This Excel spreadsheet checklist contains the 43 basic phonics sounds in Jolly Phonics order. It can be used to track progress after post testing with the phonics flashcards found in the free Flashcard Club. Incorrect flashcards can be placed in the child’s mastery learning folder and remediated with the quick test and learn process each homework night.
The traditional gold library pockets are becoming more difficult to source in Australia and are not cheap. I have a supplier in Queensland and have listed their details below. I supply the medium sized gold library pockets in my Hand-made Mastery Learning Folder Kit. The kit includes everything you need to create the manilla folder styled mastery learning folders for 25 students at $3 per child.
What’s in the kit:
28 bright blue manilla folders
224 medium gold library pockets (8 per folder)
8 library pocket stickers
Blackline masters for the cover and instructions
Price: $75 + $13.40 postage
After reviewing the first trial both the classroom teacher and I felt that the students were not yet reaching their learning potential – most students learnt a similar amount of sight words and we would had expected a greater variation. We wondered if the higher achievers were being held back by an insufficient amount of learning content. So for Trial 2, the Store pocket was topped up with new remediation content weekly, rather than fortnightly. This meant that as flashcards reached the Test pocket, students always had new material to transfer into the Hive.
The results below showed that almost all of the students were capable of learning at a faster pace and there was a significant increase in the number of sight words learnt during the 6 week trial.
From The West Australian 9/12/15
Once again the research indicates that a structured synthetic phonics program produces excellent student results …
The article:
“A focus on teaching phonics and good leadership are key to improving school results, an Education Department report reveals.
The department commissioned former University of WA education dean and deputy vice-chancellor Bill Louden to investigate teaching practices at nine public primary schools which showed consistent improvement on national literacy and numeracy test results.
The report found three characteristics common to all nine schools.
They included reading programs based on explicit teaching of phonics — the relationship between letters and sounds — in the early years, well-developed school improvement plans and stable, long-term leadership with principals averaging 12 years in their school.
“All of the schools were using synthetic phonics and 10 years ago that wouldn’t have been the case,” Emeritus Professor Louden toldThe West Australian .
“I think there is a lot more phonics taught these days than there was before but from my point of view, there is no excuse not to begin with synthetic phonics with small children, otherwise you’re just waiting for them to fail.”
The report said most of the schools in the study had developed school-wide plans on what and how to teach, instead of leaving those decisions to individual teachers.
Almost all the schools had implemented explicit instruction methods for teaching reading, spelling and maths.
Many were using tightly-scripted direct instruction programs using text books and other supplied materials so that teachers could focus on their teaching instead of lesson planning.
Many of the schools had also made significant investments in teachers’ professional development.
Statewide services executive director Lindsay Hale said the project was designed to give the department a better understanding of the conditions in place at high-achieving schools and provide case studies for other schools to examine.
Mr Hale said director-general Sharyn O’Neill had long called for teachers to use explicit teaching approaches and for phonics to have a key place in students’ literacy learning in the early years.
“This report shows those methods are working well among the schools which Professor Louden investigated,” he said.”
I’ve spent plenty of years gathering the separate supplies to make mastery learning folders but these days those gold library pockets are becoming harder and harder to find! I’ve gathered everything you need to create your own handmade folders into the one class kit (28 folders) for less than $3 per student. They are bright blue and come with photocopy masters, pockets and labels. The folders are also set up with 8 pockets to utilise the new mastery learning folder strategy.
Here’s a video to show you what’s in the kit:
“Using the Mastery Learning Folder has been a wonderful experience for my child. She looks forward to the Friday tests. I think this program should be included in every school curriculum as it makes children learn words a lot faster.” Rayan, Parent