Literacy
Literacy News
2009
June
Watch out, children! Your teachers have been talking about how we can help YOU to talk even more – yes, we know we often tell you to stop talking and listen! What we would love is to hear you telling your friends and talking partners your stories, and helping them to learn.
(The secret is … we think you might be better teachers than we are … but, please don’t tell everyone!).
May
Y6 had a fun week during SATs, and lots of them said they’d like to do the week again. EVERYONE tried their very best – and all of the staff who have worked with them over the years are VERY proud of them. (I’ll stop now before I cry and frizzle the keyboard!).
Y1 sent a fantastic card to Floppy to celebrate his birthday with lovely messages to him from the children and Miss Thompson. We know he will love it because bones were mentioned lots of times.
March 09 - Book Week!
Everyone from Reception to Y5 went to W H Smith in World Book Week and chose a free book – and the Manager told us that no other school had done that! Some classes dropped in at the library on the way back, and so that Y6 didn’t feel left out they were the first class to visit our amazing Book
February – writing gymnastics for Y1
Mrs Tavoulari, our esteemed extremely special helper, is now coming in on Monday as well as Friday. She is working with some of the children in Y1 to help them strengthen their shoulders and flex their fingers so that they become the world’s best writers. After half-term, Mrs Seales, Mrs Carroll and Ms K thought they’d join in as well because it seems like such a good idea. Y1 are the first children to be experimented on – I mean, worked with!
Did you know that you can get pens that light up if you apply exactly the right sort of pressure?
New lending library books:
Saima, Y3, and Adiba, Y6, are going to interview some children for their views on their favourite books, and put them on our School Channel.
Dean M, Y5, and brother, Joe, Y1, are the school’s Reading Champions – they’ve got badges to prove it. Congratulations!
January – the Lending Library takes off!
Mia, our founding member from Y3, has led the way, and now 60 plus children in KS2 have joined. You have to read the rules – they involve care of books and not letting them near water or small children – and sign up. You then get the chance to change your books at lunchtime or after school.
Most popular books so far:
Jack Stalwart
Horrible Geography
Flower Fairies – all five million of them!
Spotters Guides
2008
December – yes, she’s still there!
Alecia from Y1 summed it up when she said to Ms K. who was standing by the KS1 reading books,
“Are you still here? That’s a big job you’re doing. Can I help you?” Tears came into Ms K’s eyes!
Book Banding: it’s a way of organising the books in our school so that we can read lots of different types of books within a particular colour band – not just Oxford Reading Tree – that won’t be too hard or too easy for us. It also means that Ms K can order lots of new books for us so that we’ve got a great range of books, both to take home and to read with our teachers in Guided Reading.
(If you find a skeleton after the Christmas holidays Ms Kysow asks that you stick it in the gold box – she likes the books there and feels it is a Christmassy colour!).
November … Mr Howe, secret agent
He begins his work. Secretly, when the rest of us have gone home, with a hammer here and a shelf there, he begins to assemble what future generations will know as the Marine Park Libraries. (Eat your heart out Dr Who – obviously only after you’ve vanquished the Vashta Nerada, please Doc!).
He has finished the shelves for the Guided Reading books – handy, because that’s the focus for monitoring week this month. There are some new and fab books. The Read Inc books are popular with Y2, Miss Farnsworth reports, and Y3 are enjoying the Winnie the Witch series.
October… and they begin to arrive!
Following the water-damage to lots of our books over the summer holidays – roof being re-felted, torrential rain, leaks, soggy carpets, soggy rooms, very soggy books, tears, soggy tears, soggy phone calls to publishers, cutting-edge deals! – mysterious parcels start to arrive at school. No, they aren’t the new consignment of paper towels! They are the most exciting objects that can ever come through any door: within them are contained both undiscovered and familiar worlds – they are BOOKS!
September and the BIG
Sh! It’s started!