Tag: active reading

Supporting Pupils’ Literacy Progress at Hallglen PS

Over the past 2 school years, staff at Hallglen PS have developed how they support children with their literacy progress. They have identified a selection of programmes and processes which enable them to tailor interventions to children’s individual needs. Diane Ramage, principal teacher, and Samantha Nash, support for learning teacher have also worked with staff colleagues and children to establish new ways of working. This includes the creation of a new support for learning space and the adoption of a range of literacy materials and activities which their support for learning assistant can use with children.

Which Interventions are being used?

The programmes and interventions being used will be familiar to colleagues, and include:

  • Read, Write Inc Phonics (for p 2-5)
  • Read Write Inc Fresh Start (for P 6 & 7)
  • Reading Recovery Wave 3
  • Nessy
  • Story Club
  • Use of tracking and monitoring data to inform specific intervention plans for children
  • Regular dialogue between class teachers, support for learning teacher, support for learning assistant and school leaders
  • Timetabled blocks of literacy support – 6-8 weeks
  • Liaison with Jude Davies, Support Teacher Specific Learning differences
  • Use of the Falkirk Literacy Pathway

How are these being employed?

Sam began to use Read Write Inc Fresh Start last session to help identified groups of children in primary 5, 6 and 7 to raise their reading attainment and build their confidence in reading. Initially this involved 21 pupils but the group gradually dwindled as more and more children “caught up” with their peers and no longer needed specific support. This programme was so successful that less than a third of this original group of children now require support with their reading.

In response to their observation of this impact on the children involved, Diane and Sam planned how to continue to use the Fresh Start programme with children in primary 6 and 7. In order to intervene earlier, Sam also trialled the Read Write Inc Phonics programme to support children in primary 2 – 5.

Both Read Write Inc programmes are helping children to learn the sounds which they need to read successfully. The children benefit from the use of the programme’s flash cards. These support explicit teaching of the links between the visual form of the letter/sound, its memorable and explanatory rhyme and the repetition and consolidation of the sound itself. The pedagogy employed by Sam and colleagues scaffolds the children’s ability to recall their sounds swiftly as they read – gradually enabling them to both de-code and increase their fluency and confidence.

Children progress through the Fresh Start programme at an appropriate pace and the intense, structured approach is re-engaging children with learning to read and reading to learn. Impact on reading for enjoyment is becoming visible also. This is evidenced by children’s voluntary participation in the Story Club initiative which Sam has started to run at lunchtime once a week. This initiative is an intervention designed to support issues with reading skills at the primary 2 stage.

Children choose to opt into Story Club and each session involves her in reading a story to the children then offering an related activity (currently adult initiated). Twenty eight children came to the first session and numbers remain high at this early stage of this initiative. Sam noted the attendance of one child in particular who, following his use of the Phonics programme, is beginning to master reading. This child previously hated and avoided reading so his choosing to attend Story Club evidences a huge change in his attitude to this essential skill.

Diane, Sam and colleagues regularly analyse their tracking data and other intelligence relating to their learners’ reading and literacy progress. They have instigated a 6 week assessment cycle which informs timetable and menu of support changes every 6 – 8 weeks.  This regular review of where children are enables more accurate selection of interventions for children and more intense, structured support.  In addition school processes enable class teachers to liaise with Sam at any point to explore how best to support their pupils.

Staff at Hallglen PS are also using the Nessy online platform and resources in a number of ways. Primary 6 and 7 pupils at Hallglen access Nessy online learning routinely using their digital devices. Sam noted that this independent, on demand access was not possible for primary 4 and 5 children because they don’t yet have individual devices. She set up 4 iPad word spaces within the Support for Learning classroom and primary 4 and 5 pupils now come regularly to use these independently to support their reading and spelling skill development. Teachers are also making use of individual children’s Nessy spelling targets to support more accurate differentiation of spelling tasks. Staff plan to explore other parts of the Nessy platform to consider further applications which may be valuable for their children.

As part of her To Lead or Not to Lead professional learning, Sam is working with primary 2 teacher colleagues to gather data about the comparative impact of the Read Write Inc Phonics and North Lanarkshire Active Literacy programmes on children’s reading. The outcomes of these studies will inform how these literacy interventions are used to support children’s progress in future.

