Writing Across the Curriculum At Literacy Tree we are always weaving opportunities into our Planning Sequences to write for a range of purposes and audiences with links to multiple curriculum areas. While our text choices are organised…
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We are often asked how to support children to be independent writers, especially as moderation and end-of-year assessments loom. The concept of supporting children towards independence could sound like a contradiction-in-terms, but it is a concept that underpins all our…
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Every resource we write, that forms part of the Literary Curriculum, uses the book as the main driver for any writing that takes place within the sequence. Each sequence journeys through the text and we ensure the writing outcomes match…
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There are many parallels between Christmas and a planning sequence: there’s a theme; there’s an engaging starting point just as there might be with the arrival of an elf or the appearance of the family box of Christmas decorations and…
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At the Literacy Tree, we are always on a quest to find new books – either modern or classics - which will make great teaching texts. The Literary Curriculum, our overview of books from reception to year 6, certainly has…
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The new academic year has begun and one of our most important priorities as educators is to hear each child in our class read. We need to quickly get a sense of how fluently a child can decode a text…
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Children’s writing has been affected in several detrimental ways over the past year, especially those children that have not had access to a laptop or consistent support at home. From our consultancy visits in schools and talking to teachers from…
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The topic of catch up and recovery is very much on our minds at the moment. We believe that for all children, we need to create points from which they can begin to regroup as learners, both within themselves as…
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Many schools are really refining their online provision this term during lockdown and teachers are developing their internet-honed, tech-savvy pedagogical prowess. And, if the teaching of spelling has slipped down a notch or two on the priority list, now be…
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Since children have returned to school, we’ve had our ears to the ground, listening for the things that teachers are telling us about the transition from home schooling back into the classroom. One of the things we’ve heard again and…
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When it is safe for most children to return to school, we know we won’t be able to pick up where we left off. Things have changed. Schools won’t straight away look, or feel, or be the places they once were. Children won’t be…
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We’ve grown into our home school approach over the last few weeks. Like wearing a pair of shoes that we didn’t choose, they’ve now worn in and we’ve found a way to walk in them. And do you know what?…
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When schools closed back in March, most children would have come home with a reading book that they wouldn’t have been able to change for sometime. Although some schools have arranged swaps since and some schools sent home more than…
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We talk at length about promoting this in school and since the tables were turned 6 weeks ago we’ve had a chance to really see how we can ensure there’s time for establishing a reading culture at home. I’ll actually…
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This blog follows on from our previous which suggests some effective ways to approach the home teaching of English, namely using a quality book – whether fiction, non-fiction or poetry - as the springboard into learning. So, you are sitting…
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‘Unprecedented’ is certainly the word of the moment. All of a sudden, the country has been thrown into turmoil and we’ve all had to find ways to adapt. And while the global pandemic may have sparked a loo roll crisis, for most…
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