primary literacy newsletter - spring 2010

Spring 2010

The Lancashire School Effectiveness Service

Literacy Newsletter“Promoting excellence, creativity and enjoyment in English and literacy through partnership with schools.”

Happy New Year! It seems unbelievable that it is 10 years since the Millennium.

The start of this term can be the most difficult one. Going to school in the dark and coming home in the dark makes life seem all work and no play.

The days are short,The sun a spark

Hung thin betweenThe dark and dark.

John Updike from ‘January’

However, the longest day is well behind us and the days are getting longer – really! Apparently, in Lancashire by Easter, sunrise will be at 6.42 a.m. and sunset at 7.48 p.m. Let’s hope there’s some sunshine between the two!

So, let’s Spring into action with this term’s newsletter!

First of all a big welcome to Claire Speakman from Leyland St Mary’s, who is joining the team as a new consultant from January. We are really looking forward to her joining the team and working with us to support Lancashire schools.

Once more, we have included a wide range of information and support for teaching literacy. We are really pleased to include book reviews from three teachers for our regular ‘Have you Read?’ section. Don’t forget to submit one of your own if you come across a book that goes down a storm in your class; especially in KS1.

If you are a Reception or KS1 teacher, you will have great fun trying out the drama activities using Billy Bucket – take pictures!

Our CLLD consultant has written a really useful and practical guide for developing CLL during outdoor learning. Thankyou, too, to Rachel Hall from Stoneyholme for her case study of a project, Talk Power, to get boys talking outside.

For those of you who might be struggling to write a brief Literacy policy, we have included a ‘potted policy’ created in one of our schools. It should be adapted to suit your own particular needs and could form the basis of a more detailed policy.

We hope you have an enjoyable and productive term.

Senior Adviser / Team Leader Lyn Ranson

Principal Consultant Sarah Watson

Literacy Consultants Sue Dean (Senior Consultant), Helen Atkinson, Julie Clack, Marie Feathers, Edwina Maskell, Janet Pay, Claire Speakman, Nicola Tomlinson, Anita Yearsley, Louise Young

CLLD Consultants Vanessa Andrews, Lesley Dodd

ECaR Consultants Shirley Gott, Jayne Nicholas

Administrative Staff Julia Page - Admin Manager, Alison Kenyon - Deputy Admin Manager, Daniel Hayes - Admin Assistant, Angela Jamieson - Admin Assistant, Lynn Smith - Admin Assistant

You can contact us by…

Phone: 01257 516160Fax: 01257 516103E-Mail: [email protected]: www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/nationalstrategy/literacy Post: LPDS Centre, Southport Road, Chorley, PR7 1NG

We are unfortunately unable to provide additional copies of this newsletter but you can download the file from our

website and, if you don’t have a colour printer, commercial printers will be able to print any or all of the pages for you.

ContentsAPP - Gathering and Using Evidence in Writing•

Renewed Framework for Literacy•

Every Child a Reader in Lancashire•

Using Support for Writing and Talk for Writing•

BBC Learning in the North Project•

The Little Book of Literacy Essentials•

Burnley Transition Project•

SEN News - New Resources and Network•

Are You Ready for APP in Reading?•

Have You Read?•

Spring Term Twilight Flyer - Writer Talk•

Developing CLLD During Outdoor Learning•

Talk Power: A Project to Get Boys Talking•

Preston Museums and Schools in Partnership•

Storytelling and Storymaking for EAL Children•

Drama Activities Using Billy’s Bucket•

Literacy - The Essentials•

LE Consultancy and Courses•

One to One Tuition in Lancashire•

Cover photo: jenny downing @ flickr.com

Spring 2010

The Lancashire School Effectiveness Service

Literacy Newsletter“Promoting excellence, creativity and enjoyment in English and literacy through partnership with schools.”

Happy New Year! It seems unbelievable that it is 10 years since the Millennium.

The start of this term can be the most difficult one. Going to school in the dark and coming home in the dark makes life seem all work and no play.

The days are short,The sun a spark

Hung thin betweenThe dark and dark.

John Updike from ‘January’

However, the longest day is well behind us and the days are getting longer – really! Apparently, in Lancashire by Easter, sunrise will be at 6.42 a.m. and sunset at 7.48 p.m. Let’s hope there’s some sunshine between the two!

So, let’s Spring into action with this term’s newsletter!

First of all a big welcome to Claire Speakman from Leyland St Mary’s, who is joining the team as a new consultant from January. We are really looking forward to her joining the team and working with us to support Lancashire schools.

Once more, we have included a wide range of information and support for teaching literacy. We are really pleased to include book reviews from three teachers for our regular ‘Have you Read?’ section. Don’t forget to submit one of your own if you come across a book that goes down a storm in your class; especially in KS1.

If you are a Reception or KS1 teacher, you will have great fun trying out the drama activities using Billy Bucket – take pictures!

Our CLLD consultant has written a really useful and practical guide for developing CLL during outdoor learning. Thankyou, too, to Rachel Hall from Stoneyholme for her case study of a project, Talk Power, to get boys talking outside.

For those of you who might be struggling to write a brief Literacy policy, we have included a ‘potted policy’ created in one of our schools. It should be adapted to suit your own particular needs and could form the basis of a more detailed policy.

We hope you have an enjoyable and productive term.

With the increased use APP approaches and materials to support teacher assessment in writing, •questions are frequently asked about evidence and the place of supported and unsupported tasks.

When assessing pupils using the APP approach, it is important to remember that we are looking for •what a pupil can do confidently, consistently and independently.

To help make those judgements in writing, it is recommended that the teacher draws on a range of •evidence – what they know about the child, observations of them working, the pupil’s responses to questioning and discussion, and a range of samples of their writing.

It is recommended that this range of writing comes from a variety of sources – from work in Literacy, •other subjects and wider writing opportunities such as pieces for assembly etc. This provides the teacher with greater opportunity to find evidence of the skills which have become embedded, in other words those which they apply confidently, consistently and independently.

Scaffolded tasks, use of success criteria, reminders about targets and so on are all vital elements of •Assessment for Learning and good teaching – hang on to those! It is just important to keep in mind that where specific scaffolding has been given, credit cannot be given for that aspect. The same piece may however provide evidence for several other assessment focuses. Similarly, if the child shows in other pieces that they can indeed demonstrate their ability to apply that particular skill which was

scaffolded elsewhere, then they should be given credit. APP is designed to draw on normal teaching approaches and additional ‘cold’ writing tasks are

neither necessary nor desirable. On rare occasions, a teacher may find they simply do not know how embedded certain skills are because all

the writing opportunities being offered to children are so heavily scaffolded. In such instances, pupils simply do not have chance

to show what they can do by themselves and consequently these opportunities need to be planned in by the teacher.

It all comes back to the teacher’s knowledge of the •child and what they can do. APP is designed to support teachers in gaining that knowledge. There are no hard and fast rules as such – it’s about teachers reflecting

on ‘where is this child with their writing?’, making a judgement and using a range of evidence to ensure that they are secure in that judgement.

APP - Gathering and Using Evidence to Assess Pupils’ Progress in Writing

To scaffold or not to scaffold?

Renewed Framework for LiteracyIn late June last year, the government published the

white paper entitled “Your child, your schools, our future

– building a 21st century schools system”.

Just prior to this being published, it was incorrectly

reported that schools would no longer have to plan and

teach from the National Strategy Renewed Frameworks

for Mathematics and Literacy.

The white paper actually states that successful schools

have “taken on teaching frameworks developed by The

National Strategies, including for the daily literacy and

numeracy hours, and used them with enthusiasm… and

we expect every school to continue with this practice.”

Download the full report from

www.dcsf.gov.uk/21stcenturyschoolssystem.

Burnley ExpressTuesday, October 27 2009, p.10

Every Child a Reader in Lancashire

The Mayor and Mayoress of Burnley, Councillor John and Mrs. Gillian Harbour, cut the ribbon to officially mark the opening of the Every Child a Reader training centre at Springfield Primary School, which is one of only two in Lancashire (the other being St Maria Gorretti RC Primary in Preston).

The programme aims to reach those pupils most in need of help to boost the standard of literacy in the area.The Reading Recovery scheme will help children

around the age of six who are struggling with learning to read and write. The lowest attaining pupils will get five 30-minute reading sessions a week.

The programme creates a personalised plan for each pupil, assessing their needs and building upon what the child is already able to do.

