SCHOOL READINESS PROGRAMME
( Resources – NCERT- Little Steps- Readiness for Reading, Writing and Number Work)
IMPORTANCE OF READINESS
Children universally pass through identifiable stages of development. In each stage there are certain limitations and capacities to the child’s potentiality of learning.
The development and skills to be attained have to be rooted in and correlated with the developmental stage of every child. The most important consideration when a child is readied for learning is what the child already knows. And hence, the child may be readied for learning by making use of what she / he already knows.
Readiness is a state of receptiveness and the ability to receive. A teacher cannot make the child learn unless he/ she is ready to learn. The Teacher is, therefore, expected to make the child receptive to learning in general and then make her/ him ready to learn specific items in particular.
IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT CHILDREN AGED 3-6 YEARS
- Children aged 3-6 years cannot sit still for long time.
- They tend to learn through concrete objects and first hand experiences since the ability for abstract thinking and reasoning has not yet developed
- They are curious and eager to learn.
- They are spontaneous and demonstrative in their emotional readiness towards others
- They respond readily to music, rhyme and rhythm
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE ?
GENERAL READINESS-
- Have adequate social, independence, communication, fine motor, cognitive skills
- Familiarisation with the school environment
- Ability to see and hear distinctly. Children having difficulty in these faculties need to be identified and attended to
- Physical fitness of children is another area of readiness to learn. Sick, undernourished children cannot learn to the extent required.
- Socio-emotional well-being needs to be attended to. Children under stress, anxiety and with different linguistic background are not ready for learning
SPECFIC READINESS- READINESS TO LEARN
A proper development of ‘Readiness Programme’ should be designed for the preparation of formal reading, writing and mathematics- ie structured programmes for
- Reading Readiness,
- Writing Readiness
- Number readiness
The following resources, activities and recommendations are for the age group- 4- 5+ years which is the target group for Class I in KVs. Students in Class I of KVs by and large have attended pre-school, particularly in large towns and Metropolitan cities. SRP is relevant even to that context because, it is necessary to prepare children to learning according to the Constructivist methodology which begins with whole language to the basics- the same as how a child learns a mother tongue. Contexts in learning are important.
Therefore , designing an environment conducive to learning readiness is very important.
1
READING READINESS- PREPARING CHILDREN TO READ
SEC. / Parameter / Activities / ResourcesENABLING THE ENVIRONMENT FOR READING / Developing desirable interest and aptitude / Showing pictures of people reading
Reading Aloud a story
Story making / Big books of NBT
Illustrated books
Picture cards
Print rich environment / Reading corner with display of illustrated picture/ story books
Flannel/display board displayed with characters from the story being read aloud / being made up
Preparing an early literacy album- name, list of toys, food, wishes, dreams, family, friends drawn by the child him/herself
Food packets ( liked by children) labels / WELL ILLUSTRATED STORY BOOKS
FLANNEL BOARD/DISPLAY BOARD
Labels of food, food packets
Developing vocabulary / Playing recorded stories, simple role-play, picture-reading, chain games such as, children seated in a circle with the teacher and begin - I went shopping and bought biscuits..the next child adds on- I went shopping, bought biscuits and cake.. continued bythe next child by adding one more item
Picture reading, retell known stories individually or in groups
Playing shop-shop, welcoming visitors
Simulated telephone conversation using a devised telephone- string and plastic cups.
Songs, rhyming games
Feely box activity ( guideline in TLM resource)
View a muted video and speak about it
Story time- / CDs, audio /video filesfiles of stories
Simple class room articles for shop play, bits of paper for currency
Toy telephone ,Feely Box
EVELOPING SKILLS
PARAMETER / ACTIVITY / RESOURCES
Auditory Discrimination-
To be able to identify and make fine discriminations between the sounds / Follow Oral directions- For ex- Pat your head, touch your nose, turn around, pull your ear,…
Game: Rama says: Hop on one foot. Children should follow the direction only if preceded by ‘ Rama says’ otherwise they should remain in position
Find the odd one in a list of rhyming words called out
Make sound boxes and arrange from softest to loudest. Activity may be adapted for students with good vocabulary by introducing sound words such bang, tinkle..
Another adaptation is using improvised /actual musical instruments and introduce words. Children may be asked to close their eyes and identify the sounds.
