Archived Literacy 2022-2023
Opal Learning Zone
“I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff!” – To start the year the Opal Learning Zone have been focussing on the traditional tale ‘The Three Little Pigs’. The children have had provision that allows them to retell and sequence the story. Here the boys were using the pig spoons to act out the story. Reggie said, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and blow your house down.”
All of the children have been able to recite parts of the story and have been engaged when accessing the linked continuous provision.
Amethyst Learning Zone
AMETHYST LZ – Long Term Literacy Plan
Reading Skills – This half-term the children have been challenged to utilise their phonics knowledge to develop their fluency in reading sentences. One area of the Continuous Provision is dedicated to reading. Today the children had to work independently to identify the Phase 3 words that were hiding in the sentences.
What is the initial phoneme? – We have all been working hard with our phonemes. The children have been accessing the continuous provision putting their learning into action. All the children have shown progress as we have been identifying initial phonemes and orally blending phonemes to make words.
Sapphire Learning Zone
Book of Butterflies – For our latest literacy topic, we have used the literacy shed video ‘Book of Butterflies’. The video was open ended and allowed us to write some fantastic narratives all about the character in the video finding the rare golden wing butterfly. The challenge was to include some adventurous adjectives as well as a range of connectives for the Year 2 children.
Making sandwiches – In Literacy, we have been reading the book The Tiger Who Came to Tea. In this story, the tiger eats all of the food in Sophie’s house so we decided to make him some sandwiches. We followed instructions to make jam or chocolate spread sandwiches then we all had a try, they were delicious! We then wrote up the instructions at the end of the topic using imperative verbs.
Ruby Learning Zone
Poetry – In literacy this half-term, the children have been studying poetry. They looked at several different types of poems that used the device of repetition, with some using rhetorical questions, and then moving onto looking at free verse poems. The children loved performing their poetry for each other, whether reciting other poet’s work at the start of the term and building up to writing and performing their own by the end, with some even doing it for a large audience at church!
George’s Marvellous Medicine – This term our class text has been ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’. The children have enjoyed reading about George and his antics and have used the text to complete a range of work on instructions. They wrote out George’s own recipe and then created one of their own: coming up with bonkers ingredients and ways of mixing them and using the language of instructions to share them.
Way Back Home – During the previous half-term, Ruby children used the short story video “Way Back Home” to help them write a four-part narrative. The children learned about the importance of description in a build-up section to build suspense, and how the events in the problem and resolution need to be linked to each other.
Emerald Learning Zone
How to Live Forever – We have enjoyed reading this picture book in the Emerald Learning Zone. We have looked at how to write a balanced argument using a range of interesting sentence openers. After writing our argument we wrote a prequel to the story. This required us to use DADWAVERS for our sentence openers as well as including relative clauses and semi-colons.
My Name is Not Refugee – In Literacy we have used the picture book My Name is not Refugee to support our writing of diaries. The children have used the boy’s perspective to write detailed and emotional diary entries about his journey as a refugee.
Understanding a character’s perspective – We are reading Stone Age Boy in Literacy, and today the children explored the characters through drama. At first, they explored actions to show emotions without the use of words. We the progressed to adding speech to further emphasise how two characters were feeling when they first met.
Diamond Learning Zone
The One for All – In literacy, the children have been learning all about Geoff and his love of Heinz Beans! The children wrote a fantastic biography explaining how his love of beans started from the age of 4 and how he ended up working at the Heinz factory. Their biography tells the reader all about his family, his education and his achievements in life.
Alma – We have been learning about the story of Alma in Literacy. From an innocent, young girl to a trapped soul inside of a doll, the children have been writing setting descriptions and stories linked to the theme of mystery and tension. We used our knowledge of micro-expressions, imagery and figurative language to write our final piece of work, a 2-perspective story.