The centre will also be used to train other Reading Recovery teachers, with 37 teachers from across the region having signed up for the year-long training course.

Two new fliers have recently been sent into school giving a very useful overview of the Support for Writing and Talk for Writing materials.

The Support for Writing poster gives information around how to use the Support for Writing materials when planning. These materials consist of:

Additional guidance on text types•Progression statements•Steps in learning•Pupil writing targets•Examples of Pedagogy•

The Talk for writing poster shows how to incorporate aspects of talk into the assess, plan, teach, review sequence. The key aspects of talk for writing are:

Book Talk•Writer Talk (reading as a writer and writing as a reader)•Story telling and story making•Word and language games•Role play and drama.•Further copies and more information can be downloaded from the national strategies website.•

Using Support for Writing and Talk for Writing

Lancashire has been lucky to be invited to work with the BBC to evaluate suitable material for use in schools. A website, with a wealth of resources, is in the process of development. Have a look for yourselves:

www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips

Lots of clips are available from well known TV programmes such as Top Gear, Newsround, CBeebies, BBC News, Blue Peter and Jackanory. In addition, many narrative clips and short films are available, for example, George’s Marvellous Medicine, The Iron Man, Rumpelstiltskin, The Town Rat and the Country Rat, This is the Bear and the Scary Night, Hacker, Good Night Owl, The Hare and the Tortoise, to name just a few.

Nicola Tomlinson, Literacy Consultant and Caroline Garland, Deputy Headteacher in

Leyland (and ex-Literacy Consultant) are to attend workshops in the Spring term to provide advice and ideas for the use of further audio visual material and BBC archive material for literacy and the creative curriculum.

Watch this space for developments and updates!

BBC Learning in the North Project

The Little Book of Literacy Essentials

Burnley Transition Project

The Little Book of Literacy Essentials is an introduction to literacy teaching in primary schools.

It outlines the basic principles and practice of the different elements of the literacy lesson. It has been written to support NQTs, teachers returning to teaching since the Literacy Framework was renewed and anyone wishing to update their knowledge of current practice.

Download it from our website today!

An exciting new project is being piloted this year to develop

the transition between primary and secondary schools

in Burnley. This follows the successful introduction of a

transition project in the Wyre where high schools and their

feeder primary schools attend a conference in the Spring

term hosted by one of the high schools in the area. The

schools develop the transfer of assessment information

in the form of APP judgements so that high schools have

detailed assessment profiles to inform teaching and learning

of the new Year 7 pupils. A Y6 transition unit of work for the

summer term is provided, complete with access to moodle

resources. Y6 teachers use some of the tasks from the

transition unit to inform their APP judgements which are

passed on to Y7 colleagues and secondary Heads of English.

The Burnley Transition Project will follow a similar model with

APP training provided as required. Two Burnley secondary

schools, Sir John Thursby and Blessed Trinity and their feeder

primary schools are taking part in this pilot. We hope to

extend the project further in the future in order to continue

strengthening the smooth transfer of information between

Year 6 and Year 7 teachers.

New ResourcesPlease look out for two new booklets that came into all schools earlier this term entitled ‘Resources for teachers working with children with speech, language and communication difficulties’ and ‘Resources for teachers working with children with dyslexia’.

The resources in these booklets have been presented in 3 sections. The first is for teachers working in the Early Years Foundation Stage, the next for teachers working in KS1 and 2 and the last for those working in KS3 and 4. However some of the resources are not exclusive to these age ranges and teachers may find suggestions from outside their age group useful.

There are a variety of resources listed, including teacher books and manuals, intervention programmes and activities, practical equipment and web based resources. It is not suggested that these are the only helpful resources to support teachers but are a collection of those suggested by teachers and specialists in Lancashire LA.

Within in each group there are ideas for the 3 waves of support.

Wave 1: listed here are resources that will support the class teacher with providing good quality inclusive education for all pupils.Wave 2: these are resources to support pupils who are working just below age range expectations and are aimed at enabling these pupils to accelerate progress to

meet national expectations. These pupils are likely to be working in a small group, often with an adult to supervise their learning.Wave 3: on this page are resources that will be useful to support the lowest attaining pupils who often need specialist one-to-one support to tackle fundamental difficulties.

Additional copies can be ordered by emailing [email protected].

SEN NEWS...SEN NEWS...

At the last meeting on 20th November most people braved the walk form Woodlands to Lancashire College; despite all my arrangements, the flier still went out with Woodlands on it!! Spring and Summer meetings are in Woodlands, though.

We enjoyed a range of teaching and learning activities using ICT and the evaluations were universally appreciative. Thanks to all the presenters, Sue Eaves, Nicky and Louise and especially Lynne who conducted a hilarious and fascinating ‘hands-on’ session using Dinosaurs as a stimulus. The usual suspects degenerated into near vulgarity at times! [They know who they are!]Careful reading of the suggestions from you for the

Spring Session resulted in a session from Lynne on Dyslexia, a session from Liz that will take the approaches and strategies that Lynne examined through Dinosaurs to a more suitable content for KS4; she is going to look at a Shakespeare text. I will approach practitioners who can talk about the benefits and issues resulting from their new school build on different campuses and we are inviting Anne Conroy, from the EYFS team, to do a session on planning. We will include the Libraries suggestion in the Summer

Next date is February 5th 2010, Woodlands.

See you there. Hilary King.

The Special Schools’ Network

Most schools are well on the way to adopting Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP) as their termly assessment tool. Many have started with APP in writing or in maths with the intention of introducing the guidelines for reading when the first two are established. The expectation is that APP should be introduced and implemented by 2011.

Assessing Pupils’ Progress is a straightforward approach to making secure judgements about the standard of pupils’ work and what they need to do next. However, making judgements about children’s writing is perhaps more straightforward than reading. In writing, the evidence is there on the page. In reading, much of the evidence is

inside the child’s head!

So, how do you access that evidence in order to inform APP judgements and plan next steps in reading?

What are you looking for?

Whatever the age of the child, or the complexity of the text, the statements below summarise what a reader is doing when developing each assessment focus. What schools need to do is provide a wide range of reading opportunities to both develop reading and generate evidence to inform assessment, teaching and learning.

AF1 use a range of strategies, including accurate decoding of text, to read for meaning

AF2understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and reference to text

AF3 deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts

AF4identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level

AF5explain and comment on writers’ use of language, including grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level

AF6identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints, and the overall effect of the text on the reader

AF7 relate texts to their social, cultural and historical traditions

The Assessment Focuses - What the Reader is Doing

AF1: I can blend phonemes to read and

understand words. I know my high frequency words. I know how to help myself

when I’m stuck.

AF2: I can find information and ideas in

the text and quote them in my answer.

AF3: I can find the author’s clues about what

is happening or how characters are feeling.

AF4: I can explain why the writer has organised the text

in the way she or he has.

AF5: I can explain the meaning of words and

phrases and the intended effect of the language chosen by the author.

AF6: I can explain how the author feels about the text and how he wants the reader to feel or to think.

AF7: I can explain how this text relates to others I have read or to the place

or time in which it was written.

Are You Ready for APP in Reading?

Reading Opportunity

APP in Reading Are the following elements included in your class?

Areas for Development

Shared Reading

A wide range of texts; engagement and enjoyment; teaching of reading strategies at the age expected level; lots of Book Talk; open questions that require thought; modelling of extended oral responses; the teaching of the range of AFs; a balance of teacher/child talk; reading as a writer – identifying the structures and language features of texts to inform own writing; gathering content for writing.

Guided ReadingAs above but at the ability level of the children; pre-planned, key questions about texts to develop AFs; extra sessions for children who need it; guided reading records and observations.

Guided Reading Workshops

Opportunities for children to prepare for, and then respond to, their guided reading sessions using the strategies and activities in the table below – a five day rota of purposeful reading activities.

Daily read-aloudOpportunities for children to listen to high quality classic and modern texts, non-fiction and poetry and respond in a wide range of creative ways; texts to enhance children’s language development.

Using the LibraryLibrary use included in planning; themed library events; easy access; comfy and inviting.

The Reading Environment

Comfy, attractive book corners; book displays; book boards. (see Spring 2009 Newsletter); reading gardens; easy access to books and other reading material; book fairs.

Home reading

A wide range of books chosen for interest as well as progression; parents who know how to share a book with their child; in-school, ‘home-reading’ for children who are not read with at home; parents’ reading workshops.

Boys ReadingBooks and other reading material chosen to engage boys; respect for boys’ reading choices; male role models.

