This Year's focus- Writing

As a whole school we are focusing on writing and how we can begin to move chn.

My first step was to talk to a literacy expert and ask questions around how I can implement an effective writing program.

Her suggestion was to have a rotation going where I see a small group and the other groups are working on independent activities. She also suggested to have wiring and reading together as a whole literacy unit.

My next step was to observe a teacher with their writing. I gained some ideas from the teachers lesson; activities, how to structure a lesson and how to use the walls for the chn to use.

Currently I have a rotation going where each group is mixed. While I am seeing 1 group the others are doing independent activities. Activities include; creative table, handwriting, editing, spelling game, creative writing and publishing.

I have found that having guided groups is more effective as the chn are more focused and I can spend more time conferencing with chn then if I did whole class writing. I have found that the writing is getting better such as; remembering full stops and capital letters, including parts of speech, remembering speech marks and exclamation marks etc.

For term 2 I am going to try having ability groups where I can teach to their level.