Words for Life

A sense of self worth Lifelong Learner Social Being

 Language enables us to develop our thinking emotionally and socially  Literacy is fundamental to all areas of learning  Literacy is the set of skills which allows us to engage fully in society  COMMUNICATION!

reading writing spelling and grammar listening and watching talking

 Excellent contexts  Children’s enjoyment  Children aware of how to make their writing better  A clear and identifiable skills progression using the Big Writing programme  VCOP

Some of the main skills for reading are:  building on background knowledge  inferring, drawing conclusions and making connections  visualising  prediction  summarising  monitoring comprehension  critical literacy -can we trust what we are reading?  children understanding reading skills  questioning  understanding vocabulary  reading different genres

 Highland Literacy to develop reading fluency over a staged progression. (P1-3)  Novels once a degree of fluency and confidence is established. (from P3)  Non Fiction texts from ORT and ‘Big Cat’– interspersed with stage readers and novels. (P1-P7)  Literature Circles including novels, news and non fiction(from P5)  Finding and Evaluating sources (from P6)

 Talk with your child about the content and the characters of the story.  Help children decode words and support them to sound out words.  Encourage your child to use “prompts” to help them read.  Model fluent reading for your child – read a sentence and let them copy you.  As well as books, encourage your child to read a wide selection of material e.g. signs, magazines, noticeboards, packaging etc.

 Encouraging children to fully engage with texts ensures development of key reading skills.  Blooms taxonomy supports questioning and thinking from the lower order level such as remembering through to the highest level, creating.

Remembering Understanding Applying Analysing Evaluating Creating Where does it say…? When/why/how did…? How could you say that in your own words…? What questions would you ask of…? What evidence can you find to…? What would you say is the importance of…? How could you change the plot...?

Three levels of bookmarks have been developed to use at home. How Can Parents Help?

 The bookmarks are designed around Bloom’s taxonomy and are colour coded from purple (lowest level of thinking and questioning) through to red (highest level)  Contain question starts to support parents and children in formulating questions and kick starts for discussions.  Critical literacy questions to stimulate further discussions are on the back.

Development Process  Emergent writing  Readiness for handwriting, gross and fine motor skills leading to letter formation  Beginning to join  Securing the joins  Practising speed and fluency  Presentation skills

 Importance of being able to spell  Trying new spelling programme in school  Evaluation of the impact  Responsive to the needs of pupils  Personalisation of learning  Active spelling – not copying out words three times

Spelling Programme  Importance of pre testing  Introduction and teaching of the new spelling pattern  Making links with previous learning through revision of known patterns  Spelling activities and games to consolidate learning  Challenges to extend and enrich vocabulary  Dictation to assess learning

Spelling and Writing  Emergent writing – need to build confidence  Focus of lesson – writing vs spelling  Use of VCOP to up level writing  Correction of common mistakes noted as ‘enemy words’.  Tricky or irregular words to practise as homework

 A progression of literacy skills  Phonics games  Videos  Children working co-operatively  Reading skills  Use of ICT  Active spelling

 Share and comment in PLPs  High expectations of presentation  Offer ‘real’ opportunities for reading, writing, listening, talking and watching  Have fun with home learning!