Literacy in a mixed age class...

Hello! Wonder if anyone has any advice. I have been teaching one term so
far in a small primary school and have a Year 5/6 class.

I am pleased with the structure of the national numeracy strategy as
Year 5 and 6 runs side by side, thus making it reasonably easy to plan.

However, no one I have so far met has been able to explain how to
implement the literacy strategy taking into account the different
objectives in Year 5 and 6. At the moment i am teaching the word and
sentence level work separately, while all the text level work is done on
a two year rolling program.

I have heard of some teachers doing a separate literacy lesson with the
Year 5s and then the year 6s, teachers giving the first two 15 minutes
for one year group to a classroom assistant to teach etc... and wonder
what others' experiences are.

I would be very grateful to hear opinions on this and perhaps correspond
with others for advice.

Andrew

Reply 1

Unregistered

In article <[email protected]>,
Andrew Stott <[email protected]> wrote:
[q1]> However, no one I have so far met has been able to explain how to[/q1]
[q1]> implement the literacy strategy taking into account the different[/q1]
[q1]> objectives in Year 5 and 6. At the moment i am teaching the word and[/q1]
[q1]> sentence level work separately, while all the text level work is done[/q1]
[q1]> on a two year rolling program.[/q1]

Doesn't your LEA employ literacy consultants?

Isn't there a literacy coordinator in your achool?

We have two year plans provided for mixed age classes

You can find them on
www.cleo.ucsm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/frameset?url=resources_and_features/

hth

--
Gertie.

Award-winning bog cleaner, agony aunt and now Latin scholar. Veni, vidi,
Vim (I came, I saw, I cleaned)

Reply 2

Unregistered

On Sun, 06 Jan 2002 14:40:36 +0100, "Andrew Stott" <[email protected]>
put down the duster and picked up the mouse:

[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]>Hello! Wonder if anyone has any advice. I have been teaching one term[/q1]
[q1]>so far in a small primary school and have a Year 5/6 class.[/q1]

snip

I have a Yr. 3/4 class this year.

I was told to just do the Yr. 4 work as the Yr. 3 work was done last
year. Some of the Yr. 3s are brighter than the Yr. 4s. The slowest do
ALS as well.

I don't think inspectors would approve, but hopefully this class will be
back as a single year by our next inspection.
--
Sheila D (Remove e to email.) http://www.schoolbanners.f2s.com
http://clik.to/schoolassemblies http://clik.to/ChurchSchoolsWebring
http://clik.to/sitesforchildren

Reply 3

Unregistered

On Sun, 06 Jan 2002 15:08:51 +0000 (GMT), "gertie@grumbles"
<[email protected]> put down the duster and picked up
the mouse:

snip

[q1]>We have two year plans provided for mixed age classes[/q1]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]>You can find them on[/q1]
[q1]>www.cleo.ucsm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/frameset?url=resources_and_features/[/q1]

Is the url correct? I couldn't get through.
--
Sheila D (Remove e to email.) http://www.schoolbanners.f2s.com
http://clik.to/schoolassemblies http://clik.to/ChurchSchoolsWebring
http://clik.to/sitesforchildren

Reply 4

Unregistered

In article <[email protected]>, Sheila :-D
<[email protected]> wrote:
[q1]> On Sun, 06 Jan 2002 15:08:51 +0000 (GMT), "gertie@grumbles"[/q1]
[q1]> <[email protected]> put down the duster and picked up[/q1]
[q1]> the mouse:[/q1]

[q1]> snip[/q1]

[q2]> >We have two year plans provided for mixed age classes[/q2]
[q2]> >[/q2]
[q2]> >You can find them on[/q2]
[q2]> >www.cleo.ucsm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/frameset?url=resources_and_features/[/q2]

[q1]> Is the url correct? I couldn't get through.[/q1]

Hmmmmm - neither could I....

try www.cleo.ucsm.ac.uk then follow links ....

teachers/english/resourcesandfeatures then look down the list of links
for Mixed Age Medium-term plans for KS2 (html or Word format)

This term's are not as good as last term's - which were divided into two
week blocks of work, but over the two years, all objectives for both
years are covered.