Review and Next Steps

Diane, Sam and colleagues feel that their support for learning processes and intervention “package” has been transformative for their school and children. They have a “menu” of support which is responsive, pacey and is raising children’s confidence and ability to read. By making use of data, intelligence, professional dialogue, assessment and timetabling in combination with effective pedagogy and programmes, they are raising their children’s attainment in, and enjoyment of reading. They plan to consolidate this focus on reading while integrating development of spelling and writing to extend and enrich their menu of literacy support for their children. Diane, Sam and colleagues are rightly proud of their “package” of support for literacy learning and look forward to continuing its development for the benefit of their children.

 

Antonine PS and their Reading Schools Journey

Setting off on our journey

Antonine Primary School in Falkirk hit the ground running with their Reading Schools journey.  They had a clear idea of their reading culture and opportunities to develop. Prioritising reading and writing was identified through their school improvement planning, so there was a common focus to drive their activities.

After undertaking reading attitudes studies with both learners and staff, Antonine Primary School introduced a Reading Leadership Group with Primary 7 Pupils, teaching staff, the Deputy Head teacher, and a librarian to promote reading for pleasure across the whole school.

‘Being a mini librarian has helped me get better at my alphabet. I loved making the shelf labels to help everyone find books.’

Reading for Pleasure: The Reading Forest

The leadership group’s first task was to design and develop a Reading Forest: environment and mind-set to encourage and support reading for enjoyment, fostering a love of books and elevating their learners’ experience. The Reading Forest involved:

  • Woodland-themed, leafy and tranquil reading areas with forest sounds to evoke the sense of being outdoors
  • TREE (Together Reading Excites Everyone) time
  • An outdoor library

Having the Reading Forest as a core focus allowed learners to play an active part in planning and implementation. It also raised the profile of reading for pleasure through whole-school investment.

‘I like our new library, I can borrow lots of different books.  I like all the books about insects and small animals.”

The leadership group were involved in many administrative tasks throughout this process, such as indexing library stock and creating resources.

Since receiving silver Reading Schools accreditation, Antonine Primary have developed two outdoor reading spaces to provide learners with the opportunity of reading for pleasure during school breaks.

 

Impact on staff

Antonine’s Reading Schools experience was incredibly rewarding for staff. Opportunities arose for them to receive CPD training and become actively involved in the Forth Valley Regional Improvement Collaborative literacy group.

The Reading Forest encouraged free reading time in the classroom and encouraged staff to read too, modelling reading behaviours and supporting learners to find their next great read.  Every week, all learners across the school were invited to read for pleasure through a whole school initiative TREE (Together Reading Excites Everyone), where rainforest music is played through the school tannoy. When they hear this music, all learners pick up their chosen book and enjoy some quiet reading time.  Staff also plan for reading aloud to their class twice per week through Forest Rangers.

‘The children are really enjoying seeing me read during TREE and will often ask what the book is.’

‘My class are constantly checking me for updating my door sign to make sure I have added my new book to this.’

Opportunities were created for more conversations around books using resources like Book Jenga, monthly reading polls, book discovery QR code hunts and building scenes in shoe boxes. This allowed teachers to understand learners’ interests better and find enjoyable and sometimes challenging texts.

Staff also increased their knowledge of contemporary children’s literature by using Scottish Book Trust resources and engaging with programmes such as Authors Live. Activities and resources were actively shared among staff, creating a positive culture for professional development.  We now also have a Star Books display in the staffroom, displaying termly newsletters and suggested contemporary literature for teaching staff to use with the class.  We liaise closely with our local librarian to update this termly.  Similarly, all classes across the school have a Reading Spine box informed by Talk for Writing.  This provides each class teacher with a range of quality literature to explore with their class throughout the session.

Supporting families

By surveying families and learning about their reading habits, Antonine developed a range of opportunities to meet families’ needs, from building networks with the local library service to launching home reading challenges. The gap between home and school was closed, with families engaging in community book hunts and activities on social media, building on rich foundations and helping to foster a love of reading at home as well as at school.

‘It allows us to have some nice quiet family time together. It feels like we are all going off on an adventure together.’

“[I enjoy] hearing my child’s reaction to stories – hearing my child’s progress in their own reading – the opportunity to spend quality time with my child.’

