Literacy at Chandag Junior
School
Literacy is taught as a discreet subject but also through
cross-curricular approaches across the curriculum.
Literacy is the key by which children access all areas of
the curriculum and is an essential and crucial skill for all
children.
Reading is taught through a weekly comprehension
activity (whole class shared reading of a text that links to
the literacy genre being covered at the time) and through
Guided Reading groups (smaller group reading where
children read extracts within their group) and discuss
their reading with the class/group teacher.
It is impossible, with the demands of the curriculum, for
teacher’s to hear children read on a 1:1 basis.
This is why it is imperative that parents hear their
children read as often as possible at home!
The level of skill expected of our children at the end of
KS2 is extremely high – the sorts of skills we were
developing in secondary education! Inference, deduction
and supporting evidence from the text is what is routinely
expected from our children by the end of Year 6.
Expected Reading Levels at the end of KS2
At the end of their time at Chandag, pupils will
have been expected to make 2 levels progress
from when they joined us.
Nationally, an average Y6 child will achieve a L4
by the age of 11. However, many pupils will
achieve a L5 by the time they reach the end of
their time here at Chandag.
Now it’s your turn!
The lights are all on, though it’s past midday.
There are no more indoor games we can play.
No one can think of anything to say,
It rained all yesterday, it’s raining today.
It’s grey outside, inside me it’s grey.
I stare out of the window, fist under my chin,
The gutter leaks drips on the lid of the dustbin,
When they say ‘cheer up’, I manage a grin,
I draw a fish on the glass with a sail-sized fin,
It’s sodden outside, and I’m damp within.
Matches, bubbles and papers pour into the drains,
Clouds smother the sad laments from the trains,
Grandad says it brings on his rheumatic pains,
The moisture’s got right inside of my brains,
It’s raining outside, inside me it rains.
by Brian Lee
How beautiful is the rain!
After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain!
How it clatters along the roofs,
Like the tramp of hoofs!
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the overflowing spout!
Across the window pane
It pours and pours;
And swift and wide,
With a muddy tide,
Like a river down the gutter it roars
The rain, the welcome rain!
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
These questions are about the poem Rain.
Tick two bad effects of the rain in the first poem:
Tick two.
keeps you indoors
water falls on the dustbin
dulls your imagination
your hair gets wet
the air cools down
1 mark
What did the poet do while it was raining?
Write down two things.
1. .................................................................
2. .................................................................
1 mark
In each verse, all the lines end with the same rhyme.
How does this add to the meaning of the poem?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
2 marks
Explain how each poet gives a different feeling about the rain.
You will need to think about:
•the effect of rain on the writer
•how the rain is described.
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3 marks
Reading with your Child
Support and Guidance for Reading
As with all skills, the more we practise the better we become.
Reading is no exception to this. However, our aim is not to simply
make children skilful at reading, but to nurture a love of books and
give them lifelong pleasure.
In the early stages of reading, children may go through a stage of
reading by building words but they do not always understand what
they are reading about. Whilst knowing their sounds and being able
to blend them and build them is important, good understanding is
our ultimate aim. They gradually build a sight vocabulary but the
building of unfamiliar words continues for a long time.
As their reading skills develop, children begin to think about the
meaning of the text and are able to discuss this with another person.
This is a vital stage in their reading development. Even some
children who read aloud very well, do not have a level of
comprehension to match their reading fluency. Hence, it is not
necessarily the quantity that they read to an adult every day, but the
quality of the reading time. Discussing the text with a child and
asking them different types of questions can help them to focus their
thoughts on a particular aspect and develop their understanding of
the characters or plot within a story.
Although the obvious word building gradually disappears and a child
appears to be very competent, it is still very important to hear them
read aloud. This allows them to develop fluency and also gives you
the opportunity to discuss the text and gauge their level of
understanding. To help with this, I have devised a set of questions
and strategies that you could use as they read to you.