Resources

Good quality books and other reading material kept in good condition, refreshed and updated as often as finances allow;the School Library Service and available resources are fully accessed and utilised.

Visiting authors Inspirational writers providing role models and workshops.

Reading aloudFluency. The children’s ability to read with expression and appropriate tone to reflect meaning and character. Using decoding strategies for tackling unfamiliar words.

Book TalkDialogue between the teacher and the children and between the children themselves. Dialogue which will reveal skills and understanding across the full range of Assessment Focuses and reading opportunities.

DramaThe ways in which children interpret and respond to texts reveals their depth of understanding and insight.

Locating information

The accuracy and relevance of the information and ideas that children retrieve from texts.

Extended ReadingStamina and pace. How quickly children can skim texts for gist or scan for specific information. How much children can read independently and remain engaged.

Visualisation Children’s images of characters and settings; representations of information in pictorial form.

Translation Children’s representations of text in different forms.

Writing in role The children’s ability to empathise and understand viewpoint.

Language development

The children’s vocabulary and knowledge of a wide range of topics; the children’s ability to articulate their responses to and interpretation of what they read.

Comparing textsChildren state reading preferences and make links between different texts and between texts and life.

Reading Journals Children’s personal responses and interpretations of what they read.

Independent reading behaviours

The children’s willingness to read without instruction to do so; the range of texts chosen;the engagement and enjoyment experienced.

Response outcomes

Character webs; focus boxes; zone of relevance; role-on-the-wall; sequencing activities; question hands; KWL and QUAD grids . . . . . . . . . . . .

What types of evidence could these reading opportunities generate?

The prompts below are to help you evaluate the range and quality of opportunities for reading in your school.

Spilled Water by Sally Grindley‘Today is a big day for you. From today, you must learn to find your own way in the muddy whirlpool of life.’

This is the day in which everything changes for 11 year old Lu Si-Yan, a day in which she truly learns what it means to be born a girl in China.

Spilled Water tells the story of 11-year-old Lu Si-Yan, who is forced to leave her village by her uncle, following her father’s death and mother’s illness. Kept inside a smog-wrapped tower block like a prisoner, she is made to work as a slave to a rich couple who intend to marry her to their simple-minded son. With the help of the grandmother of the family, Lu Si-Yan tries to return home to her village but along the route of escape, has no choice but to accept the ‘charity’ of factory owners the Wangs. But the factory is no place for an 11-year-old girl so, despite the support and friendship of fellow worker Li Mei, she vows to return to help her mother take care of her younger brother and begin her life again.

Spilled Water provides a fascinating insight into another culture and world. Children will enjoy reading about the hurdles a young Chinese girl faces due to the ‘single child’ policy and its implications. The agricultural life Lu Si-Yan leads at the start of the text and the finely drawn pictures of the industrialised world she encounters later, provide opportunities to explore description, setting and mood.

Recommended for Year Six as a class read and described by my class as an ‘emotional roller coaster’, Spilled Water is an extremely powerful and thought-provoking novel that kept the children hooked page to page and chapter to chapter. My class burst into spontaneous applause at the end and some needed a tissue!

Reviewed by Louise Carbert, Mayfield Primary School, St Annes-on-Sea

Jammy Dodgers get Filthy Rich by Bowering SiversThis is one of the books in a series of four based on the adventures of three brothers: Jem, Ned and Billy, set in

the Victorian era. This story has an ‘Oliver Twist’ feel to it and soon has you hooked on the adventures of these likeable characters.

The three brothers are from the slums of London, stealing money and food for their family to survive. The parents of a rich family from Kensington meet the brothers and take a shine to Billy who they proceed to adopt on the promise that Billy can have as much to eat as he wants. At first Billy enjoys the high life but soon finds himself the chief suspect in the theft of ‘The Star of India’, the expensive heirloom belonging to the mother of his new family. Jem and Ned decide to try and save Billy from being shipped off to Australia as a punishment for his crime and turn detectives to uncover the real criminal.

Although it is quite a long novel, this book has fitted in perfectly with our Victorian theme in Y6. There are references to Victorian lives of the rich and poor and the children have been excited to hear some of the facts and

information they have learnt throughout the book. The language is quite mature but the children have been hooked on the plot and have enjoyed writing character descriptions of their favourite character and predicting the next part of the plot. A book I would definitely recommend to complement a Victorian topic or as an alternative and more modern version of Oliver Twist.

Reviewed by Sarah Lee, Literacy Subject Leader, Deepdale Junior School, Preston

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell BoyceLiam is a really tall boy for his age and despite being eleven years old, he is often mistaken for an adult. This means he has disasters and

HAVE YOU READ?

adventures in equal measure, the biggest resulting in him finding himself accidentally aboard a space rocket. This is compounded by the fact that his parents think he’s on a residential visit to the Lake District! Frank Cottrell Boyce has an incredible talent for getting into a child’s thoughts and feelings, and making them come to life on the page. This is a fabulous class novel for upper KS2 – funny and moving – allowing both children and adults a useful glimpse into each other’s world.

The Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David BenedictusIf you are a child of the Fifties, you may only just be recovering from the aberration that was the Disney version of Winnie the Pooh. The news that someone had had the audacity to write a sequel to The House at Pooh Corner by AA Milne could not be possible - or be endured!

We all have a book that dominates our reading memories. For some it is Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, Enid Blyton’s The Wishing Tree, The Famous Five or Secret Seven, Reverend Awdry’s Thomas the Tank Engine, and for others, Winnie the Pooh.

The Return to the Hundred Acre Wood is a sequel to The House at Pooh Corner. Christopher Robin has been away at school and has returned for further adventures.

Well, reluctantly…it has to be said…all is nearly well! The author has maintained AA Milne’s style and humour. The characters have remained true to type in the intervening eighty years. Pooh is still obsessed with honey and hums; Piglet is still highly strung; Tigger still needs Ritalin, Eeyore continues his weary resignation that if things can go wrong, they will, and Owl remains an intellectual snob. A new resident of the Hundred Acre Wood is introduced in this book – Lottie the Ottie.

It is difficult to recommend an age-group for this

book. It certainly is engaging for anyone in their 50s! The humour is subtle in places and there for the adult reading to the child, rather than the child. It would certainly be an advantage to have read the originals so that the style, humour and characterisation are already familiar. Some of the writing does slip into a more modern style from tome to time which jars a little and the book itself does not have that evocative musty smell of long treasured books.

It is a gentle read that would suit bedtime perhaps better than school story time.

Class Two at the Zoo by Julia Jarman and Lynne ChapmanThis is a real cautionary tale of what happens when you visit the zoo and don’t pay enough attention to the hungry anaconda. Class Two are having a wonderful time at the zoo until one child notices the snake that is gradually devouring her classmates. Although this story embodies every teacher’s nightmare, everyone is saved and the snake slithers off to fight another day. The story has a fabulous rhythm and rhyme to it that cannot fail to have your children joining in.

The Shrinking of Treehorn by Florence Parry Heide‘We don’t shrink in this class,’ said Treehorn’s teacher firmly. But Treehorn was shrinking, and very inconvenient it was.

First published in the early 1970s, The Shrinking of Treehorn has become an old favourite for many readers. No one knows exactly why Treehorn is shrinking – least of all Treehorn himself. However it is the reactions of the various adult characters within the story which provide greatest amusement. These include Treehorn’s self obsessed parents (somewhat reminiscent of those in David McKee’s Not Now Bernard), his teacher who is concerned only with school rules and the ineffective school principal who talks about solving problems but offers nothing

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oss

ibly

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rd. I

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t th

en o

f th

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arks

cru

isin

g t

he

bla

ck w

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ben

eath

m

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cen

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g m

e,

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sear

chin

g m

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ho

min

g in

on

me

- an

d I

knew

th

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cou

ld b

e n

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aliv

e. E

ith

er t

hat

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dro

wn

slo

wly

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Save

d b

y h

is f

oo

tbal

l, w

hic

h k

ept

him

afl

oat

, Mic

hae

l aw

akes

to

fin

d h

imse

lf w

ash

ed u

p o

n a

des

ert

isla

nd

. H

e is

tir

ed, h

un

gry

an

d t

hir

sty…

Ho

wev

er, a

s h

e sl

ow

ly r

egai

ns

con

scio

usn

ess

and

fea

rs

for

his

su

rviv

al, h

e fi

nd

s a

bo

wl o

f fr

esh

wat

er, f

ish

an

d

fru

it la

id o

ut

on

pal

m le

aves

.M

ich

ael i

s n

ot

alo

ne!