Cosmic – In literacy, the children have been reading ‘Cosmic’ by Frank Cottrell-Boyce. They have been very engaged in this exciting and fun story about an 11-year-old boy who convinces everyone he is an adult by entering competitions to ride into space, pretending to be a school teacher at his new high school and test driving a brand-new Porsche! The children have been working hard to write a variety of different genres such as: an itinerary, a letter, a persuasive text and a story.
Archived Literacy 2021-2022
Opal Learning Zone
The EYFS Production Team performs The Princess and the Pea! – We continue to promote Traditional Tales across our Foundation Stage One curriculum. This half-term the children have been learning about the Princess and the Pea. To engage the children a role-play area has been set up to allow them to retell the story with their peers, this opportunity has allowed children to improve on their communication and language skills with their expertise knowledge of the story. Today the children were treated to a pantomime. The EYFS staff delivered the performance that would leave Andrew Lloyd Webber panicking for his job.
Do you know any rhymes? – During the February half-term holidays, the children were challenged to learn a rhyme. One of our children was so confident at saying her rhyme she insisted on performing it for her peers! Well done on showing great independence and resilience to perform your rhyme.
“Oh, my Grandmother, what big teeth you have!” – This half-term we have been concentrating on the traditional tale, Little Red Riding Hood. The children have thoroughly enjoyed carrying out activities such as sequencing and retelling the story. However, our role play area has provided the most entertainment. The wonderful Mrs. McArdle has created Grandmother’s bedroom allowing the children to show off their creative flare as they recreate the story.
Amethyst Learning Zone
How can you make a sandwich? – This week we have been writing and following instructions on how to make a sandwich. The children were given the choice of either chocolate or jam and then created a set of instructions that we used to make the sandwich. The children showed fantastic independence using the equipment and we all enjoyed our sandwiches together.
Retelling a story – Little Red Riding Hood has been our traditional tale this half-term and the children have been enthralled in the story. The children now have a concrete understanding of the story due to the continuous provision that allows the children to recreate and unpick the tale. This week in the Amethyst Learning Zone we have been pretending to be teachers as we retell the story to our peers adding in expression and actions where applicable.
Here is Frankie explaining the story to a small group of pupils.
Sapphire Learning Zone
What ways can we explore a range of texts? – We have all being reading a range different story types and sharing them with others so we can keep moving up the honeycomb challenges in our library.
Where The Wild Things Are – This half term, we explored the book ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak. We worked in groups to analyse the character, the setting and then we go to write our very own story based on the book. In our story, our bedrooms transformed into a whole new place where our adventure would take place.
Storytelling – We were so lucky to have a visit from a real-life story teller, Gav Cross. The children took part in an interactive workshop where they became the characters and story tellers themselves. We are planning to use some of the skills we have learnt into our stories next half term an during our exploring time.
Ruby Learning Zone
Persuasive Writing – In literacy this term, children in Ruby Learning zone have learned about persuasive writing techniques, culminating in them creating their own adverts. They have also learned about poetic language devices such as similes, metaphors, alliteration and rhyme as well as the Anglo-Saxon style of kenning poetry. The children have also been enjoying our new guided reading book ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’.
Emerald Learning Zone
Charles Dickens – We have been learning all about the famous author Charles Dickens. The Emerald children now know so many amazing facts they were able to ‘hot seat’ the author! Please ask your child for some facts about Dickens and you will be amazed at what they know!
Flotsam – At the beginning of this half term we are looking at the picture book ‘Flotsam’. We were given some flotsam from different people and we had to use our inference skills to work out what type of person it belonged to. We came up with lots of ideas from archaeologists to scientists!
Writing Puns – We are preparing for writing a newspaper article about an animation called Spy Fox. The children had great fun today creating puns they could use in their final piece of writing. I think you will agree they’re fin-tastic!
Diamond Learning Zone
Check out Marianne’s Vlog!