In working towards Gold Accreditation this session, both the Staff Improvement Group and School Library group are taking reading for pleasure into the local community with 3 new initiatives:  Read While you Wait, Read Enroute and a Community exchange library.

Wider impact

Reading Schools helped Antonine Primary cement reading activities and a framework to monitor their progress and success. Termly reading challenges became mainstreamed and linked to the Reading Forest, organising the schools’ reading activities under one framework.

Creating an evaluated driver diagram helped build momentum behind the fantastic work already undertaken while also identifying areas for improvement.  This continues to be an approach we are currently using in aiming towards Gold Reading Schools accreditation.

The programme provided a coherent structure and clear progressive route where all literacy activities would be celebrated and documented, knowing that they would contribute to the school’s wider aims and priorities.  Reading Ambassadors are celebrated weekly at whole school assemblies. What Reading Looks Like at Antonine, a reading policy, has been developed to provide all staff with an overview of all reading for pleasure initiatives that are now embedded across Antonine Primary School.

 

Active Literacy at Ladeside Primary School

ladeside1ladeside2ladeside4

Here’s what’s going on at Ladeside:

Our Literacy RACI group has been focusing on reading for enjoyment. We have several classes involved in Paired Reading. Older pupils have been trained to buddy younger pupils. P7 been reading with LHS pupils at LHS Library. Calum Smith has been facilitating this. Yvonne Manning trained P6 pupils as storytellers. We have had a huge amount of input from the storytellers from Larbert community library and Falkirk Council’s Learning Resource Centre. We participated in the Scottish Children’s Book Awards by reading the novels and voting.

What do the pupils say about paired reading at Ladeside?

P.6 Big Buddy talking about EAL P.3 pupil:  “I feel that my Little Buddy’s expression and volume has improved since I started reading with him.”

P.6 Big Buddy: “I think that Paired Reading is important for the future because the younger pupils get help to understand reading better and then they will get a good job when they grow up.”

P.6 Big Buddy: “ Paired Reading helps with everyone’s confidence. At the beginning, my Little Buddy didn’t want to read and now she always wants to read by herself.”

P.6 Big Buddy: “The Paired Reading training will help me in the future not just when I read with someone but will help me to be a good learner and mini-teacher too.”

P.3 teacher: “Paired reading has been a great success with my Primary 3 class. The Primary 6 pupils were well organised, confident and excellent role models at reading. The Primary 3 pupils involved really looked forward to the days their Primary 6 buddies were coming. They read a variety of appropriate texts and were able to discuss them with their buddy and answer relevant questions.”

Parent of Big Buddy: “He’s having a really great year. We’ve heard all about the Reading Buddies. He was so happy to have been chosen.”

Sharing Reading Approaches with Parents and Carers at St. Bernadette’s RCPS

parents 1 st bsParents and carers from St. Bernadette’s RCPS engaged in an active learning reading session on Thursday 26th February. Pupils from across the stages participated in the session sharing their knowledge and understanding of reading skills and strategies with both parents and visitors from St. Ninian’s Primary School in Stirling.

Falkirk Council’s Literacy team delivered the session sharing the good practice embedded in the school and two P6 pupils confidently and competently delivered a short presentation which included a very impressive i-movie and musical rap demonstrating reading skills.

Parents took part in a thinking reader session using the text ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’.  The strategies and key ideas to support children at home were shared and explained.

parents 2 st bs

The six strategies are:

1) Prior knowledge and understanding

2) Metalinguistics

3) Visualisation

4) Inference

5) Main ideas

6) Summarising.

The visitors were then treated to a marketplace style tour of pupil work from across the stages.

Feedback included:

  • This was enjoyable, fun, great insight into children’s learning. It’s amazing to have the evidence exhibited in children…. Amazing
  • Good to show how the kids learn and the wide variety of text. Learned how important the kids understanding the text is and understanding of words.
  • Very informative so impressed by the work of the pupils. Fab!
  • The session was very helpful. Helps me understand more about how reading is taught and delivered in school! Will use at home.
  • Very useful allowed insight into strategies employed within school (would be helpful having “bullet point” newsletter on this.
  • I really enjoyed this session. I find it incredible and inspiring to realise the skills the children are managing to acquire at such a young age.
  • Reading is a wonderful life skill so anything that encourages it is a great idea.
  • I found the session helpful in relation to encouraging reading skills to my grandson. Maybe an information night for grandparents/carers would be beneficial.
  • Really good to see such creative children that seem to really enjoy what they are doing.