Match objects / picture cards with same beginning sounds ex- chair-chalk, box-block
Wall- window
Sort out picture cards with the same sounds from an assorted pile
Antakshari- Play of words with the last sound of the word told
Riddles and Jokes
GAME; FRUIT BASKET/LETTER BAG- Each child is given a letter/ name of a fruit. A pair of names are called out and they have to exchange the seats. He/She tries to capture one of the seats and the child without a seat becomes the ‘den’. The den calls out fruit basket ‘upset’and all players must change their seats / Sound Boxes Small boxes with different articles such as, grains, sands, pebbles, coins etc can be made for sound boxes
Picture cards/ objects of words beginning with same sound
Visual Discrimination-Skill to identify, objects, pictures, letters , blends etc / Odd Man out- Make strips of series of letters – three same and one different
Arrange picture cards in proper sequence to a story
Cause and effect matching and speaking about it- ex- showing a cloudy day and the effects of it
Dominoes of letters and pictures- it can be designed for easy and complex activities
Collect two sets of food labels keep one displayed, one out of the other set is given to students and they are asked to find the match. For higher order skills, picture cards with slight differences may be displayed and students asked to find an exact match
Nature Walk- visits and talk about the things seen / ODD MAN OUT CARDs
Story Sequence Cards
Dominoes
Auditory-Visual Discrimination- to establish association between sounds and pictures / Sound letter match- Spread out alphabet cards on the mat and call out a sound. Students should pick out the corresponding alphabet.
Adaptation- Call out words and students find the corresponding picture card/object/sample/ realia etc.
Odd Man Out- Make a series card with three words that begin with the same sound and one that is different
Flash Card Match_ Make a picture & word card- ex- picture of a cat with CAT printed on it. Another with only the word printed on it. Students must match the picture word card to the word card.
Game: pick and do- Action words with pictures are written on cards- The cards are put face down in a box, mixed up in a basket. Students in turns pull out one and do the action. Others guess and speak/spell
Self -Corrective Puzzles of words and pictures in jigsaw puzzle shape- Students find the match
Book Talk- Show a book, point to the title, discuss the letters and sounds, talk about the illustration. Then read aloud the story
Directionality- to acquire the skill of working from left to right direction as in Hindi and English / Book Handling- Children will be led to quickly go through the books left to write
Today’s Story- A simple 2-3 line story is written on one side of the Blackboard and children take turns to read it left to right.
Pattern Making, sequencing, ordering etc- children should be encouraged to work from left to right. / illustrated books with simple one line story
Picture card or worksheets for sequencing, pattern making, ordering
Using Humour to Stimulate reading Growth / Make a Funny Book_ composed of things that thy think funny- pictures, cartoons, comic strips, funny faces, funny characters, funny songs etc / Drawings, cuttings from newspapers, magazines,
READING READINESS- PREPARING CHILDREN TO READ SUMMING UP
- All the activities to be based in the context of children’s interests, knowledge and play
- Readiness activities should be based on their curriculum so that the transition to text based learning is natural and effortless.
- Worksheets can be designed keeping in view the skills listed
- A variety of TLMs need to be used during SRP as children of that age learn mainly through sensory methods .
- Fun, games, movement, suspense and a spirit of adventure draw children’s attention
WRITING READINESS- PREPARING CHILDREN TO WRITE
SEC. / Parameter / Activities / ResourcesENABLING THE ENVIRONMENT FOR WRITING / Developing interest and seeing relevance of writing in Daily Life situations
-Promote the desire to learn to write on her/ his own / Giving focus to the written word
Teacher calls to attention as he/she writes the everyday details on the boards
Displaying pictures of writing ,as seen by the child in daily life, and discussing about it - mother writing a shopping list, children writing, clerk writing a bill, etc
Displaying different kinds of written materials- lists, letters, bills, messages, prescriptions,
Writing captions and displaying around the classroom
Changing the displays in the class display board with more text.
Note: Use thick colours crayons for writing in large , clear print manuscript. These are used to arouse interest in the written word and not used for copying or reading practice. / Falsh cards
Picture cards of people engaged in writing as part of their daily life activity
Samples of Messages, letters, bills, advertisements
Writing Tool- Material pre- requisite for writing: writing with and writing on / Name writing attempts and writing names of his her own things
Using/drawing pictures of simple traffic signals and writing, street signs, nameboards of shops, nameboard of the class, / Large crayons
paper
CREATING A NEED TO EXPRESS THROUGH WRITING / PRINT RICH
ENVIRONMENT-
An environment rich in print is where children see adults reading and writing and where they are given opportunities to make sense out of print and to express their thoughts orally and in writing / LOTTO GAME- Matching games with letters of the alphabet
Making a Post Office out of a carton- dropping messages, letters, invitations, birthday cards into it and looking at it over and over again
Daily WEATHER CARD – Draw the weather and write a word describing it.