Writing Styles – This half term the children have been looking at a range of different writing styles including a set of instructions. The children worked in small groups to identify different writing features from an example text. They were then tasked to produce their own set of instructions to inform Mr Craven of how he can look after children!
The Secret Garden – The children in Diamond began to read The Secret Garden in literacy. They have really enjoyed gaining a good understanding of the characters and using this knowledge to write some fantastic pieces of writing. One of our focuses was to write a formal letter, the children used formal language to get into the character of Colonel McGrew.
Literacy – Diamond – The Secret Garden 2021
Archived Literacy 2020-2021
World Book Day – The Masked Reader
The Masked Reader – Answer Sheet
Opal Learning Zone
Speaking & Listening – Literacy skills are at the forefront of our provision in the Opal Learning Zone. The children are engrossed in daily activities that develop our speaking and listening ability and improve our love of learning. Due to the immense ability of the children we have started delivering sounds, the children have shown great progress with their recognition during adult led sessions and some of them are now reading and writing CVC words independently.
Amethyst Learning Zone
Keeping Phonics Fun! – This week we have been recapping our Phase 3 sounds as we start to prepare for the transition into the next Learning Zone. The children had the opportunity to independently write a number of spellings using a peacock feather in the flour. Alongside the children writing in their Phonics books, they are able to access a range of exciting provision where challenges are created to further their learning. It has been astonishing to see the progress the children have made with their reading and writing skills over the academic year.
Sapphire Learning Zone
We Love Stories – The children have been exploring the new resources within the Sapphire Learning Zone. They have been sharing books in the library area, reading books by familiar authors, including some of the classics, discovering some new favourite texts. They have used the puppet theatre and costumes to create characters and retell familiar stories.
Ruby Learning Zone
Emerald Learning Zone
The Firework Makers Daughter – In Literacy we have been studying the story of The Firework Makers Daughter by Philip Pullman. The children have created some fantastic setting description of the Fire Fiends Grotto. Here are just some of the examples of the fantastic writing the Emerald children have produced.
Diamond Learning Zone
Did the world leaders at the G7 meeting really decide on effective and realistic changes? –The children spent some time learning about what the G7 meeting was and who was involved in this. They really enjoyed using challenging techniques to write a balanced argument about the 3 main topics that were discussed – COVID vaccines, education for girls and climate change.
September 2020- February 2021
Class 1
Reading and Writing Skills – In Literacy, the children have continued to work hard to improve their reading and writing skills. They really enjoyed reading and acting “Greta and the Giants” during Durham Book Festival. We have also been learning to write instructions. We have used “bossy” verbs to write instructions about anti-bullying, road safety as well as Christmas crafts.
Here we are – In Literacy we took part in a whole school integration topic, ‘Here We Are.’ Our primary focus was to ensure that the children felt settled and happy to be back into school. This topic helped them to learn about themselves and the ever-changing world that they live in.
Traditional Tales – The children have worked very hard to improve their reading and writing skills by developing their phonic knowledge. We really enjoyed reading and acting out traditional tales, and writing short descriptions of the characters using simple sentences.
Class 2
Literacy skills – In Literacy, the children have been continuing to practice and apply their phonics in their independent writing. Small intervention groups have taken place to support those children who needed an extra boost. The children have had many opportunities to write creatively, using conjunctions and subordination to extend their ideas. We even wrote a letter to Santa, putting in our Christmas requests and thanking him for last year’s gifts.
Here we are – In Literacy we took part in a whole school integration topic, ‘Here we are.’ We focused on integrating the children back into school and finding out about themselves and the ever-changing world that they live in.
Building Sentences – A big focus had been on building sentences correctly using their phonics skills. We have looked at simple descriptions and used an assortment of characters from different texts to help us with our ideas.
Class 3
Getting creative – The children in Class 3 have been working on writing their on version of a story. They had lots of fun designing their own characters and choosing the setting they wanted their story to take place. All of the children had some fantastic ideas and some even better stories!
