Darfield School Curriculum 2011 Contents

ENGLISH

What is English About?

How is English Structured in the New Zealand Curriculum?

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  Making meaning (listening, reading, and viewing),
  
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  Creating meaning (speaking, writing, and presenting).
  

The achievement objectives within each strand suggest the progression of knowledge, skills, and understandings that most students move through, as they become more effective oral, written, and visual communicators.

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  Texts purposes and audiences.
  
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  Ideas within language contexts.
  
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  Language features that enhance texts.
  
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  The structure and organization of texts.
  

English is fundamental to accessing and succeeding in other areas and is prioritised in our curriculum.

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  Teachers will explicitly teach the necessary skills for students to develop independence
  
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  in effective communication.
  
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  Integration across the curriculum will provide the genre and context for learning, when appropriate.
  
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  English programmes will be increasingly sophisticated and challenging, building on prior learning.
  
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  Teachers will provide opportunities to practice, consolidate and extend all learners on a daily basis.
  

Agreed values for literacy learning:

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  Provide quality reading experiences, including reading to, with and by.
  
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  Model and share examples of best literacy practice.
  
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  Write using a range of forms, working towards an end product of quality.
  
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  Immerse in rich language experiences within a positive learning environment.
  
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  Value each child as an individual.
  
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  Provide opportunities for rich oral language experiences.
  
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  Differentiate learning programmes.
  
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  Engage and motivate students through authentic contexts that allow them to make connections to other learning areas and life situations.
  
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  Equip students with life skills in order to effectively communicate.
  
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  Ensure students are active in their learning through knowing what they are learning and the purpose of the learning.
  
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  Provide quality literacy experiences that build rich vocabulary and assist understanding of new concepts.
  

Principles of best classroom practice:

Teachers will:

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  Provide an environment that is rich in text
  
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  Plan for teaching that builds on accurate understanding of student needs used to support deliberate acts of teaching.
  
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  Expect that all children will succeed as readers and writers, including those with special needs and special abilities.
  
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  Develop positive attitudes to reading and writing, including the willingness to take risks.
  
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  Take into account the children’s existing knowledge, interests, linguistic and cultural backgrounds and build school and community partnerships.
  
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  Use a range of explicit and implicit instructional strategies, appropriate to the learner and differentiate where appropriate.
  
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  Participate in relevant professional development to enhance learning outcomes
  
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  Have a sound knowledge of the learning process that underpins all teaching
  
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  Monitor students regularly to inform subsequent teaching.
  
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  Reflect on their literacy practice
  
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  Access a wide range of interesting material, fiction and non-fiction, in a range of media and appropriate to the children’s print and phonological awareness.
  
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  Acknowledge the interrelationship and reciprocity of oral, written and visual language.
  
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  Incorporate ICT tools and thinking skills to enhance teaching programmes and learning outcomes
  

We believe that:

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  The library is crucially important in supporting literacy and fostering a love of learning through its ongoing provision of up to date and varied books.
  
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  The library is a physical learning environment where access to information is well-managed and supported.
  
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  The library is an integral component and natural extension of classroom programmes.
  

The library will play a central role in the development of information literacy skills.

The New Zealand Curriculum Document will be used as a key resource for planning to ensure balanced and increasingly sophisticated and challenging English programmes are developed.

Planning formats will include the following information:

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  English strand
  
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  Achievement Objectives
  
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  Differentiated teaching and grouping information
  
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  Specific learning intentions,
  
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  Learning experiences, skills, techniques contexts and dates
  
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  Authentic assessment (formative and/or summative)
  
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  Resources and materials required
  
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  ICT tools and Thinking skills where appropriate
  
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  Links to experiences and other Curriculum areas
  
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  Key Competencies and Thinking Skills
  
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  Opportunities for self/peer/assessment and reflection.
  

Resources such as:

Literacy Learning Progressions

Lighting The Literacy Fire – Jill Eggleton,

MoE Exemplars

Malvern School Writing Exemplars

Handbooks - Learning Through Talk, Effective Literacy Practice,

TKI, English online and various Websites are used to support teachers in the planning and implementation of their English programmes.

This document ensures school-wide coverage of both strands. It requires teachers to include a particular mode as an achievement objective within a particular term. However all modes are ongoing throughout the year and are naturally integrated into many different aspects of planning.

Year 0

Personal Experience

Recount

Descriptions

How do we Assess and Report English?

“The primary purpose of assessment is to improve students’ learning and teachers’ teaching as both student and teacher respond to the information that it provides.”

The New Zealand Curriculum

Ministry of Education (2007), p.39

Assessment and reporting at Darfield Primary School is used to ensure that each child’s specific learning needs in English are progressively achieved.

Assessment information will guide the grouping of students and the development of specific, needs based, learning intentions.

Assessment is ongoing and will take these forms:

1. Formative: ongoing systematic feedback to inform future learning. This includes children increasingly monitoring their own learning through reflection.

