Key Stage 2 Literacy Workshop

Years 3 to 6

This workshop should last about an hour and a half

• Text types (genres)• Let’s Write and VCOP• Children’s involvement in marking (self and

peer assessment)• Spelling and handwriting

• They need to know the different features of the various text types (genres).

• They need to be able to adapt their writing within these text types to the audience and purpose. It is important to get this right!

• Recount: a written account of events in time order a diary entry, an autobiography, a newspaper article

• Report: an organised presentation of factual information about any topican information leaflet, a web page about a hobby

• Instruction: a step-by-step list of actions to followa recipe, a How-to guide, a rule book for a game

• Explanation: answering a how or why question in a structured manner

’How the Titanic sank’ poster, flowchart about seed dispersal

• Persuasion: convincing the audience of a point of view

an advert for a product, a reasoned argument (one point of view)

• Discussion: presenting several points of viewa discussion paper on a proposal (e.g. a new cell phone mast)

• Narrative (stories: traditional tales, fables, myths, legends, fantasy, mystery, flashback, retelling, summaries (synopsis), etc.)

• Poetry (to convey feelings, moods or reflections; poetry using metaphors, similes and personification; narrative poems, performance poems, riddles, haikus )

• Play scripts (dialogue, stage directions...)

The more familiar children are with a text type, the more likely it is that they will be able to write in a similar vein.

Most children who read avidly will internalise the patterns of written language. When they come to write they should then easily slip into the right ‘voice’ so what they write ‘sounds right’.

This is one reason why Huntington has developed an extensive and ever-expanding stock of library books in recent years.

But, not all children will develop the writing ‘voice’ in this way.

Let’s Write (developed as Big Write by Ros Wilson)

• The ‘Let’s Write’ or Big Write process is the development of the ‘writing voice’ through fast, fun, lively and predominantly oral activities. Pupils talk using ‘the writing voice’ at various points in a week (e.g. 10 min. starter in Literacy session, spare minutes at the end of a session, and sometimes as the main focus within a lesson)

• Based on the premise:

IF A CHILD CAN SAY IT, A CHILD CAN WRITE IT

Opportunities for Talk for Writing• We provide lots of opportunities to ‘talk the text type’, using the same sort of

language and features that they would be expected to use in their writing.

Example: before writing newspaper reports about the Battle of Marathon in Ancient Greece, Y5+6 children interviewed each other in role as both Greek and Persian soldiers, so that their writing was more meaningful and had been practised orally beforehand.

Year 6 debated the advantages and disadvantages of having an outside classroom. They were required to swap roles and be able to argue from both sides, use persuasive techniques e.g. facts and stats, emotive language etc.

Written text types Oral text types

Narrative Story-telling

Poetry Performance poetry

Recount Anecdotes

Explanation Explaining

Report Informing

Discussion Debates

Persuasion Arguing a viewpoint

The importance of stimulus• Teachers find or set up interesting and motivating starting points

for writing:First-hand experiences, drama, YouTube clips, DVDs, art, photographs, music, visits ...Children are more committed to writing if there is a purpose and some sort of genuine audience. Examples from this year include:Y3 are presently investigating aspects of their local environment in order to write letters to the Parish Council and local MP.Y4 made pop-up books for Y1, which they will be sharing this term.Y5 created Ancient Greek non-chronological reports for their Class wiki page. Y6 learned the skills of story telling, and retold stories to their peers and Year 5.

VCOPRos Wilson’s nationally recognised and adopted work identifies four key elements, which contribute to the development of the ‘writing voice’ and thereby improve standards in writing.

These key elements, known collectively as VCOP, are:

• Vocabulary• Connectives • Openers• Punctuation

The Four Generic VCOP TargetsVCOP Summary

Vocabulary

Connectives

Openers

Punctuation

The range of ambitious vocabulary a pupil knows: WOW words.

The range of ways pupils have of joining ideas, phrases & sentences.

The strategies pupils have for opening sentences, especially the 3 key openers: connectives, ‘ly’ words & ‘ing’ words = power openers.

The range of punctuation a pupil can use (& the accuracy with which they use it).

Vocabulary - ‘WOW’ Words

What can you do at home?• ‘Magpie’ them (books, magazines, TV, internet

etc)• Introduce children to them (as above!)• Reward them for using them (even if not

always correct!)• Use them - but don’t over use them!

Openers• We particularly focus on 3 sorts of openers:Opening with connectives

Opening with ‘ly’ words

Opening with ‘ing’ words

• These are called POWER OPENERS!

At that moment, …After a while,…At last…Finally…

Greedily stuffing gold into his sack, Jack…Wearily, the old man …

Scanning the horizon, ...Stopping dead in her tracks, ...Treading carefully, ...

