Workshop Presentations - April 2018

English

Language is an essential element of learning in any part of the curriculum. We aim to give the children mastery of the basic skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening with understanding and provide regular opportunities for drama. All the children are helped to achieve their full potential. Those with special educational needs are given extra support within the classroom and may sometimes be withdrawn in small groups.

At Lower and Upper Site, the children take part in shared, guided and independent reading with the teacher. A wide variety of reading materials, both fiction and non–fiction are available.The Upper Site has developed a range of reading materials in Year 3 and 4 which ensure seamless continuity from Year 2. Children in year 5 and 6 are encouraged to make sensible choices in reading and keep a reading journal to record how well they have enjoyed a particular text. Below are links to a range of reading book lists.

We encourage reading at home and encourage the parents to be fully involved with their child's reading development. Parents are reminded that they should be spending a short period of time every day reading with their child. Children have access to a number of reading sources and are encouraged to take books home to share with their family. We also encourage parents/carers to take their children to local public libraries.

Throughout their time at OLSG, children explore and construct pieces of writing from a range of genres and non-fiction text types. They learn the conventions of a particular text type, how to interest the reader and develop their skills in spelling, grammar and punctuation. In Reception and Key stage 1 classes we teach phonics through the Read Write Inc system. In Year 2 children are ready to move onto the complimentary language and Literacy programme which continues into Year 6. This year we are also introducing a spelling scheme developed to run alongside Language and Literacy. Each week children are also given the opportunity to do extended writing linked to a key text shared in class throughout the half term.

At home children should be given real life opportunities to write. This may be in the form of a letter to a relative or a weekly shopping list. From year 2 onwards children are encouraged to learn their weekly spellings and write each one in a sentence. Encourage your child to make these sentences as interesting as they can. Below is a link to the Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers and Punctuation (VCOP) materials which can be used as prompts for your children to improve their sentences.

Many more resources can be found simply by searching VCOP in a web browser.