!!

Th

e E

igh

teen

th

Em

erg

ency

by

Bet

sy

Bya

rs T

he

Eig

hte

enth

Em

erg

ency

is a

bo

ok

I esp

ecia

lly c

ho

se

to a

pp

eal t

o t

he

bo

ys in

my

Yea

r 6

cla

ss. T

his

hu

mo

rou

s

sto

ry is

bas

ed a

rou

nd

a y

ou

ng

Am

eric

an H

igh

Sch

oo

l

stu

den

t, ‘M

ou

se’.

Mo

use

is a

gre

at c

har

acte

r w

ith

the

abili

ty t

o d

ream

of

wh

at h

e w

ou

ld d

o in

an

y

emer

gen

cy, f

rom

bei

ng

face

d w

ith

a c

roco

dile

,

to s

wim

min

g in

a s

har

k

infe

sted

oce

an. H

e al

so

has

an

ecc

entr

ic h

abit

of

wri

tin

g n

ote

s ev

eryw

her

e

and

an

ywh

ere.

Th

is e

ven

tual

ly le

ads

him

into

tro

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gre

at, f

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ully

, Mar

v

Ham

mer

man

an

d h

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vil

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g. T

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t fo

llow

s

Mo

use

th

rou

gh

ver

y

hu

mo

rou

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ud

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ecti

on

. His

nic

knam

e

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use

’ co

mes

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m h

is a

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ty t

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ge

situ

atio

ns

and

th

e cl

imax

of

the

sto

ry is

wh

en M

ou

se e

ven

tual

ly

con

fro

nts

th

e b

ully

.

Her

e ar

e a

cou

ple

of

qu

ote

s fr

om

th

e b

oys

in m

y cl

ass;

‘It is

a t

ensi

on

-fill

ed, a

ctio

n p

acke

d s

tory

ab

ou

t a

bo

y

calle

d M

ou

se w

ho

has

dre

amed

up

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st o

f w

hat

to

do

in e

mer

gen

cies

, bu

t re

alis

es h

e is

th

e g

reat

est

emer

gen

cy o

f al

l.....

’ (B

en E

ccle

sto

n, Y

ear

6)

‘All

the

char

acte

rs a

re g

reat

wit

h y

ou

r ty

pic

al

per

son

alit

ies,

just

like

a r

eal s

cho

ol.

Mo

use

is

par

ticu

larl

y fu

nn

y w

ith

his

qu

irky

hab

its.

’ (Jo

hn

Ho

oso

n, Y

ear

6)

Rev

iew

ed b

y Li

z R

ob

inso

n, B

ryn

ing

wit

h W

arto

n S

t

Pau

l’s C

E P

rim

ary,

War

ton

Ple

ase

su

bm

it y

ou

r o

wn

bo

ok

re

vie

ws

to

lite

racy

con

sult

an

ts@

lan

cash

ire

.go

v.u

k a

nd

w

e w

ill f

ea

ture

th

em

in f

utu

re n

ew

sle

tte

rs.

HA

VE

YOU

REA

D?

Lancashire Leading Literacy Teachers Present...

“Writer Talk”There will be 25

twilights happening in schools across the

County. Please look out for your flyer arriving

in school.

Who should attend?

- Subject Leaders, Key Stage 2 and Year 2 Teachers and Teaching Assistants

Aims of the course:

- To explore ideas and strategies from Pie Corbett’s ‘Talk for Writing’

‘An appropriate physical environment offers access to an outdoor as well as an indoor space and should provide a place where children have opportunities to explore, learn and develop with the support of sensitive, knowledgeable adults.’

The Early Years Foundation StageEffective practice: The Learning Environment

Children’s outdoor learning is enhanced by an environment that is richly resourced with exciting play materials and open-ended flexible resources that can be adapted and used in different ways, according to the needs and interests of individual children.

Outdoor learning is more effective when adults focus on what children need to be able to do there rather than identifying what children need to have. An approach that considers experiences rather than equipment places children at the centre of the provision for outdoor learning and ensures that individual children’s learning and developmental needs are taken account of and met effectively.

Effective practice outdoors involves providing opportunities for children in meaningful, engaging experiences that support their development in all areas of the curriculum. This will include opportunities for children to:

be excited, energetic, adventurous, noisy, messy;•talk, listen, interact, make friends;•imagine, dream, invent, fantasise;•create, invent, construct, deconstruct;•investigate, explore, discover, experiment with •their own ideas and theories;make sounds and music, express ideas and •feelings;find patterns, make marks, explore different •media and materials;investigate concepts and ideas;•be active, run, climb, pedal, jump, throw;•dig, grow, nurture, cultivate;•hide, relax, find calm, reflect;•have responsibility, be independent, and •collaborate with others.

Outdoor play within the context of developing Communication, Language and Literacy

‘Outdoors, children can hear and respond to a different range of sounds, beginning to recognise and distinguish between noises in the outdoor environment.’

The Early Years Foundation StageEffective practice: Outdoor Learning

Some suggestions…

Go on a listening walk and record the sounds the children can hear. List the sounds in words and/or pictures for children to identify, when replaying the sounds.

Let them sort their favourite sounds/sounds they do not like using the pictures.

Provide some natural materials e.g. sand, pebbles, shells, feathers and leaves and let the children make their own shakers using plastic bottles or tins with lids. Encourage the children to talk about the sounds made by the different materials and containers.

Provide drumsticks or chopsticks. The children can explore the different sounds they make by tapping or stroking e.g. the fence, upturned plant pots etc.

Let them splash in man-made puddles… what sounds can they hear?

Provide autumn leaves for the children to crunch or shake or toss into the air. Talk about the sounds and the movement of the leaves.

Fill an old sheet with autumn leaves – let them use the sheet to toss the leaves…what sounds are they making? What do the leaves look like, feel like?

Let them look for natural things around them to tap, rattle or shake…

Set up a collection of saucepans, saucepan lids, plastic bottles, plastic plates etc. Encourage the children to make sounds/create ‘music’.

Provide home-made megaphones so that children

Developing Communication, Language and Literacy during outdoor learning…

can experiment with speech sounds and volume!

‘They can use action and movement alongside words and sounds to convey their ideas and meanings. The outdoors is a place where stories, songs and poems can be shared and enacted.‘


Some suggestions…

Teach action songs or put actions to nursery •rhymes. Place the rhymes and pictures outside (they could be tied to the fence) and encourage the children to re-enact/ innovate the actions. Place the rhyme cards with musical instruments •and observe the outcome!

Place pictures of musical instruments with a picture of an action e.g. clap – initiate simple repeated sequences of movement e.g. skip, jump, hop as the instruments are played. The children could make up their own sequences for others to copy.

Stories such as, We are going on a bear hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury can be re-enacted and shared outside. The children could move through the (imaginary, home made or real!)

long wavy grass, deep cold river, thick oozy mud etc looking for hidden bears or teddy bears…

A ‘grab and go’ story chest (or a backpack) of story based materials could be placed outside for children to use to reread/retell a story.

Provide pictorial story-maps with the stories so that favourite stories can be retold.

Percy the Park KeeperHang them on fences or railings…

Set up a storytelling area in a pop-up tent. Include a story tellers chair, hat, mat, cloak, books, story maps etc.

Use a pop-up tent for:

Grandmother’s house in Little Red Riding Hood;•The bear’s house in Goldilocks;•The Giant’s castle in Jack and The Beanstalk;•The witches house in Hansel and Gretel.•

Set up a phoneme hunt, or a CVC word hunt, and hide plastic letters/gold coins with phonemes or words on for the children to find.

Mark-making ‘When children have opportunities for spontaneous mark making, drawing and writing in both the indoor and outdoor environment, the communication process supports their learning across all six areas of learning and development.’

Mark Making Matters, DCSF

Developing Communication, Language and Literacy during outdoor learning…

Some suggestions…

A mark making trolley, containing lots of different writing/mark-making tools, can easily be taken outside. Include an assortment of paper, cardboard, pads, envelopes, sticky notes and labels, address books, diaries etc. The list is endless!

Provide ribbons, streamers and scarves to create zig-zags, straight and curved lines, sharp turns, high and low levels etc.

Map making and route finding in the outdoor area e.g. Where did we go on our bikes?