Class 4
Poetry – My Life as Goldfish; Rachel Rooney – We have studied poetry this half term, based around an anthology by Rachel Rooney. We used the outdoor space around school to explore our five senses. The children then worked together in small groups to write a poem called ‘The School Garden. I was amazed by the fantastic vocabulary the children were able to gain from being outside and the poems were a real success.
Pen License – All of the children have been working hard with their handwriting. Four off the children have already achieved their pen license.
Here we are – In Class 4, we have been studying a book called ‘Here We Are’ by Oliver Jeffers. Everyone in the class wrote a letter to someone special. We also studied a poem about things that are special to us and the class worked together to create their own poetry.
Class 5
Spellings – Class 5 have been exploring different techniques to practise their spellings. The children had fun searching the environment to spell words using natural resources.
Policy: Reading Policy ; Phonics Policy
Reading notes for parents
Staff Co-ordinator: Mrs. S. Howes
Link Governor: Mrs. H. Stembridge
Statement of Intent:
Class 1
1.10.19- After lunch we have been working with our reading buddies to enjoy some of the classroom books. Miss Elsdon asks us to work with our buddy to read a book and then she asks us to present a short ‘synopsis’ to the rest of the class. Some of the children then ask questions about the book which link to the ‘Reading Dogs’. Miss Elsdon reminds us which dog would ask that question. We enjoy having a relaxing time to look at books together.
20.9.19- In Year 1 we have a ‘Reading Rainbow’. We know that every colour is a great place to be but that moving across the rainbow is our aim. There is a gold level at the end which we would all like to reach eventually. Whenever we go onto the next reading level, we will move our name and show all of our friends so that we can celebrate our progress. It’s a lovely thing to share together. Class 1 are very excited about it and many of the children are going home and begging to read so that they can move along the reading rainbow. How exciting!
Class 2
Aladdin- We had a production company into school performing Aladdin. It was a real feast for the senses with singing and dancing galore. The children were all involved and enjoyed the performance immensely.
Back in the classroom we expressed our opinions of the show and compared it to the text that we have read. We then made 3 wishes of our own, explaining our decisions carefully.
Play in a Day- We have been lucky this half term to have spent a morning with Lisa, from Play in a Day. She played lots of different drama games with us and then we had the chance to perform a short play. Some of us were nervous, but soon came out of our shells and produced a great short play on space. We can’t wait to have her into school again soon.
Our favourite books-The children love to share books, so this half term they been sharing their own books from home. First they shared and read them with a partner of their choice and then they wrote about their books and the reasons why they like them so much.
The children also enjoyed reading Mr Men and little Miss books. They then chose the character that they would like to be. We had some great fun thinking of what adventures they might get up to.
Letter writing- We have been exploring letter writing. We wrote detailed letters to a child we don’t know, explaining all about ourselves. We used paragraphs to group our writing and conjunctions to add detail. We then wrote a very important letter, to Santa. We had to give reasons why we would like particular gifts. The children read them out to each other and then we sent them off to the North Pole. He was so impressed with them that he sent us each a gift back for us to open at Christmas.
Reading- At every opportunity the children have been enjoying sharing a range of reading sources like: books, comics and our favourite… Atlases! The children understand that it is fun to read a range of different texts, especially with a friend. We have talked about what reading means to us and why we love it so much in Class 2.
We celebrated Roald Dahl day by dressing up as our favourite characters. We shared some extracts together from our favourite books and even made some BFG inspired dream catchers. The children have them hung in their rooms and have reported that they are very effective!!
Writing/Drama- Linked to a topic on Superhero’s, the children made a giant den in the classroom using our outdoor den equipment. All the children fit inside the den and could imagine themselves as their superhero’s. They then used expanded noun phrases and adjectives to describe the den and their superhero, some of which were purely from their imaginations.
They made superhero masks and used them for some drama, using specific language for their characters. We have some budding actors in the making!
