What do we do?
We read, write, talk and listen in our literacy time or across the curriculum. We develop our handwriting and presentation skills while writing in a range of genre which is often linked to other curricular areas or projects. The children particularly like using VCOP resources to help them improve their vocabulary, connectives, openers and punctuation. We link reading to writing and enjoy poems, reports, stories, plays, instructions and articles. In addition to a core novel, pupils read the weekly newspaper for children, First News. Communication skills are developed regularly when pupils discuss school matters, share their work, teach others and meet with visitors. Pupils learn spelling rules weekly and use ‘Nessy’ a computer programme, to practise these. We enjoy telling and listening to stories, particularly with our storytelling troll friend Darach.
Examples
Writing
Bike safety check instructions as part of our Road Safety project.
The longest poem ever and used our imagination and rhyming skills.
Practising fonts and different writing styles helped us achieve winning status in the annual Road Safety calendar competition.
Talking and Listening
We made a short film demonstrating the safe way to cross the road.
Pupils instructed visitors how to make different crafts, at our Christmas fair. They were welcoming and friendly and gave clear concise instructions.
Reading
Facts about trees has helped us identify different species when we are outside.
Extracts from the novel ‘Wolf Brother’.
Why do we do it? What is the impact?
Linking literacy skills with other areas of the curriculum makes work relevant and useful. It engages the children and promotes the enjoyment of using language.
Practising good listening means we can keep ourselves safe when using tools in the woodland.
Setting personal literacy targets helps progression and improvement of skills.
The children are gaining a wider knowledge of current affair while developing their scanning and comprehension skills reading First News.
Literacy skills are important for life and work, both practically and for enjoyment.
What would we like to do next?
Use ICT games to compliment current active teaching and learning. Use VCOP computer activities.
Produce more extended pieces of imaginative writing, inspired by book making.
Further develop the use of outdoor learning to inspire story-telling and writing, report writing and fact finding.
Use games to learn new spelling and grammar rules.