2. Summative: formal feedback for collation of school wide data to analyse trends and set goals.

Assessment will be planned to provide evidence for next step learning and accurate information for reporting progress and achievement. The types of assessment used will be varied, appropriate to the purpose and provide meaningful information that will direct future teaching. Types of assessment could include pre- and post-tests, observation, students’ own recording, discussion, peer and self-assessment. Assessment results will be kept in teacher records, students’ individual files, learning folders and electronically.

Assessment will involve the following school wide practices:
Reading

Teachers will maintain consistent practices across the school as outlined in Ministry of Education, Using Running Records. It is recommended that classroom teachers administer assessment tools. Both Fiction and Non-fiction selections will be used for fluent readers.

Refer to school wide goals and targets. We are using AsTTle as a monitoring tool to determine students’ achievement levels and next step learning.
Teachers will collate their own students’ results considering the following: Use of M V S, Self-correction technique, Retelling, Comprehension, Prediction, Inference, Vocabulary, Expression, and Fluency.
Reading results will be entered into the student management system (Musac) in Terms 1 and 4 for school wide data collection, and also on the students’ individual portfolios.
Student Progression

Prior to child moving to the next reading level the child should have demonstrated:

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  90- 94% accuracy
  

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  Accurate retelling using OTJ.
  
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  Fluent expressive reading
  
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  75% comprehension including inferential questions.
  

Determining Level of Achievement

For summative (formal) assessment purposes and school wide records, a seen text will be used with the children. Teachers will bring together a range of evidence in order to form an overall teacher judgement. (O.T.J)

Definitions of Broad Categorisations of Student Achievement

Students	Reading Level according to National Standards
After one year at school	Green level
After two years at school	Turquoise
After three years at school	Gold
At the end of Year 4	8.5 – 9.5
At the end of Year 5	10 - 12
At the end of Year 6	10 – 12 (Refer to standards for details)

, Definitions of Broad Categorisations of Student Achievement

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  At risk - two years or more below their chronological age
  
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  Of Concern- one year below their chronological age.
  
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  Achieving at appropriate level - reading within one year of chronological age.
  
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  Achievement above expectation - reading two years or more above chronological age.
  

Writing

Students will be formally assessed against the Malvern Exemplars (based on the National Exemplars) twice a year in terms one and four.

Staff meetings will be held to moderate writing samples throughout the year. These will be moderated against Ministry Indicators and Exemplars and Malvern Schools Writing Exemplars. Writing samples will be included in the Students’ Files after they have been moderated.

Spelling

Spelling is a technical skill used to communicate clearly where students rely on both their visual memory of a word and their phonological processing skills. All students will be encouraged to be self-monitoring spellers.

Students will be provided with teaching or reinforcement of phonemic awareness, knowledge of the relationships between sounds and spelling patterns, how words are constructed, common rules and conventions, strategies for proof-reading/self monitoring and spelling unfamiliar words and strategies to help them memorise words visually.
Students will be taught dictionary skills and encouraged to make independent use of the word lists, dictionaries and thesauruses when proofreading.
At the end of the year, students will be tested on the Peters Spelling Test.

Handwriting

We believe that each child should write legibly, fluently and with sufficient speed for all practical purposes.

We do this through:

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  Regular practice
  
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  Teacher role model
  
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  Following the NZ Guidelines as outlined for example in Teaching Handwriting, regarding correct letter formation, space, size, slope, joining ligatures and line usage.
  
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  Regular monitoring and teacher reinforcement
  

Progression

New Entrants – Year 3	Pencil	Focus on correct pencil grip, letter formation, size, slope, ligatures (flick), speed, and legibility – initially lowercase then upper case.
Year 4 - 6	Pencil/Pen	Focus on correct letter formation, size, slope, cursive style, fluency, speed, legibility, and ligatures.

Reporting

Assessment data is used for school-wide analysis of trends and setting strategic targets. This data forms the basis of reporting to parents, Board of Trustees and MoE.

Reporting to Parents
Teachers report to parents on the current level related to the New Zealand National Standards, the child’s attitude to English, the skills that they have mastered, their next learning steps and how parents can help at home.
Parent Interviews are held during Terms 1 and 2. Written reports are issued twice a year (at the end of Terms 2 and 4) supported by Sample Folders.


Literacy Assessment Plan

Time Frame

Class Level	Beginning of the year	Ongoing	End of Year
Year 0 - 3	Running records Alphabet knowledge(name & sound) High Frequency word knowledge Writing sample/s Handwriting sample STAR A(Year 3 only) Anecdotal notes (oral language) Spell Write (yr 2-3) Smart words (when applicable)	Observation Survey Running records colour wheel – one per month Off colour wheel – at least one per term Alphabet and basic word knowledge – once a term Writing samples Handwriting samples	Running records Alphabet knowledge(name & sound) High Frequency word knowledge Writing sample/s Handwriting sample STAR B(Year 3 only) Anecdotal notes (oral language) Peters Spelling test
Year 4 - 6	Running records Writing sample/s Handwriting sample STAR A Asttle Spellwrite Smart words	Running records colour wheel – one per month Off colour wheel – at least one per term for those at risk. 2 years above chronological age – monitor as appropriate. Writing samples. Handwriting samples	Running records where appropriate Writing sample/s Handwriting sample STAR B Asttle Peters

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