Openers• We also encourage the use of other openers:Prepositions

Similes/metaphors

–ed or -en

Using a noun + verb

Using an adjective + noun Use a feeling

Beneath the silvery moon, he …Beyond the towering mountains, lay …

Like a fish, she dived into the icy water.A streamlined fish, she dived into the icy water.

Frightened by the noise, …Frozen to the spot, ...

Cobwebs spanned the corridor.

Delicate snowflakes gently caressed her skin.

Lonely, he skulked off home.

Why are good openers important?Variety! There’s nothing worse than repeating: The…The…Then…Then…

To lead almost automatically into the writing of more complex sentences:Greedily stuffing gold into his sack, Jack failed to see the enormous hand descending towards him.

To Step up the punctuation:The ferocious dog attacked my briefcase as I arrived home.As I arrived home, the ferocious dog attacked my briefcase.

Punctuation actions

Why?

Kinaesthetic approach

Use punctuation actions for the following sentence:

“What was that noise?” whispered Amy.

Y6 partners creating speech sentences

with physical resources

Activity

Stepping up a simple sentence

The mouse ate the cheese.1. ADD an adverb, adjective or simile - or all three!

• The greedy mouse carefully ate the stale cheese.

• The mouse, like a hungry vampire, ate the mouth watering cheese.

Activity

Stepping up a simple sentence

The car drove down the road.1. ADD an adverb, adjective or simile - or all three!

Activity

Stepping up a simple sentence

The mouse ate the cheese.2. CHANGE the noun, verb, or opener.

• The rodent gnawed the cheddar.

• Gnawing hungrily, the rodent devoured the cheddar cheese.

Activity

Stepping up a simple sentence

The car drove down the road.2. CHANGE the noun, verb, or opener.

Activity

Stepping up a simple sentence

The mouse ate the cheese.3. CONNECT - use a connective to give extra information.

• The mouse ate the cheese because it was hungry.

• While it was waiting, the mouse ate the cheese.

Activity

Stepping up a simple sentence

The mouse ate the cheese.

Or do all three: add change and connect!

Like a hungry vampire, the greedy mouse devoured the mouth watering cheese, because he hadn’t eaten for a week!

Extended writing

In addition, there is also a dedicated ‘Let’s Write’ session when children apply their ‘writing voice’ in genres they have studied in the past. This enables children to regularly revisit previous

genres covered.(Fortnightly in Y3-6)

Towards the end of a unit of work (e.g. on persuasive writing) the children will be producing extended

pieces of work in order to apply their ‘writing voice’.

Let’s Write session• A short VCOP activity linked to that day’s Let’s

Write.• Followed by planning time. This is used to refocus the pupils’ thoughts on the

stimulus & text type for writing.• Brain break. • An extended time for writing.• Children enter the classroom with the

environment set up for the Let’s Write session – no talk!

10 minsCheck your punctuation!

20 minsCheck your WOW

words!

40 minsCheck

your targets!

30 minsCheck your Openers

and Connectives.

4545 MINSMINS

 

• We focus our marking on the objective for the lesson.• We also mark progress towards individual targets

(copies of these are in children’s Literacy books: now with one target only, children should move on quickly to the next target once they have demonstrated achievement on three occasions).

• We look for areas to praise and ways to develop (2 Stars and a Wish).

• We would not correct all spelling and punctuation.• We mark together with the children where possible, to enable

discussion about the writing.• Children also mark and assess their own writing (self assessment) in

pairs and individually. This is increasingly developed through KS2.

Year 6Newspaper

Pupil /Peer

Objective Teacher

Headline

Introduction (summing up key event) – main body – current events

Past tense used

Chronological order of events

Quotations

What could I do to improve my newspaper next time?

Letters & Sounds and Support for Spelling in Y3

Spelling

• We teach spelling rules and patterns throughout KS2• Spelling practised via Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check .• Mnemonics (b.e.c.a.u.s.e.)• Use the ‘spelling voice’ to remember tricky words e.g.

Wed-nes-day Feb-ru-ary veg-e-table• At Upper KS2 - personal spellings are identified. Children

incorporate spellings into VCOP based sentences to show understanding.

• Precision spelling technique

Spelling

• Handwriting: the importance of letter formation and joining for fluency – reinforced in all writing activities.

• Please help by praising correct letter formation and joined-up writing at home!

Handwriting

Thank you for your time!

Examples of types of sentences• Simple

• Compound• Complex

The cat sat on the mat. (simple)

The beautiful, elegant princess waltzed gracefully in the ballroom with her handsome prince. (simple)

In the middle of the night, the dog barked loudly for its master. (simple)

Examples of types of sentencesSimple, Compound and Complex cont.

I love bananas but I don’t like apples. (Compound)

I want to be good at football so I practise my skills every day. (Compound)

Cautiously tiptoeing through the gate, the postman pushed the letter through the letterbox. (Complex)

Matthew went outside in a T-shirt although it was cold. (Complex)