Resources for outside experiencesBig chalks on the floor•Mud and twigs of different lengths and sizes•Sensory play – making marks on builders trays in •different texturesPlayhouse with pads, paper, books•Gazebo – clipboards and paper, envelopes•Fabric sheets – paint or fabric pens•Maps – huge sheets, fat felt pens•Spray painting – water sprayers•Picnic table covered in large sheets of paper•Rolls of paper on the floor•Forest area – sticks and mud•Garage area – filling in slips, recording findings•Watering cans •Buckets of water and a range of tools, including •paint brushes, rollers, artists’ brushes, sponges and dish mopsBlackboards and whiteboards and assorted •chalks, paints, felt and dry wipe pensPortable writing toolkit – filled with resources •such as sticky notes, masking tape, selection of pens and pencils, selection of paper and envelopesLarge rolls of wallpaper or lining paper•Clipboards – with writing tools attached•

These resources can be used independently by the children and can enhance the experiences we provide for them in an outdoor environment.

The outdoors offers children exciting opportunities for developing upper body and limb strength through physical activity and movement. These experiences will have a positive impact on the development of control and coordination of small muscles needed later for successful handwriting.


Outdoor ICTICT equipment can be used to enhance the experiences we provide for children in the outdoor environment.

Placing tuff-cams, easi-speak microphones, talking tins, voice recorders, cameras etc in role-play areas will encourage speaking and listening skills and can be used to record activities.

ResourcesThe 2009 TES catalogue (www.tts-shopping.com) provides an overview of the above ICT resources as well as ideas for outdoor equipment.

The Literacy Outdoors section shows giant letters for phonics games, grab and go kits, alphabet activity balls, alphabet beads, playground pictures and a wall mountable blackboard.

And finally, lest we should forget! Being outdoors…

Has a positive impact on children’s sense of well •being and helps all aspects of development.Offers opportunities for doing things in different •ways and on different scales than when indoors.Provides first-hand contact with weather, •seasons, and the natural world.Offers children the freedom to explore, use their •senses and be physically active and exuberant.

Useful publicationswww.standards.dfes.gov.uk/clld for EYFS •information re Enabling Environments.Mark Making Matters DCSF ref 00767-2008BKT-•ENEnvironments for Outdoor Play A practical guide •to making space for children, Theresa Casey, Paul Chapman Publishing ISBN 781412929370The Little Book of Outdoor Play ISBN 1-902233-•74-3 www.featherstone.uk.com

Photographs kindly provided by Natalie Yeoman CLLD Lead Teacher – Brunshaw Primary School, Burnley

Talk Power: a project to get boys talkingRachel Hall, Foundation Stage Year Leader and CLLD Lead, from Stoneyholme Primary school describes a successful Talk Power project to get the boys talking outside!

Description of our setting…2 Foundation Stage classes •56 children•100% EAL,•E* Deprivation •Extremely low baseline across the board on •entry Our pupils generally have very little experience •of imaginary play before they come to school.

What the data said ...None of our boys had achieved 6+ in CLLD and PSED in the last 2 years. The problem strand was Language for Communication and Thinking and in particular, Point 3 (talks activities through,

reflecting on and modifying actions) and point 5 (uses language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences). There were boys who had scored 6+ on all CLLD strands except these and this was clearly linked to lower PSED scores and confidence, so we were looking for a way to get our more able boys talking.

What we didEvidence suggests that boys talk more freely when outdoors, so we chose to base our project outside and used ICT and a Power Rangers theme to engage them. Like many FY teams we are an all-female group, so we “borrowed” a man from elsewhere in school to provide a role model for “male talk”. The project was planned as a series of activities and also became part of our outdoor continuous provision. We played it as if it were real.

OutdoorsOur outdoor hut became “mission control” and we received a recording from “the baddie” who was coming to take control of the school. We wrote letters to the Power Rangers asking them to help and instructions for working the machines in mission control. A variety of resources were added to our outdoor play including masks, tabards and walkie talkies. We used a large outdoor construction kit (Alti) to design an exercise course with simple, easily decodable instructions (hop, jump, skip etc). After designing our own Power Ranger uniform and morphing movements we acted out a variety of role play situations over many weeks.

And indoorsThe Power Rangers theme was incorporated into some of the indoor areas of provision, such as

Power Ranger small world to develop oral story telling, books in the book corner to use for story

ideas and themed paper in the writing area to write messages/letters to the Power Rangers and mission reports.

OutcomesOur intention was to finish with creating a photostory and recording of some of the role play situations, however we had forgotten to take into account the weekly nursery visits during the last half term and so we ran out of time. Nursery

staff did tell us that the new intake were really excited about coming to school as they had seen the Power Ranger resources and wanted to play with them. So the positive effect on transition was an unexpected bonus. The other surprising outcome was that the girls loved it too. Parents noticed that the children were excited and wanted to tell them about what had happened in the world of Power Rangers that day!

A word of warning though – we did need to adapt some of the make-believe scenarios so that children did not become too anxious, for instance, about “the Baddies”. At this age they are not always able to distinguish the real from the unreal and we had to be careful to balance the benefits of creating an imaginary world with the ethics involved and the need for the children to feel safe. One practitioner

found that imaginary inoculations against the evil opponents worked well!

More dataAnalysis of our EYFS profile scores for the end of the year showed that 13% of children achieved 6+ in every strand of CLLD and PSED (an increase of 7%) and 11% of boys achieved 6+ in every strand of CLLD and PSED (an increase of 11%). It was very clear that the girls’ attainment

improved as well as the boys. As the project was so successful, we have incorporated the ideas into cross curricular planning for a full half term on the theme “superheroes”.

Many thanks to Rachel for sharing this successful outdoor Talk Power theme with us!

Preston Museums and Schools in Partnership

“The Lancashire School Effectiveness Service has been working in partnership with

museums and schools in Preston on developing creative approaches to teaching and learning.

There is a real ‘buzz’ in the participating schools and the programme is showing how museums can be used to stimulate children’s use of language and build self confidence as they share their work with a wide range of

audiences. It is proving a great success for all involved.”

Jonathan HewittHead of Lancashire School Effectiveness

Service

Since May 2007 primary and secondary schools

in Preston have been working with the following

four museums:

Harris Museum and Art Gallery•

Queen’s Lancashire Regimental Museum•

National Football Museum•

Museum of Lancashire•

We are moving away from the traditional one-

off school visit to a museum towards structuring

the visit into a half-term scheme of work for

English. Together, schools, museums and creative

practitioners (artists specialising in arts, crafts,

drama, dance and movement, ICT, etc.) have

developed a creative programme of new activities

for schools which can help raise pupils’ attainment

in English.

Preston’s museums and galleries are working with

schools to create exciting opportunities to deliver

the Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 curriculum. The

sessions fulfil many of the key features of the

national curriculum, and encourage young people

to use what they learn through museums in their

wider world.

Ongoing training and development opportunities

for teachers have supported their teaching of

literacy through museums and galleries.

Preston Museums and Schools in Partnership is co-

ordinated by a specialist consultant and is funded

by Renaissance in the Regions, a national funding

programme for regional museums.

If you would like to find out more about the

project please contact the co-ordinator, Lesley

Parkinson, Tel: 07906 746193 Email: parkmedia@

hotmail.com.

The Storytelling and Storymaking aspect of Talk for Writing involves the learning and repeating of oral stories, building children’s confidence to develop them through telling and then extending that development into writing; later creating ‘new’ stories orally as a preparation and rehearsal for writing.

It has a strong contribution to make to the learning and writing development of all children including children from diverse cultural backgrounds and those for whom English is an additional language. Children in any of these groups are likely to benefit considerably from the same strategies and approaches introduced in this booklet and exemplified on the DVDs. However, this learning can best be enhanced where teachers make appropriate provision.

For children from diverse cultural backgrounds:

Use stories and experiences from the children’s cultural heritage to engage and motivate them and thus support their writing. Remember that many communities (including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and many Black and Asian communities) have a strong culture of oral storytelling that needs to be harnessed and built on in the classroom.

For EAL children:

Provide opportunities to tell stories in their first •language to enable children to draw and build on prior learning.Provide support from peers and adults who share •their first language and show how the children can draw on this to enrich their writing in English.Facilitate appropriate exploration of the •difference between informal conversational language and writer’s language, including grammatical structures.Provide opportunities to explore and use •vocabulary and language, including idioms and expressions, in the children’s first and additional languages.Model and scaffold talk, particularly in English, •through a range of strategies including speaking frames.

