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What is happening?
The whole school has introduced a structured literacy approach to our classrooms. Whilst this approach looks different within our classes we have all received the same professional development.
Why is this happening?
Last year we identified that while we were all using structured literacy now, the platforms we were using were lacking ease of use and was overcomplicating things. So we worked on finding a new approach and we came across iDeal.
What does this mean?
This has meant that we have easy access to resources, and continuity across the schools because this has a step by step process we can use to make sure each student gets what they need across the different year groups.
Next steps
We are continuing to dive deeper into this approach to continue to inform our practice as we continue on our structured literacy journey.
Junior Syndicate
Eden
Handwriting- Everyday using both Casery the Caterpillar and iDeal.
Heggerty sessions- Whole class daily
iDeal Literacy- Small groups daily
Library- Every Wednesday with year 7/8s buddies reading to students
Big Book- Everyday focusses = What makes a title page, predicting, summarizing and punctuation.
Writing- Share sentence in a circle time, draw picture related, attempt to write sounds heard in sentence, reshare with teacher to write.
Bethlehem
Using the structured approach to teaching our Literacy block encompasses a range of learning engagements systematically building phonological awareness, handwriting, spelling, reading , writing and oral language skills. We use a range of resources including the iDeal platform to target specific learning needs.
Daily activities include:
Phonological Awareness games and routines using iDeal, Heggerty and Ultimate Phonological resources
Handwriting using the Casey Caterpillar shapes, this is a consistent approach used across the Junior School
Interactive iDeal spelling lessons that build on prior knowledge
Whole class shared reading using a range of big books, picture books, non fiction texts and poems
Reading Groups - small groups to target the different levels within the class. Students take home readers to consolidate and celebrate learning with their families
Writing sessions following the "I Do, We Do, You Do" routine, students are learning to write sentences at this level
Oral language opportunities throughout the day including calendar, circle time and games
Samaria
In Samaria our literacy block is very structured.
Handwriting instruction - whole class,
Spelling - whole class (• Phonology • Morphology • Decode, encode, decode • Syllable types • Spelling rules and orthographic patterns) differentiation occurs in instructional reading
Reading - small group (Phonology • Morphology • Decode, encode, decode • Syllable types • Vocabulary • Background knowledge • Text structure • Critical thinking • Sentence structures and grammar • Semantics) with focus on
Writing- whole class (• Vocabulary • Background knowledge • Text structure • Critical thinking • Sentence types • Sentence structures and grammar• Orthographic conventions • Semantics)
Handwriting
Spelling
Reading - Junior Decodables
Nazareth
In Nazareth we have been busily working on our structured literacy. This term have been spending time learning about narratives and recounts.
We are learning about the structure of narrative writing through reading and investigating well-known fairy tales. We have also been getting in some buddy reading when we can!
Buddy reading
Buddy reading
Ready for reading groups!
Ready for reading groups!
Zion
In Zion, our class is diving into Roald Dahl's 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'! We're having a blast with students taking turns reading aloud, which is building their confidence and fluency. To really immerse ourselves in the story, we're also creating a 'Wanted Mr. Fox' poster. The students' drawings, capturing key moments and their memories of the story, are absolutely fabulous! You should see their fantastic depictions of those unforgettable farmers, Boggis, Bunce, and Bean!
Each day, Zion students practice their writing in their writing books, with a focus on a new letter of the alphabet. They also participate in the IDEAL structure literacy programme every day, which they find to be lots of fun and very engaging.
Senior Syndicate
Cana
Cana
During Term 1 for Reading Cana have focused on practicing their reading comprehension by completing a range of different reading comprehension tasks and using Read Theory online. These tasks require learners to understand the main idea, identify details, remember information, make inferences and draw conclusions.
We have also enjoyed working on a range of fun activities about what we have read, some activities have been making new book covers, creating a bookmark and drawing the main characters.
In the last two weeks of the term we have started our class novel “Holes” which we will continue to read in Term 2 and complete activities about what we have read. We also regularly visit the school library for enjoyment.
Cana
Cana
For Writing in Term 1 Cana focused on writing poetry. We covered a range of different poetry styles - haiku, limericks, shape poems, creating acrostic poems to learn more about our classmates and diamante poems. Also as part of our lIteracy programme we have included regular handwriting sessions and I have begun to incorporate structured spelling sessions into our weekly programme after attending online training for iDeaL.
Structured Literacy in our Year 7 and 8 space includes the explicit teaching of spelling rules and patterns, using authentic texts to increase fluency and the decoding of new/unknown vocabulary. Students complete a 20 minute structured Ideal lesson daily as part of our literacy programme to encode and decode, dictate and connect meaning to unknown words. Literacy also includes regular hand writing practice, explicit instruction in the differing writing genres, developing students' surface and deeper writing skills. Students read from a range of texts, both for enjoyment and to increase their reading fluency and the meaning they gain from text.