 

Embedding Reading Strategies Across Bonnybridge Primary School

Bonnybridge Primary School have been working really hard to embed active literacy  across their school. In this post, we are taking a look at how Bonnybridge are improving attainment in reading. In active literacy reading, there are 6 comprehension strategies which are:

1. Prior knowledge and understanding – what do the pupils already know about the text/ main theme/ author

2. Metalinguistics – what are the interesting words and phrases? Which words do you like? Which words are you unsure of? How can we check the meaning?

Here the pupils are using a range of strategies, but you can see how they are analysing the words and phrases in this online newspaper report and using a dictionary to support their understanding. The pupils are using an active reading approach called ‘The Thinking Reader’ here:

3. Visualisation – can you produce a visual image in your head of the story/ plot/ character? Younger pupils will record this as a picture or drawing. Older children will produce more complex mind maps/ diagrams.

4. Inference – reading between the lines – what is the message the author is trying to convey without actually saying? What is the difference between what the character is thinking and what the character is saying?

Look at this wonderful work showing results of applying their inference skills about an advert #widertext 

5. Main ideas – what are the main ideas relating to plot/ character/ setting/ themes? Here we can see the pupils from P6/7 of Bonnybridge Primary School using their knowledge of the main ideas to formulate a theory of their own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFdMGginz4Y&feature=youtu.be

    6. Summarising and paraphrasing – can you summarise the text in less than 20 words? Can you summarise in a tweet? Can you paraphrase the story? Can you provide synonyms and antonyms?

Look at these wonderful summaries of Danny, Champion of the World:

All of these 6 comprehension strategies combined are a very powerful toolkit for pupils who are then required to apply across a range of curricular areas in a range of new and unfamiliar situations.

Here is a quote from the Head Teacher commenting on the impact of active literacy across her school:

“A greater understanding and confidence by staff in delivering literacy across the school. Engagement of staff in the use of media to enhance learning and teaching is much more evident. This in turn has developed a deeper understanding for pupils of their learning.” – Jill Stocks, Headteacher

What does the DHT say about active literacy?

“This session, part of my remit is to develop Literacy and English across the school. We have worked hard as a staff to implement the principles behind Active Literacy. I find that reading has moved significantly away from ‘hearing reading’ to ‘teaching reading.’ At all stages in the school, the children are actively involved in their learning, working with the six comprehension strategies to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the texts that they are reading, watching or listening to. The use of Blooms Fans in the upper stages has encouraged deeper thinking and questioning of texts. A wide variety of learning contexts to which the children can apply their comprehension strategies has helped the children to transfer their reading skills across the curriculum.  In addition to reading, writing has improved with the implementation of the genre specific targets in Taught Writing, Core Writing Targets in Taught Writing, Daily Writing and Writing Across The Curriculum jotters. Some classes have also introduced Personal Writing Targets where children are encouraged to set their own areas for improvement. The contexts for writing are relevant, purposeful, enjoyable and link directly to IDL themes where appropriate.” – Andrew Watson – DHT

Here is a quote from one of the class teachers:

“I have seen a vast improvement in Literacy over the past year. The implementation of spelling strategies have enabled the children to meet core targets within everyday literacy tasks. The children learn to spell actively which allows the words to come alive and while there is still very much a place for writing / spelling the words correctly, this has allowed the children to embed their learning,

The comprehension strategies are firmly implemented within all reading tasks. The children are fully aware of what each strategy is and how each strategy helps them  to progress their learning and fully understand any text, whether it is a novel, film or a tweet. The children are more engaged with their literacy and are not only improving in literacy but are very much focussed on doing so.”- Michelle Cairns Class Teacher

“There has been a definite improvement in the literacy skills of the children over the past term.  The children are much more engaged in their learning and I feel they have gained confidence in their own abilities. Over the past year the children have developed a more secure understanding of the 6 comprehension strategies and are much more confident using these independently.  The inferencing skills in particular of the children in my class have improved and they are now more able to show a deeper understanding of the text as well as recognise and include inferencing  within their own writing.  My class really enjoy using a variety of texts such as film clips, articles etc and I feel that because of this the quality of discussion has significantly improved.” P6 Class teacher Emma Stanners

“Both myself and my class have learned a lot through active literacy this session. It has been a delight to provide a context for active learning and then to watch as the children take the initiative with their own learning.