Useful resources

Talk for Writing DCSF Publications Tel: 0845 •60 222 60, Booklet: 00467-2008BKT-EN, DVD: 00761-2008DVD-EN.Mantra Lingua (• www.mantralingua.com) has dual language books, CD Roms and props for traditional tales.Storyteller: Traditional tales to read, tell and •write compiled by Pie Corbett from Scholastic.

Storytelling and storymaking for children learning English as an additional language

Dra

ma

Activ

ities U

sing

Billy

’s Bu

cke

t‘B

oo

k Talk’ in

Recep

tion

and

KS1

can o

ften b

e achieved

thro

ug

h th

e use o

f dram

a activities to

elicit and

extend

respo

nses to

text. Here are a few

sug

gestio

ns to

get yo

u

started, u

sing

a fantastic sto

ry called B

illy’s Bu

cket by K

es Gray an

d G

arry Parso

ns.

Prep

aring

for read

ing

Place a larg

e emp

ty bo

x in th

e mid

dle o

f the flo

or. Sit in

a circle arou

nd

it. Ask

on

e child

, or an

oth

er adu

lt in th

e classroo

m (o

r do

it you

rself!), to m

ime o

pen

ing

an

d p

laying

with

the b

est presen

t they h

ave ever received

. Can

the ch

ildren

gu

ess wh

at it is?

Ask each

child

to fin

d a sp

ace and

mim

e playin

g

with

their favo

urite to

y. Imp

rove th

e mim

e by

stop

pin

g th

e child

ren an

d askin

g th

em to

make th

e m

ovem

ents b

igg

er and

slow

er. Stop

child

ren an

d

interview

ind

ividu

al child

ren ab

ou

t wh

at they are

playin

g w

ith.

Make h

eadb

and

s with

a draw

ing

of th

e favou

rite to

y on

the fro

nt fo

r the ch

ildren

to u

se later.

Intro

du

cing

the sto

ryE

xplain

to th

e child

ren th

at you

kno

w a sto

ry abo

ut

a little bo

y that w

ants a very u

nu

sual p

resent fo

r h

is birth

day. W

ill he g

et wh

at he w

ants? R

ead th

e sto

ry of B

illy’s Bu

cket.

In th

e toy sh

op

Ask th

e child

ren to

wear th

eir toy h

eadb

and

s and

lin

e up

as if they are stan

din

g o

n th

e shelf in

the to

y sh

op

. Ho

w d

o th

ey feel as they w

ait for th

e child

ren

to co

me in

to th

e sho

p?

Ask th

e child

ren to

imag

ine th

at they h

ave been

stan

din

g in

the sh

op

for an

ho

ur an

d n

o-o

ne h

as co

me in

. Ho

w w

ou

ld th

eir bo

dies ch

ang

e? Ho

w

wo

uld

they b

e feeling

? Mo

ve alon

g th

e line askin

g

each ch

ild w

hat th

eir toy m

igh

t say.

Wh

at’s in th

e bu

cket?P

ut th

e child

ren in

to sm

all gro

up

s. Give each

gro

up

a large p

iece of clo

th (b

ed sh

eet) w

ith a circle d

rawn

in it. P

rovid

e each g

rou

p w

ith w

ashab

le felt tipp

ed p

ens. A

sk the

child

ren to

imag

ine th

at they are B

illy peerin

g in

to th

e bu

cket. Wh

at mig

ht th

ey see? A

sk each g

rou

p to

draw

a com

mu

nal p

icture o

f wh

at mig

ht b

e insid

e Billy’s b

ucket.

Wh

en th

e draw

ing

s are com

plete, ask th

e child

ren to

sit arou

nd

the b

ucket an

d

imag

ine th

at they are B

illy. Ask each

child

in tu

rn to

make a co

mm

ent, in

role as B

illy, as th

ey peer in

to th

e bu

cket.N

o-o

ne b

elieves Billy

Use th

ree child

ren to

freeze frame th

e action

from

the sto

ry wh

en B

illy is peerin

g

into

the b

ucket an

d h

is paren

ts are on

the settee m

aking

fun

of h

im. A

sk the o

ther

child

ren to

make a circle aro

un

d th

e tableau

. Ask

each ch

aracter wh

at they are th

inkin

g an

d feelin

g,

and

wh

at they m

igh

t say. Take su

gg

estion

s from

the

child

ren in

the circle as to

wh

at mig

ht h

app

en n

ext.T

here’s a w

hale o

n th

e car!

Arran

ge th

e child

ren in

to a larg

e circle. Pro

vide p

rop

s to

sug

gest d

ifferent ro

les, e.g. vet, p

olice o

fficer, b

uild

er, sho

pkeep

er, mo

torist, m

um

and

bab

y, etc. W

ork in

role yo

urself as a h

ealth an

d safety o

fficer tryin

g to

org

anise th

e safe remo

val of th

e wh

ale from

d

ad’s car. R

ole-p

lay the m

eeting

that m

igh

t take p

lace. Can

the ch

ildren

sug

gest w

ays of rem

ovin

g th

e w

hale?

On

ce an ag

reemen

t is reached

, mim

e the rescu

e o

peratio

n.

Ho

w d

o w

e feel abo

ut

dad

?P

lace an em

pty ch

air at the fro

nt o

f the ro

om

. Place

a new

spap

er on

the ch

air to sig

nify th

at dad

is sitting

th

ere. Ask th

e child

ren to

thin

k abo

ut w

hat th

ey m

igh

t like to say to

Billy’s d

ad, if h

e were th

ere. Allo

w

the ch

ildren

to take tu

rns to

speak to

dad

.

Ho

w d

oes d

ad feel?

Pu

t the ch

ildren

into

pairs. A

sk them

to w

ork in

role, o

ne as d

ad an

d o

ne as h

is frien

d. W

ith th

e child

ren sittin

g b

ack to b

ack, ask them

to ro

le-play th

e teleph

on

e co

nversatio

n th

at dad

and

his frien

d m

igh

t have at th

e end

of th

e day’s excitin

g

events.

Lancash

ire con

sultan

ts have d

rawn

insp

iration

recently fro

m a fab

ulo

us d

rama

specialist called

Reb

ecca Bell. R

ebecca is d

irector o

f ‘Integ

rate Ed

ucatio

n’, w

ho

se w

ebsite can

be fo

un

d at w

ww

.integ

rate-edu

cation

.co.u

k

Lear

nin

g O

bje

ctiv

es:

Eac

h le

sso

n m

ust

hav

e a

stat

ed le

arn

ing

•

ob

ject

ive/

s ac

hie

vab

le in

th

at le

sso

n. T

he

child

ren

sh

ou

ld b

e to

ld h

ow

th

is o

bje

ctiv

e fi

ts in

to t

he

un

it le

arn

ing

ou

tco

me

– t

he

‘big

p

ictu

re’.

Th

e le

arn

ing

ob

ject

ive

sho

uld

be

un

pic

ked

fro

m

•

the

age-

app

rop

riat

e fr

amew

ork

str

and

/s.

Th

e su

cces

s cr

iter

ia f

or

the

lear

nin

g o

bje

ctiv

e sh

ou

ld b

e sh

ared

/•

gen

erat

ed w

ith

th

e ch

ildre

n, u

sin

g M

arki

ng

Lad

der

s w

her

e ap

pro

pri

ate.

Pla

nn

ing

:T

o b

e su

bm

itte

d t

o <

> a

t th

e st

art

of

each

•

new

un

it.

To

sta

te u

nit

ou

tco

mes

– b

oth

lear

nin

g a

nd

•

wri

tten

.T

o r

efle

ct a

cle

ar t

each

ing

seq

uen

ce f

rom

•

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din

g t

o A

nal

ysis

to

Gat

her

ing

Co

nte

nt

to W

riti

ng

.T

o s

tate

ski

lls t

o b

e ta

ug

ht

and

ap

plie

d in

eac

h le

sso

n;

•

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ud

e su

cces

s cr

iter

ia f

or

tho

se s

kills

.•

Incl

ud

e d

iffe

ren

tiat

ion

– (

star

t at

ag

e-re

late

d a

nd

dif

fere

nti

ate

•

do

wn

).In

clu

de

refe

ren

ces

to t

each

er d

emo

nst

rati

on

.•

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be

ann

ota

ted

wit

h e

valu

atio

n n

ote

s an

d m

od

ific

atio

ns

•

aris

ing

fro

m A

fL.

