Writing and Spelling at Newhall Juniors.

The Write Stuff.

Our writing lessons use an approach called ‘The Write Stuff’ created by Jane Considine who is: ‘an Education Consultant who energises and inspires thousands of teachers every year, helping them to transform the teaching of writing in the primary education phase. Jane’s research informed and evidence based systems provide structures for success, enabling teachers to deliver outstanding results.’

Children will take part in experience lessons, where we bring their learning to life. Whether the classroom has been transformed into a setting or they taking on roles as characters from their text, it gives the children a real life experience, one which can help them with their writing. They will then take part in sentence stacking lessons, using rich vocabulary and important features in their writing. The children thrive here as they have the chance for their sentences to feature on the class ‘sentence stacking wall’. Along with looking at how characters feel, how the story can take us on an emotional rollercoaster and how to use vocabulary effectively, children will build up to creating their own fiction piece.

We will also use The Write Stuff for non-fiction, planning our own units in The Write Stuff style and using some of Jane’s fantastic units too. Children will write a range of styles from newspaper reports, recounts and persuasive writing during their time at Newhall Juniors. They will have 1 hour of Writing per day and will cover a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry throughout the year.

Spelling.

Spelling in school looks as follows:

• One 20 minute slot for their spelling test. This includes marking the test, entering their score into their red reading diary and sticking their new spellings in.
• A spelling blast where their spellings are practised as soon as they enter the classroom in a morning.

Spellings are sent home weekly which includes their stage, the list number and the the pattern or rule displayed to aid understanding of what they are learning. Your child may need to complete spellings from a Stage (year) below their current one. This is from evidence from an initial test that there are gaps in their spelling knowledge. We strive to help close them by giving them the spellings they need.

All of their lists are on Spelling Shed. They simply need to select their stage and then the list number. Please note that the lists will not be taught in order. This is due to particular patterns/rules being taught in preparation for their Grammar, punctuation and spelling assessments. Therefore, list numbers could be completely random from week to week.

Spelling Shed at home.

Children are encouraged to access Spelling Shed at least 4 times a week at home. All children have their Spelling Shed personal login in their reading diary. They will be able to access their spellings for the week and take part in games. Then, once a week, during their rewards assembly, the top three children from their class will be awarded a certificate as well as being rewarded with prizes for their avatar on Spelling Shed. We hope to build a sense of competition between the classes and year groups to win each week too.

Spelling Tests.

Please see below for the day that each year group will complete spelling tests.

• Year 3 - Monday
• Year 4 - Tuesday
• Year 5 - Wednesday
• Year 6 - Friday