--
Gertie.

Award-winning bog cleaner, agony aunt and now Latin scholar. Veni, vidi,
Vim (I came, I saw, I cleaned)

Reply 5

Unregistered

In article <[email protected]>, "gertie@grumbles"
<[email protected]> writes:

[q2]>> However, no one I have so far met has been able to explain how to[/q2]
[q2]>> implement the literacy strategy taking into account the different[/q2]
[q2]>> objectives in Year 5 and 6. At the moment i am teaching the word and[/q2]
[q2]>> sentence level work separately, while all the text level work is done[/q2]
[q2]>> on a two year rolling program.[/q2]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]>Doesn't your LEA employ literacy consultants?[/q1]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]>Isn't there a literacy coordinator in your achool?[/q1]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]>We have two year plans provided for mixed age classes[/q1]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]>You can find them on[/q1]
[q1]>www.cleo.ucsm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/frameset?url=resources_and_features/[/q1]
[q1]>[/q1]

We stream by ability, so each teacher takes a level with mixed age more
or less at the same ability level. Wish I could help!

----------------------------------------------------
Sandi

Remove NoSpam to reply.

Reply 6

Unregistered

I think that this is a really difficult issue. Obviously, when planning
the numeracy strategy, they learnt from the NLS i.e. having similar
topics running parallel to one another.

This year, our split 3/4 classes have had a 'floating' third teacher for
some of the time, which has enabled them to do most of their literacy
hours in year group sets. However, this is unusual .

Last year, with my 3/4 class, I'm afraid I followed the 4 work,
differentiating as you would normally do within the class, both in
shared and individual work.

As Sheila says, it probably wouldn't be hugely praised by OFSTED, but on
the other hand, if the lessons are well tailored, with good
differentiation, then perhaps that may be OK. The difficulty arises with
where the kids will go next year. Will they stay as a group? If so at
some point, the younger ones will face 2 years of Y6 work. This is where
your long term planning is important.

However, teaching 2 separate inputs is a terrible idea,
benefiting nobody.

Sarah :-} Sheila :-D <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
[q1]> On Sun, 06 Jan 2002 14:40:36 +0100, "Andrew Stott" <[email protected]>[/q1]
[q1]> put down the duster and picked up the mouse:[/q1]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q2]> >[/q2]
[q2]> >[/q2]
[q2]> >Hello! Wonder if anyone has any advice. I have been teaching one term[/q2]
[q2]> >so far in[/q2]
a
[q2]> >small primary school and have a Year 5/6 class.[/q2]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]> snip[/q1]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]> I have a Yr. 3/4 class this year.[/q1]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]> I was told to just do the Yr. 4 work as the Yr. 3 work was done last[/q1]
[q1]> year. Some of the Yr. 3s are brighter than the Yr. 4s. The slowest do[/q1]
[q1]> ALS as well.[/q1]
[q1]>[/q1]
[q1]> I don't think inspectors would approve, but hopefully this class will[/q1]
[q1]> be back as a single year by our next inspection.[/q1]
[q1]> --[/q1]
[q1]> Sheila D (Remove e to email.) http://www.schoolbanners.f2s.com[/q1]
[q1]> http://clik.to/schoolassemblies http://clik.to/ChurchSchoolsWebring[/q1]
[q1]> http://clik.to/sitesforchildren[/q1]

Reply 7

Unregistered

In article <[email protected]>, Sarah Gibson
<[email protected]> wrote:
[q1]> If so at some point, the younger ones will face 2 years of Y6 work.[/q1]
[q1]> This is where your long term planning is important.[/q1]

and this is the year when work may be all but suspended for booster
work etc....

--
Gertie.

Award-winning bog cleaner, agony aunt and now Latin scholar. Veni, vidi,
Vim (I came, I saw, I cleaned)