Finally, even though some children develop a reading competency
early on in their school life, being read to is still a pleasure. Not only
does it allow them to hear stories that they may not be able to read
for themselves, but it gives a shared time and a common interest
with an adult, as well as helping to develop a love of books and
encourages them to read for pleasure.
Strategies to help children to hear sounds and decode words.
What does the word begin with?
What sounds do these letters make when they are put together eg:- th, sh,
ch, ea, etc.
What is a word that starts with that sound?
What’s the first letter inDD.?
What other word begins with that sound?
You said DDDDoes that sound right?
What sound do the last letters make eg: - ing, ed, tion, etc.
Let’s break the word into parts.
What could the word be? (Use context clues – this also checks
understanding.
Read the next part of the sentence – what could the word be?
Can you find another word with the same letter strings? What sound did
they make in that word?
Look at the word carefully and think about what you know about the sounds
in it.
Would DD start with those letters?
Strategies to help children to infer and deduce from the text.
How do you think the character is feeling?
What words in the text make you think that? Why?
How would you feel if that happened to you?
What do you think might happen next? Why?
What else could happen?
Why do you think the character did that?
What would you have done? Why?
Why do you think a character reacted that way?
Was he right to do that? Why/why not?
What else could he/she have done?
What would you have done? Why?
The author has used the word DDis that a good word
to use? Why?
How does it make the reader feel?
What other words could you use?
Is there a better word than the one the author has used?
What adjectives has the author used? What other adjectives could
be used here?
What adverbs can you find? Can you think of any others you could
use?
The author has used a simile here? What effect does that have on
the reader?
Can you think of another simile you could use instead?
Why do you think the author has used that word?
What affect does that word have on you? Are there any other words
that would go well with that one?
Why do you think the author has used short sentences here? (To
create suspense; to build tension; to create an atmosphere.)
Why has the author used a question here? What affect does it have
on the reader?
What punctuation has the author used?
Can you improve it?
What could you use instead of a comma?
(Hyphen? Semi- colon?)
What connectives has the author used?
What other connectives could be used?
How many different ways has the author started a sentence?
Can you think of any better openers?
Choose one or two sentences – can you improve them by
adding adjectives, adverbs etc.
What are the main features of this genre of writing?
(Diary – 1st person, date, informal style, diary is like a friend,
etc.)
Writing at Chandag
As with reading, writing permeates all areas of schooling, education
and life!
A few years ago, we introduced Big Writing to the school.
This particular philosophy of writing and children’s development
provided a clear framework for progression for pupils in the skills
and how they should build and extend their learning. We felt that this
provided an excellent structure and framework for both pupils and
teachers, in order to set clear targets to ensure progression in
children’s writing.
Big Writing is broken down into four generic targets. They are:
The range of punctuation used
The range of connectives used
The range of sentence openers used
The range of vocabulary and ambitious words used.
These generic targets grow or become more sophisticated as the
children mature..
How Writing is Taught at Chandag
As writing permeates every area of the curriculum, teachers try hard
to refer to the different writing genres being used in all subjects – eg
non-chronological reports in topic work etc.
Before children undertake a Big Writing task, they will have studied
that particular genre of writing through their reading comprehension,
through class and group discussion and talk partners, shared writing
and modelled writing before attempting to write independently.
Children are taught Sentence and Word Level Work which is
appropriate to the genre being studied at the time and will focus on
elements of the generic targets.
The Importance of Speaking and Listening
A key area that we emphasise with writing is speaking
and listening. If children cannot say or speak a sentence
then they will be unable to write it. This is vital to all
aspects of writing.
We actively encourage children to discuss and share
ideas, verbalise responses to questions and encourage
the use of speaking and listening across the curriculum.
Progression in Punctuation – The Punctuation Pyramid
Progression in Connection of Sentences and Ideas –
The Connectives Pyramid
Progression in Range of Interesting and Ambitious
Vocabulary