Differentiation in Writing

Gemma Gardiner
Waikato University
Frimley School - staffroom
Monday 4 September 2017

Main points:

Gemma was really interesting as she took us through the different building blocks for teaching children vocabulary, sentence structure and spelling.

• Verbs
• Adjectives
• Participles
• Complex sentences
• Compound sentences

Although a lot of this was pitched at students from a higher level, I found the teaching points a great goal to work with.  With the above areas, I aim to incorporate verbs first.  Making vocabulary charts and displaying them around the walls will be the first thing to go up!  The key will be in referring to these often and starting with an oral language focus first.  The children must be feeling confident to speak these new words and hear them with understanding before committing them to paper!

A focus on verbs before adjectives helps to make the sentences 'pop' more so than lists of adjectives.  This is also supported by the idea of meta-language and the different vocabulary and sentence structure sets on PACt.

Another school wide focus to ponder is the kids speak matrix and a shared language across the school.

New phonics focus for me is teaching the children the different between consonants and vowels and sharing with the children how vowels can make long and short sounds.  I have found display posters to show the difference between these long and short vowel sounds.  This teaching point is also supported by Quick 60 which begins teaching vowel rules such as; 'policeman e.'  Take, Face, Make

Gemma supported what Heretaunga Ararau has been focusing on - oral language and the importance of front-loading vocabulary.  AGAIN, children can't read and write what they don't hear or say.  Vocabulary needs to be unpacked and explained.  Using books such as, Giraffes Can't Dance, is an important tool.  I believe that Lucie does this well and she shared examples of this throughout the year with her Fairy Tales, for example.  I need to sometimes take a step back from Big Books and add in more substantial book study on other picture books also.

Gemma continued to endorse oral language by speaking about the importance of song in the classroom.  I need to incorporate more nursery rhymes, especially at the start of the year when children are slightly younger and transitioning from ECE centres.

QUANDRY
Gemma spoke about the importance of front-loading a given topic for accelerated progress.  How does this fit with children having their own choice of writing subjects?  Especially at 5 years old?  How can this be balanced in a writing programme and supported in a play-based learning programme?

Gemma shared a folder full of great resources:  Shared writing folder

Next steps:

• Vowel and consonant extension - support in writing and teach explicitly during phonics.
• Verb wall/word lists - unpacked and explained.
• 2018, all Ararau teachers showing evidence of how they front-load vocabulary in the classroom.
• Continue with Oral Language TAI focus for my teaching in 2018.