Sunday 28 February 2016

Literacy Lift Off

Hello everyone,
For the past 7 weeks, we have been working hard on our Literacy Lift Off programme with Mrs Burke, Mrs McTeague and Pauline.
"Literacy Lift-Off”, also known as “Power-Hour” is an intensive programme of Reading and Writing, which gives the pupils lots of opportunities to read books at their own level of competency. It gradually lifts the complexity of what they can do in both reading and writing by equipping them with the necessary problem-solving skills. Pupils on the programme would typically be expected to progress at the rate of one level per week.
The aim of Literacy Lift-Off is to make pupils constructive learners. It teaches them ‘how’ to problem-solve independently.

We work at 6 different stations- 

  • Familiar reading- the boys enjoy previously seen PM+ readers to develop fluency, comprehension, speed and enjoyment.
  • Word Work-  using magnetic letters on the whiteboard to make/break words to show the boys how words work so they can make fast visual analysis in their reading.
  • Writing- the boys write sentences based on their own experiences using familiar words from their books. This develops their ability to write their own sentences and messages by hearing and recording sounds in words, using analogy and hearing unusual words.
  • New book- encountering new texts daily challenges the boys to discover new ways to go beyond their current operating ability and lift their literacy processing.
  • Listening station- the pupils listen to a variety of audio stories  to develop their listening skills and imaginative use of words.
  • Independent station- the boys are asked to put together a large two or three syllable word and break it down into a number of smaller words.
Have a look at some of the pictures from our class....






Tuesday 9 February 2016

February 2016

Hi everyone and welcome back to our blog. This month we have been very busy with Aistear, Literacy Lift Off and Pancake Tuesday! We are now into week 5 of our Literacy Lift Off programme and we are all really enjoying it.
During our Aistear time we have been exploring the themes of the Construction Site and the Doctor's Surgery. Take a look at some of the pictures!

Small world
Lego construction area


Role play area- doctor's surgery

Large construction area


            Art and craft area


We also sampled some pancakes on Pancake Tuesday, they were delicious!