Reading Comprehension Tasks:
Jerusalem and Capernaum have been practicing their reading comprehension strategies by completing different reading comprehension tasks. These tasks challenged them to use inferencing, context clues, predictions, summarizing and visualising to gain meaning and make connections.
Jerusalem presenting a play in assembly.
Jerusalem presenting a play in assembly.
Jerusalem presenting speech in class.
Jerusalem presenting speech in class.
Galilee exploring literacy by doing play.
Galilee exploring literacy by doing play.
PowerPoint presentation in Galilee.
PowerPoint presentation in Galilee.
Doing narrative writing story map in groups.
Doing narrative writing story map in groups.
Buddy reading in Galilee.
Buddy reading in Galilee.
2023-2024
Below is a table that shows the way that our iDeal approach aligns with the curriculum expectations.
iDeaL Assessment and Curriculum Alignment Guidelines.pdfJunior Syndicate
In Eden, handwriting is a big focus. Students are learning where to start their writing, where to sit their letters, the shapes and sizes of letters, and how to write their individual name with a capital letter at the start. We make this super fun in Eden by using Casey the Caterpillar to guide our learning. We also have a range of ways students complete their writing between whiteboards or books and mini tables or regular tables. Students respond well to the program and pick up new skills regularly. As you can see in the images students are well focussed and enjoying seeing their achievements!
At St Patrick's school we use the Structured Literacy approach to explicitly teach foundation literacy skills. In Bethlehem this includes daily phonological awareness, alphabetic principle, handwriting, shared reading (whole class), instructional reading and instructional writing (group teaching targeted to individual student needs). We use a range of resources including decodeable texts, big books, poems, games and fine motor activities.
iDeaL
iDeaL
In Samaria we are using iDeaL a structured literacy approach which provides: explicit, systematic, and sequential teaching of literacy at multiple levels that provides – phonemes, letter–sound relationships, syllable patterns, morphemes, vocabulary, sentence structure, paragraph structure, and text structure.
In Nazareth,
We have been using iDEAL as a spelling approach since last year. However, this year we have started to use iDEAL for our reading grouping as well. The children are enjoying this way of learning and as their teacher, I feel much more guided and supported with all the scaffolding and support this approach gives us.
Senior Syndicate
Within the Senior Syndicate:
IDeal, as a guide and resource to teach within the Structured Literacy framework, is becoming embedded in our teaching and learning practice, while we continue to teach comprehension, oral, visual and written language skills, as we await further guidance regarding the refreshed curriculum. Within our Literacy curriculum we utilse several approaches to ensure we are meeting the needs of all learners, such as novel studies, reciprocal reading groups, differentiated reading groups, integrated topics and self managed literacy goals based on a learners expected progress through the English curriculum.
To start the year off, Jeruslaem read Children of the Rush as a shared novel. They read this as part of their reading programme and it integrated quite nicely into their social sciences topic of Gold. Along with completing these language activities, the class also completed reading comprehension tasks around the novel.
Reading in Cana
Reading in Cana
Cana children are constantly encouraged to turn to real text to build their reading fluency and confidence. A reading wall is a challenge to all learners to build reading "miles" by adding tokens under their names for every 100 pages read.
Cana children are constantly encouraged to turn to real text to build their reading fluency and confidence. A reading wall is a challenge to all learners to build reading "miles" by adding tokens under their names for every 100 pages read.
Reading projects throughout the year are part of the English programme in Cana like this "novel" written and produced by Ruby.
BOOK CHARACTER DAY
BOOK CHARACTER DAY
Each year the learners at St. Patrick's celebrate the love of books and reading by holding a Book Character day. The staff enter the fun with the various areas of the school trying to outdo each other with their costumes
Writing in Jerusalem
Writing in Jerusalem
Using Assessment For Learning (AFL) the senior students co-construct their success criteria with each writing genre to help them have a greater understanding of what they are learning and why they are learning it. They also use peer and self assessment to mark themselves and track their progress. From there they can easily identify their next steps in their writing and what they need to focus on is clearly highlighted.
Using Assessment For Learning (AFL) the senior students co-construct their success criteria with each writing genre to help them have a greater understanding of what they are learning and why they are learning it. They also use peer and self assessment to mark themselves and track their progress. From there they can easily identify their next steps in their writing and what they need to focus on is clearly highlighted.
In the senior classes, parts of speech and spelling and grammar are also a focus in the children's writing. Deliberate acts of teaching are designed to target these areas. In the Year 8 class, there are many opportunities for the children to practice their parts of speech and spelling and grammar rules.
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