roman Numerals are used a the begining of sections in books, on some clocks and on the back of the Nomenclature Cards she uses. The older childrn can be given the hitory of the Roman Numerals. Ask the child to look out for them and record the places she sees them.

Box VI – Adjectives as numerals:

Use cards with alternative words for counting such as, ‘single’, ‘double’, ‘triple’, ‘quadruple’ etc, names for babies born in groups, ‘twin’, ‘triplet’, ‘quadruplet’, and for musicians, ‘solo, duet’, ‘quartet’, ‘quintet’. The child can research further, writing lists and illstrating them or cut out these words and pair them with Arabic Numerals.

Criteria of Perfection (Control of Error):

Booklets and Control Cards

Direct Aim

To build awareness of the use of numbers as adjectives and esablish an understanding of the difference between Cardinal and Ordinal numbers and Arabic and Roman numerals

Age at Presentation

Five to six years

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