Class 3
13.02.20- As a result of adopting a sea turtle, we have been identifying the features of a non-chronological report as well as collecting facts in order to write our own! The children have really enjoyed writing their report as this was a big focus and interest in our previous learning.
13.12.19- We have adopted a sea turtle! As we have been focusing on the importance of reducing plastic pollution in literacy, we have decided to adopt a sea turtle! The children have been focusing very hard on reasons as to why plastic is bad for the earth and we even wrote a letter to Asda!
02.10.19-This week in Literacy, Class 3 have been creating freeze frames to show a specific part of our story ‘Izzy Gizmo’. The children used thought bubbles to decide how Izzy Gizmo was feeling. They enjoyed acting out their characters and used great facial expressions to get into role.
Inspiring a love of reading- We are extremely proud of Joshua who is an avid reader. He was very excited to meet his favourite author and we were delighted to be able to help him to achieve his ambition.
Class 4
This half term during literacy we have been focusing on different writing techniques to create a fictional story. We have focused on expanded noun phrases, figurative language, speech and adventurous vocabulary. In the build up to writing the stories, the children have written a setting description, character description and worked in groups to re structure a story. They have created some unique pieces.
Class 5
World Book Day- Class 5 celebrated World Book Day and their love of reading by dressing up as their favourite character. Activities during the afternoon included entering the classroom after lunch to find ‘A River of Books’. The river flowed and meandered around the classroom. The children had to follow the river and choose a book they would like to read for pleasure based either on the front cover or the blurb. Once the children had chosen their selected book, they then explained what made them choose it.
They then played ‘Reading Bingo’ where they had to find someone who met a list of different criteria such as: someone who has read a book with a lion in it; someone who has read a book which had a dragon in it; someone who has read a book set in a jungle etc.
Finally, the children finished off the afternoon by ‘Sharing a Story’. Various children brought in their favourite books to share with the class. The rest of the class asked them questions about the book.
There were some amazing costumes and everyone had a great time.
Original Songs- Melody from Class 5 wrote and performed an amazing SPAG based song. What an amazing way to remember and learn the tricky concepts in Year 5! We can’t wait for the next one.
Book Recommendations via Vlogs- This week the Tsunami reading group in Class 5 created their own Vlogs to review their group reader: The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell.
The children used ipads to record each other giving feedback and recommendations about their reading books and thoroughly enjoyed it.
“I enjoyed working with a partner as we could help each other to plan what to say!” Lewis (Year 5)
Practising Spellings: Our creative spelling strategies continue and this week we have been using the changing seasons to help the children to practise their spellings.
In teams, the children had to create their words out of leaves! They had great fun and learnt how enjoyable learning spellings can be with a bit a creativity!
Play in a Day- On Wednesday 16th October 2019, Class 5 took part in A Play In A Day. As usual, Liz from the Lynx Theatre Company came along to support the children in developing a play in only one day. This time we did ‘The Greens Are Having A Party’. This play was all about a family who threw a huge party but didn’t realise the impact it would have on the environment. The play looked at issues such as plastic pollution and recycling. The play was very well attended by parents and the rest of the school who thoroughly enjoyed this comedy. It was lovely to see so many confident children performing in front of such a large audience.
Class 5 then carried out follow up work based on this play linked to our topic ‘Our Planet’.
Spelling Strategies- In Class 5 we practice our spellings in lots of different ways. Here our Year 5 children are ‘Taking chalk for a walk’. After completing this activity we held an outdoor Spelling Bee and every child got the first 10 words on their spelling lists correct!
The Wyrmstooth Crown- Our Class 5 novel is about a dragon, called Guster, who has amazing adventures. The children read part of the story and then do a piece of writing based on the text. So far this term we have written: a character description, a prediction, shown empathy with a character and have written a balanced argument. We have based our art, DT and ICT lessons around this story and the children are thoroughly enjoying learning all about Dragons!
Play in a Day Summer 2019
