Literacy
At Cleves, Literacy lessons take place every day for an hour. They are timetabled in the morning and are taught in class, not in ability sets. Throughout the year, pupils are taught a range of genres and styles of writing. At the beginning of each unit, children are shown their learning journey and what the outcome of that unit will be, to bring meaning to their lessons. Each unit lasts between 1-3 weeks, resulting in pupils producing a ‘hot task’ , in which they incorporate all that they have learnt. Children are given differentiated success criteria dependent on ability. Class teachers will then deep mark their work and give the children a target on how they can improve their work. They will then spend a lesson editing and uplevelling based on their target. Finally, finished work is written up into their Special Writing books with additional creative outcomes such as use of the iPads or drama, for example.
Special Writing books
Special Writing books are a way of the children producing and presenting their best pieces of written work. The books ‘move up’ each year with the pupils so that at the end of the pupils’ time at Cleves, they have evidence of their progression. The children (and parents) are very proud to look back and see how far they have come.
PaG lessons
PaG ( Punctuation and Grammar) lessons are taught twice a week, each session lasting 30 minutes. The focus of the lessons are on specific grammar that is reflected within the Literacy units that the children are being taught.
Spelling
Spelling rules are taught three times a week in lessons that are 15 minutes in length. We currently use the Read Write Inc Scheme. At the beginning of each new spelling rule, pupils watch a tutorial video and over the next week or two, complete tasks based on that rule. They are also tested on 6 spellings from the previous unit.
Guided Reading
Guided Reading sessions are an integral part of the curriculum and are conducted 5 times a week. These sessions last 20-25 minutes and are conducted with a group of approximately 5/6 children. This ensures that the teacher listens and discusses a book with each child every week.
During Guided Reading sessions, teachers sit and discuss specific reading focus e.g retrieval of information, or inference. The reading materials are level dependent. Whilst these sessions are taking place, the rest of the class, in their reading groups, are assigned to a variety of tasks. These include: reading comprehensions, follow up tasks from group reading with the class teacher, spelling tasks, typing or independent reading.
Library Session
Every week, each class has an allocated library session during which children are able to listen to stories on the iMacs, read silently and choose a non-fiction and fiction book to take out. Library sessions are also a time for teachers to read with guided reading groups or specifically targeted children.
Reading Lists
Recommended Reading Lists are in place for all year groups. These books are to be read at school, during independent reading and at home. Each year group’s book list is divided into three sections: Red - Working below standard, Green - Working at standard, Blue - working above standard. There are at least three copies of each book in the library (sectioned Recommended Reading Lists). Children are able to take out the book from the library for up to two weeks. There are a variety of Fiction and Non-Fiction books that the children can read. At the end of every half term, each year group is set an activity for homework, based on the book they read.
Activities include:
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Diary from one character to another
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Book Review
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Character Profile
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Storyboard /Comic Strip
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Create a newspaper article
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Create a suitable cover and write a suitable blurb for the back of the book
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Illustrate a scene from the book
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Newspaper report of incident
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Poster advertising book
To read more about the intent, implementation and impact of our curriculum at Cleves, please click the link below.