Labelling storage areas in the classroom in bold letters –
FAVOURITE FIRST LIST –prepared in front of the children such as First Book, First name called,
First activity, List of students Birthdays, names, telephone number,
Greeting Cards for special holidays and birthdays
Invitations and advertisements from cards received and clippings from the newspaper, handbills etc / Boxes, advertisement clippings, alphabets,
Name labels, weather cards, greeting cards,
Letters , invitations
LETTER PERCEPTION-Noticing similarities and differences and recognising the form of letters / Clay /Atta ( wheat Flour)letters- shaping out letters and words out of plasticine ( non-toxic) / Atta
PEG BOARDS WITH WIDE ARRNAGEMENT AND THEN NARROW ARRANGEMENT_ Children can thread the letter shapes using twine
Bread Letters- Cutting out letters and eating them
Letter Collage- Make various sizes of the same letters from cut outs from newspapers, periodicals, cut out pictures of things that begin with them and make a collage
Textured/ Sensory /Feely letters/ - For children having difficulty, make a textured letter with sand, felt paper, brush bristles
Picture Writing their name- Spelling their name with pictures which begin with the letters in their name . For ex- Pari is written as a picture name with pot, apple, ring, ice-cream / Non-toxic plasticine, home - made clay with wheat flour, bread, sensory materials such as fleece, felt, brush, sand paper
BASIC STROKES- Drawing lines in various forms and shapes is a pre-requisite to wrting / Finger Painting
Copying down patterns from the blackboard
Story strokes- It’s raining lightly / / / / / / /
It’s raining heavily///////////////////
////////////////////////////////////
Raindrops falling on the umbrella ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Raindrops rolling under the tree
Green grass that was looking fresh and greener IIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIIIII / Paints, colours
DEVELOOPING SKILLS / SMALL MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT
Development of small muscles so as the child may hold and move the writing instrument in a desired manner / Making a paper lace design- Fold a piece of plain coloured paper in half and then fold once more to make quarters. The folds can be triangle shaped. Then cut along the four edges, just nipping in and cut to form a lace when opened out
Buttoning, unbuttoning, zipping and unzipping
Tying different knots with thick ropes ( short length for safety)
Simple paper folding
Stencil drawing ( TLM guide) / Blunt craft scissors
Paper
Short lengths of Thick rope
Origami paper
Stencils of alphabets
EYE – HAND COORDINATION- control, strengthening and coordination of hand, fingers and eye muscles / HOT BALL GAME- Children sit in a circle.A large ball is rolled from hand to hand as if it is hot and then it is rolled to one of the children, the one who gets the ball, repeats the hot ball action and rolls it over to another.
Weaving through perforated stencils/ slotted frames
Chalkboard writing
Copying letters from letter cards, stencils
Writing their name on their work
My Alphabet book- Children draw their own large alphabets and words beginning with them, containing them
Completing mazes,
Jig saw puzzles / Large ball
Perforated stencils
Slotted frames
Letter card stencils
Activity sheets of mazes/ floor drawn mazes
Jig saw puzzles
WRITING READINESS- PREPARING CHILDREN TO WRITE- SUMMING UP
- Assigning blind writing activities before the children have learnt to read creates blocks for children
- The activities should provide feedback to the teacher about the skills of each child.
- Children who face difficulty in writing should be given more attention and engagement to orient them to write.
- The contexts of the readiness activities need to be based in the curriculum for transition to text based writing smoothly
READINESS FOR NUMERACY- PREPARING CHILDREN FOR NUMBER WORK
INTRODUCTION:
Like their mother tongue, children come to school with a broad background of experience in mathematical learning. One needs to plan a Number readiness Programme with these points in mind:
-Activities should be interesting and enjoyable
-Should involve direct manipulation of concrete objects by children
-Activities should be sequential from the concrete to the abstract
FOR CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITES THE PROGRAMME SHOULD BE SEQUENCED THROUGH THE FOLLOWING STAGES-
Matching
Identification
Naming
STEPS AND TECHNIQUES
- Developing Curiosity, Interest and Strengthening of Cognitive Skills in Relation to Mathematics as a natural part of daily living to the Classroom
- Developing Conceptual readiness
SEC. / PARAMETER / ACTIVITY / RESOURCES
DEVELOPING CURIOSITY, INTEREST AND STRENGTHENING OF COGNITIVE SKILLS IN RELATION TO MATHEMATICS AS EVERYDAY ACTIVITY IN THE CLASSRROOM / DEVELOP INTEREST
IN MATHEMATICSDesire to learn numbers and about number on one’s own
CLASSIFYING OBJECTS / Make number sets from assorted items- set of four colour pencils, set of four red buttons/ beads, set of six seeds etc
Sorting thematic collections into groups- for examples- small stones, large stones, rough stones, smooth stones, sorting on any given or one’s own criteria / Stones, plastic toys, counters, bottle caps, beads, shapes, beans, buttons, egg trays, twigs, leaves, shells, wrappers, threads of different colours, ribbons, pieces of cloth/ fabric
SEQUENTIAL THINKING- ability to arrange things meaningfully by oneself / Story card sequence integrating numbers/quantities,
Talking about daily routine in relation to time
Rhymes based on sequence
Pattern Making- follow the pattern, complete the pattern / Story sequence cards
Daily routine charts with clock face
Pattern cards- Activity sheets cut outs of shapes