ALL Advanced Literacy Learning

This term I have started taking a small group of boys for extra literacy learning as part of the Advanced Literacy Learning programme. Over the course of 15 weeks with 5 weekly 1/2 hour sessions the aim is to increase their writing levels. The group is made up of 7 year 7/8 boys who are well below the national standard. We meet Tuesday - Friday from 8:30 - 9 with an extra session after assembly on Friday.

Some of these boys have shown to be reluctant writers so I expected there may be possible resistance to taking part. The reality however was the opposite. The boys enjoy having a special time together and for the most part are fully engaged in the oral language and writing activities. We start each session off with a milo and meet earlier on a Friday for a shared breakfast of toast.

A large part of each session involves discussing new vocab around a theme, and practising using the vocab by creating oral sentences. We are working on expanding simple sentences to make them more complex by adding to the front, back or middle. Most of the boys however find it challenging to retain and voice a complex sentence without support. They are building up an understanding of vocab but need more practise with putting this vocab into sentences in the right context.