Rea

din

g:

Th

e ch

ildre

n m

ust

be

read

to

eve

ry d

ay.

•

Sto

ries

in b

oth

Key

Sta

ges

, an

d n

ove

ls

•

in K

ey S

tag

e T

wo

.Sh

ared

Rea

din

g –

to

be

use

d t

o t

each

•

age-

rela

ted

rea

din

g c

om

pre

hen

sio

n s

kills

. A

su

bst

anti

al a

mo

un

t o

f ti

me

mu

st b

e sp

ent

in im

mer

sio

n in

•

text

s; f

or

inte

rpre

tati

on

, res

po

nse

an

d e

njo

ymen

t.R

ead

ing

to

info

rm w

riti

ng

sh

ou

ld t

ake

pla

ce a

fter

, no

t in

stea

d

•

of,

th

e ab

ove

.G

uid

ed R

ead

ing

– a

ll cl

asse

s m

ust

hav

e g

rou

ps

of

read

ers

•

gro

up

ed b

y re

adin

g le

vel.

Ch

ildre

n s

ho

uld

be

tau

gh

t h

ow

to

res

po

nd

ora

lly u

sin

g B

oo

k •

Tal

k, t

each

er m

od

ellin

g a

nd

res

po

nse

ho

oks

, as

wel

l as

in

wri

tin

g.

Th

e A

sses

smen

t an

d P

rog

ress

ion

do

cum

ent

to b

e u

sed

to

•

info

rm t

each

ing

, mo

nit

ori

ng

an

d a

sses

smen

t.

AP

P t

o b

e u

sed

ter

mly

to

ass

ess

a ra

ng

e o

f ev

iden

ce.

•

Th

is d

ocu

men

t to

be

ann

ota

ted

to

sh

ow

eac

h g

rou

p’s

pro

gre

ss

•

and

nex

t st

eps.

Th

e R

ead

ing

Wo

rksh

op

mo

del

to

be

ado

pte

d in

Key

Sta

ge

Tw

o:

•

A

: Gu

ided

Rea

din

g

B: P

rep

arin

g f

or

Gu

ided

Rea

din

g

C: R

esp

on

din

g t

o G

uid

ed R

ead

ing

D

: Lib

rary

rea

din

g/a

ctiv

itie

s

E: P

erso

nal

Rea

din

gC

hild

ren

mu

st t

ake

thei

r re

adin

g b

oo

k an

d r

ead

ing

rec

ord

•

ho

me

ever

y d

ay.

An

yto

wn

Pri

ma

ry S

cho

ol

Lit

era

cy -

Th

e E

sse

nti

als

Spea

kin

g a

nd

Lis

ten

ing

:T

her

e sh

ou

ld b

e a

bal

ance

bet

wee

n t

each

er a

nd

•

child

tal

k.T

her

e m

ust

be

pla

nn

ed o

pp

ort

un

itie

s fo

r sp

eaki

ng

•

and

list

enin

g in

all

less

on

s.Sp

eaki

ng

an

d li

sten

ing

ski

lls s

ho

uld

be

tau

gh

t as

•

exp

licit

ly a

s o

ther

ski

lls.

Th

ere

sho

uld

be

hig

h e

xpec

tati

on

s ab

ou

t th

e q

ual

ity

and

sta

nd

ard

of

•

talk

.T

her

e sh

ou

ld b

e o

pp

ort

un

itie

s fo

r ta

lk-p

artn

ers

to r

esp

on

d t

o f

ocu

sed

•

qu

esti

on

s w

ith

sp

ecif

ic g

uid

ance

on

wh

at h

as t

o b

e d

iscu

ssed

an

d

wh

at t

he

ou

tco

me

of

the

dis

cuss

ion

sh

ou

ld b

e.D

ram

a te

chn

iqu

es s

ho

uld

be

spec

ifie

d in

mo

st u

nit

pla

ns.

•

Dra

ma

sho

uld

be

use

d e

ffec

tive

ly t

o r

esp

on

d t

o a

nd

exp

lore

tex

ts a

nd

•

to g

ath

er c

on

ten

t fo

r w

riti

ng

.

Wri

tin

g:

Wri

tin

g m

ust

be

valu

ed w

ith

hig

h e

xpec

tati

on

s •

for

bo

th c

on

ten

t an

d p

rese

nta

tio

n.

Ag

e-re

late

d w

riti

ng

ski

lls m

ust

be

•

dem

on

stra

ted

an

d m

od

elle

d b

y th

e te

ach

er.

Th

ere

mu

st b

e an

exp

ecta

tio

n t

hat

th

e sk

ills

•

dem

on

stra

ted

are

ap

plie

d b

y th

e ch

ildre

n t

o

thei

r w

riti

ng

.W

riti

ng

ou

tco

mes

sh

ou

ld b

e cr

eati

ve a

nd

ref

lect

pu

rpo

se a

nd

•

aud

ien

ce.

Key

Sta

ge

On

e: E

xerc

ise

bo

oks

fo

r p

ract

ice

and

pre

par

atio

n. W

riti

ng

•

ou

tco

mes

into

to

pic

bo

oks

.K

ey S

tag

e T

wo

: Wri

ters

’ Jo

urn

als

for

the

wri

tin

g p

roce

ss f

rom

an

alys

is

•

to g

ath

erin

g c

on

ten

t to

ski

lls p

ract

ice.

Pu

nch

-po

cket

pre

sen

tati

on

w

alle

ts.

Hig

h e

xpec

tati

on

s an

d s

tan

dar

ds

in w

riti

ng

mu

st b

e m

ain

tain

ed

•

acro

ss t

he

curr

icu

lum

. C

ross

-cu

rric

ula

r lin

ks f

or

read

ing

an

d w

riti

ng

sh

ou

ld b

e m

ade

•

wh

erev

er a

pp

rop

riat

e.In

cid

enta

l wri

tin

g o

pp

ort

un

itie

s sh

ou

ld b

e p

lan

ned

th

rou

gh

ou

t a

un

it

•

of

wo

rk in

ad

dit

ion

to

th

e u

nit

ou

tco

me.

Th

ese

can

ari

se f

rom

rea

din

g

as w

ell a

s w

riti

ng

ses

sio

ns.

Wh

erev

er p

oss

ible

, exp

licit

ski

lls t

each

ing

sh

ou

ld o

ccu

r w

ith

in t

he

•

con

text

of

real

wri

tin

g r

ath

er t

han

dis

cret

e g

ram

mar

exe

rcis

es.

Gu

ided

Wri

tin

g –

ch

ildre

n s

ho

uld

be

gro

up

ed a

cco

rdin

g t

o n

ext

step

s •

and

are

as f

or

dev

elo

pm

ent.

Gu

ided

wri

tin

g s

ho

uld

hap

pen

in m

ost

lite

racy

less

on

s.•

Eac

h g

uid

ed w

riti

ng

ses

sio

n m

ust

hav

e a

spec

ific

fo

cus

and

lear

nin

g

•

ou

tco

me.

Spel

ling

an

d P

ho

nic

s:•

Astructuredandsystematicphonics

pro

gra

mm

e is

tau

gh

t ev

ery

day

in

KS1

an

d, f

or

tho

se w

ho

nee

d t

o

con

tin

ue,

in K

S2.

•

Astructuredandsystematicspelling

pro

gra

mm

e sh

ou

ld b

e in

clu

ded

th

rou

gh

ou

t ea

ch u

nit

– li

ttle

an

d o

ften

– in

KS2

.•

Spellingsareexplicitlytaughtthroughinvestigation

of

rule

s, c

on

ven

tio

ns

and

str

ateg

ies

bef

ore

list

s ar

e se

nt

ho

me.

Han

dw

riti

ng

:A

ll d

emo

nst

rati

on

wri

tin

g, d

isp

lay

•

and

mar

kin

g s

ho

uld

ref

lect

th

e sc

ho

ol’s

ag

reed

sty

le.

Tea

cher

s to

dis

cuss

an

d a

gre

e u

po

n

•

a st

yle

and

wh

en c

urs

ive

is t

aug

ht.

Pen

s to

be

use

d w

hen

a c

hild

’s

•

wri

tin

g is

un

ifo

rm in

siz

e, o

rien

tati

on

an

d is

cu

rsiv

e.Sc

ho

ol s

tyle

is: <

>

• M

arki

ng

:M

arki

ng

sh

ou

ld r

esp

on

d t

o t

he

•

lear

nin

g o

bje

ctiv

e.W

her

e th

e o

bje

ctiv

e h

as b

een

met

•

this

sh

ou

ld b

e ac

kno

wle

dg

ed.

