The outcome

 Phonics testing

Structured literacy leading into writing

Writing lesson small video

This was a a bit of a dud inquiry - because it worked out so well, so quickly. It was really a matter of just get on with it, these tamariki are hungry for learning. And being girl heavy to begin with made a difference, but the boys also got hooked in quickly - modelling and letting them practise at their own pace is everything. However, so it a solid programme that embraces learning where they are at, but extends them out. It was really interesting that we could incorporate the play still, but also use the structured literacy through play. And we could build the structure into the day more formally and the tamariki really loved it and hungered for more. Beforehand we were trying to incorporate everything via the play - but it showed me that we could add into the programme in a more formal way without it being too arduous for the tamariki either. The balance was just right. Small bursts of work built through the day really worked. Now we have the daily phonics underway and formation and sounds are being built, we are now going to look at writing. We have left formal writing for a couple of terms so we can build the foundations. The idea is - what is a sentence to a child if you don't know how to write a letter or manage a sound. If we get the basics, then writing a sentence is not so much of an overload. This is not to say we. never wrote - but we did it more through play-based rotations and the daily phonics. My next question is how to build a quality writing programme now we have the foundations underway.