The six comprehension strategies help to make reading more interesting for the children. They gain a deeper understanding of their texts and, consequently, enjoy it more. I have had parents come and tell me about how surprised they were that their child has suddenly developed an enthusiasm for reading at home and I believe active literacy played a huge role in this.

Similarly, I have been able to see many children develop and interest in their writing this session through active literacy. Much of our writing has linked to practical activities that we engage in prior to putting pencil to paper and so the children have been actively thinking about their task before even writing about it. As a result, they are eager to write.” Class teacher P6/7 Sarah Burns

What about the pupils? What do they have to say about active literacy? Here is a sample from P3K:

“Reading is different this year because we’ve got chapter books, with harder words. In Primary 2, we didn’t do inference, but now we do. I like reading because it’s quite fun and I like finding the clues. Inferencing is my favourite thing because we find everything”  – Lucy MacFarlane P3K

 “I like reading because it’s fun to do. I like doing summarising because it can be hard to find all the main points. It’s fun because you get to see good books like Boy Racer and you can read about who wins and who’s not good and who sticks up for them. It’s basically just fun!” – Zaak Budzinski

“I like reading because you get to learn loads of stuff from the books. I like doing main ideas. Sometimes it’s really hard, sometimes it’s really easy.” – Laura Little P3K Matthew Morrison P3K

“Prior Knowledge is everything that’s already inside your head. You use it so you can read.” – Ellie Wyatt P3K

“I like reading because you learn new things and you get harder words now. The book is longer too.” – Rory Bateman

What happens in Active Literacy Reading? Sharing Learning with Families

Sharon Wallace, Curriculum Support Officer, Services and School Improvement Team has developed a range of materials to share with parents and carers about what happens in their children’s classrooms.

Mums, grans, aunties, big sisters and little sisters from St. Patricks R.C.P.S. in Denny shared one of these experiences at their ‘Girls Night In’.

Sharon demonstrated how teachers use a range of texts (in this case, Michael Rosen’s ‘Chocolate Cake’ poem) to develop the six reading comprehension strategies.

Firstly, the ‘big’ girls had a competition to see how many types of chocolate bars and how many characters they could spot in the ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ film trailer. This was a close competition! Sharon then ascertained their prior knowledge and experience of ‘chocolate’ by asking some open questions and asking the girls to put the word ‘chocolate’ into a sentence.

A recital of Michael Rosen’s ‘Chocolate Cake’ poem was well received with lots of giggles and laughter. The girls then drew ‘visualisers’ demonstrating their knowledge of the main ideas in the poem. One girl was able to make excellent comparisons between Bruce Bogtrotter (Matilda) and the little boy in the poem – very impressive!

The girls then eloquently answered a range of questions relating to inference. When asked what the little boy should have for his play piece after sneaking up in the middle of the night and demolishing a whole chocolate cake, the girls replied “Nothing!” or “Well, maybe a piece of fruit!”

The session concluded with the girls all trying out a sample of chocolate cake, whilst at the same time offering some fantastic adjectives to describe the smell, taste and whole experience.

All of the girls left the workshop with big smiles on their faces (and maybe a few sticky, icky fingers!).

Feedback from this session  included:

I liked the poem about the little boy who liked the chocolate cake.

Direct quote: I like the poam wif a litel boy wot likt choclt caik.  (Primary 1)

It was very good – I loved the story of the cake – thank you (Sophie P3)

We enjoyed hearing the story of the chocolate cake – we had lots of laughs during the session.

Good idea to introduce Literacy activities this time!

Chocolate cake workshop was worthwhile – something a bit different!

We wish we had visited the chocolate cake workshop – heard lots of good things about it.

More sessions like this are coming soon to a school near you! For further information, please contact Sharon.wallace@falkirk.gov.uk