Nex

t st

eps

mu

st b

e in

dic

ated

.•

Tim

e m

ust

be

giv

en f

or

child

ren

to

•

resp

on

d t

o m

arki

ng

.T

ho

rou

gh

an

d f

ocu

sed

mar

kin

g s

ho

uld

be

do

ne

•

at le

ast

on

ce p

er w

eek

per

gro

up

– (

i.e. t

hat

day

’s

Gu

ided

Wri

tin

g g

rou

p).

Freq

uen

t, In

dep

end

ent

app

licat

ion

of

skill

s sh

ou

ld

•

be

iden

tifi

ed t

o in

form

AP

P –

ob

serv

atio

ns;

wri

tin

g;

read

ing

res

po

nse

s; t

alk.

Th

e W

ork

ing

Wal

l:A

ll cl

asse

s m

ust

hav

e a

wo

rkin

g w

all

•

– a

dis

pla

y w

hic

h r

efle

cts

the

wri

tin

g

pro

cess

fro

m a

nal

ysis

to

ou

tco

me.

T

he

wo

rkin

g w

all s

ho

uld

sh

ow

•

wo

rk-in

-pro

gre

ss a

nd

sh

ou

ld s

up

po

rt

ind

epen

den

t w

ork

.T

he

wal

l sh

ou

ld b

e in

tera

ctiv

e an

d b

e •

con

trib

ute

d t

o, a

nd

acc

essi

ble

by

the

child

ren

.B

oo

k b

oar

ds

sho

uld

pro

vid

e o

pp

ort

un

itie

s fo

r •

child

ren

to

inte

rpre

t an

d r

esp

on

d t

o w

hat

th

ey

read

/hav

e re

ad t

o t

hem

in a

var

iety

of

crea

tive

w

ays.

Th

is c

he

ckli

st w

as

cre

ate

d f

or

on

e p

art

icu

lar

sch

oo

l an

d w

ill n

ee

d

ad

ap

tin

g t

o s

uit

th

e n

ee

ds

an

d p

rio

riti

es

of

dif

fere

nt

sch

oo

ls.

We are able to support professional development in a variety of ways:

Marketed Consultancies:

We are able to provide consultancies for individual teachers, schools or local networks which can be tailor-made to suit your needs. These can take place during the school day, after school or during INSET days. They can be booked through Learning Excellence www.learningexcellence.net or could be provided as subsidised training through the TDA (Training and Development Agency) – contact Kathy Bigio on 01257 516100 for further information.

Some of the consultancies which have been provided recently include:

Early Reading and Phonics – •this continues to be a popular consultancy particularly to train groups of teaching assistants during their working daySupport for Spelling – an •introduction to the new materials and practical ideas for implementationWriting across the Curriculum – •an area of focus for many schools as they develop their ‘creative curriculum’.

Guided Reading - many schools •are reviewing reading provision and revisiting Guided Reading as a means of providing targeted teaching of reading at all levels of ability.APP and Literacy - This session has •been requested by schools who wanted to specifically focus on the types of evidence that could be used to support APP.

Why not ring Helen Atkinson or Anita Yearsley on 01257 516100 to discuss your needs or email us at [email protected] or [email protected]?

Courses:

In addition to providing Strategy Courses we also provide a wide range of marketed courses.

Why not take a look at the Learning Excellence Site to see if we are running a course which would benefit the professional development of a member of your staff?

You can access the Learning Excellence site directly www.learningexcellence.net or via a link on our own website www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/nationalstrategy/literacy.

How Can the Literacy Team Support Your Professional Development?

ENG138a 14/01/2010 Woodlands Support for Writing: Moving through the levels in Year 2



ENG129b 19/01/2010 LPDS, Chorley Year 6 SATs Revision - Literacy

ENG129a 20/01/2010 Woodlands Year 6 SATs Revision - Literacy



ENG109b 28/01/2010 Woodlands New to Subject Leader Day 2

ENG132a 28/01/2010 Woodlands Support for Reading: Moving through the levels in Year 2

ENG104a 29/01/2010 Alston Hall Guided Reading

ENG154a 29/01/2010 Woodlands Improving Phonic Subject Knowledge

ENG103b 03/02/2010 LPDS, Chorley Support for Spelling



ENG108c 10/02/2010 Woodlands Super Sentences

ENG146 11/02/2010 Woodlands Planning for the Non-Exemplified Literacy Units in Year 4


SEN101c 23/02/2010 St Maria Goretti Acceleread and Accelewrite

ENG122b 25/02/2010 LPDS, Chorley Delivering Letters and Sounds at Year 2

ABL112g 25/02/2010 Woodlands Literacy for the More Able: Ensuring Progress from L3 KS1 to L5 KS2


ENG144a 04/03/2010 Woodlands Planning for the Non-Exemplified Literacy Units in Year 2


ENG151b 10/03/2010 Woodlands Moving to Learn: Linking PE and Literacy

ENG155a 11/03/2010 LPDS, Chorley Delivering Letters and Sounds at Year 1


ENG143a/b 12/03/2010 Woodlands Subject Leader Network – Central

ENG147a 17/03/2010 Woodlands Planning for the Non-Exemplified Literacy Units in Year 5

ENG143c/d 19/03/2010 Clayton Park Subject Leader Network – East

ENG145 24/03/2010 Woodlands Planning for the Non-Exemplified Literacy Units in Year 3

ENG143e 26/03/2010 Garstang Golf Subject Leader Network – North

ENG106b 31/03/2010 Woodlands Assessment and Target Setting in Literacy

15/04/2010 ENG153a Woodlands Phase One Phonics Day 1

21/04/2010 ENG104b TBC Guided Reading

22/04/2010 ENG102b TBC Monitoring the teaching of Literacy for Subject Leaders

27/04/2010 ENG103c Woodlands Support for Spelling

29/04/2010 ENG153a Woodlands Phase One Phonics Day 2

13/05/2010 ENG116a Woodlands Using ICT to Support Literacy in Year 1

20/05/2010 ENG117c Woodlands Using ICT to Support Literacy in Year 2

27/05/2010 ENG113c TBC Using ICT to Support Literacy in Year 3


11/06/2010 ENG151c Woodlands ‘Moving to Learn’ - PE and Literacy


18/06/2010 ENG130a/b Lancs College Literacy Subject Leader Network – South


25/06/2010 ENG130c/d Clayton Park Literacy Subject Leader Network – East

29/06/2010 ENG101b Woodlands Big Write Day Two

02/07/2010 ENG130e/f Garstang Golf Literacy Subject Leader Network – North

Courses 2010Spring Term 2010

Summer Term 2010

One to One Tuition in Lancashire

Approaching the end of term means that all primary and secondary schools and most special schools in Lancashire know their allocation of One to One Tuition places. These numbers range from a minimum of 2 places in primary to a maximum of 135 in one of our large secondary schools. We have allocated 6,500 places this year which is set to rise to 13,000 next year. The budget of £2.8 million will double to £5.6 million in 2010-11. The budget is ring-fenced.

These places are to be used over the year and schools will be in the process of selecting the students to receive the tuition and in employing tutors. The places are to tutor students in English/Literacy and mathematics and are aimed in KS2, 3 and, in National Challenge schools, in KS4.

As far as Subject Leaders are concerned you should be involved in the identification of the students who you feel will benefit from the opportunity of 10 hours individual tuition. You will want to be involved in supporting your staff in setting tight targets for the tuition and in facilitating discussions between your staff and the tutors. There is funding in the budget for this and the funding is ring-fenced. You will ideally want to know who the tutors are and would want

to be involved in the monitoring and evaluation processes, especially the observation of tuition to ensure quality.

Mathematics and English/Literacy teachers will be involved in setting targets for the tutees and in ongoing discussions, especially with the student about the impact of their tuition.

You may wish to be tutors yourselves. Tuition can take place within and without the school day and your tuition leads in school will be planning models of delivery as you read. If you are interested, you should talk to them about how this is going and express your interest in tutoring. There is already a large database of trained tutors on the website.

There is a massive amount to take in about One To One and all the information to date can be found at our website. For more detailed information you can contact us through the site.

www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/1to1tuition

Hilary KingOne to One Project Lead, Lancashire

primary literacy newsletter - spring 2010

Documents