buckinghamshire county council improving schools programme year six practitioners network meeting...

Buckinghamshire County Council

Improving Schools Programme

Year Six Practitioners Network Meeting

November 2010

Cathy Tracy and Sarah Leonard


Outline of the morning

• The role of the Year Six teacher in the ISP school• Making Year Six manageable• Tackling Year Six mathematics• Tackling Year Six literacy

• Throughout the morning – your questions answered, good ideas shared and links established with other practitioners


Your role in ISP

• ISP results reflect the hard work of schools - +9% combined English and mathematics 2010

• Quick-fix vs. long-term sustainability – why Year Six continues to play a pivotal role whilst the attainment gap is closed

• Effective liaison with one-to-one tutors


Making Year Six Manageable

• Networking with others• Making the most of available resources, and sharing

ideas about these• Focusing on good teaching practice• Support from other colleagues – moderation, liaison with

subject leaders and the SENCO, additional support from TAs

• Engaging pupils in marking, assessment and focusing on their own progress

• Using your ISP consultant


Supporting Year Six Mathematics

• Assessing pupils and identifying areas of strength and aspects for development– Year 6 mathematics diagnostic tool

• Developing mental mathematics • Overcoming barriers materials• Securing Level materials• Pitch and Expectations materials• Effective use of TestBase


Assessment of strengths and areas for development

• The Four Number Operations• How I do my calculations• Use of the number line

• SATs analysis• Level 3 or Level 4?• http://webfronter.com/bexley/primary/menu/mnu1.shtml• Securing Level 4 assessment checklists


Data Handling

Shape, Space,Measure

Number & Calculation

MATHEMATICS


Mental Mathematics

• Crucial!• Not just testing – but pupils do need some experience of

test conditions• “new” materials – Teaching children to calculate

mentally

http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/

428061• Scaffolding• Topic focus


Supporting materials

• Overcoming Barriers - Level 3-4, Level 4-5• Securing Level 4, Level 5• Steps to success

• Pitch & Expectation (use the search box on the Primary Maths Framework)

• Testbase


But..........

• Tricky SATs type questions, unusual context– Don’t panic!– What do I know?– annotate

• So.........• Using and applying• Doing and undoing


a

Find the mean, median and the range of this data set:

12, 7, 4, 5, 10, 4


b

Which numbers?

Find five numbers that have a mean of 5, a median of 4 and a range of 7


Discussion

• Who worked cognitively harder, the doer (A) or the undoer (B)?

• Why?


Finally........

• What do the children think?

• Have some fun!


Coffee

Networking and any questions


Supporting Year Six Literacy

• Developing writing – planning for the autumn and spring terms

• Tackling the different genres of writing• Some writing ‘quick fixes’• Understanding the teaching of grammar and language in

writing• The Year 6 revision units and linked materials• Aiming for Level 5


Supporting Year Six Literacy

• Diagnosing reading strengths and areas for development

• Dealing with decoding issues• Developing reading strategies and skills• Tackling a range of reading materials• Use of past SATs papers to support guided and shared

reading• Strategies to help pupils interpret SATs questions• The Year Six Revision units and how they might be

used


Planning for writing• Covering the genres of writing

– Fiction (any genre will do) including writing sections of– Plays – but think scripts for television / radio– Recount writing – to include diaries and newspaper

articles– Reports – a cross curricular approach– Instructions – focus on content and language features– Explanations – think generic tasks– Biographies and autobiographies – cross curricular– Persuasive (including arguments)


Planning for writing

• Formal and informal styles of writing• Letters


Planning for writing

• Skills statement sort activity: in which genres do the elements outlined make most sense?

• It’s key to the children that the elements being taught are obvious to the genre being covered. Once the skill has been learnt, model how to use and apply in different circumstances.

• Meaningful learning will stick• Developing the ‘big picture’ plan for the first half of the

year• Finely tuned, personalised learning towards Easter


Tackling the different writing genres

• Read – making it interesting, relevant and providing opportunities to compare and contrast as well as thinking about how to record pupils’ ideas



• Identify the features - make the pupils do this– F (features)– L (language features)– A (audience)– P (purpose)


Tackling the different writing genres• Plan, including opening and closing lines – don’t forget

to model this– use of the Sue Palmer diagrams which can also be

displayed and learnt as part of ‘FLAP’



• Write – model, share, scaffold, break down• Write – consolidate skills in an extended piece and

using cross curricular writing opportunities


The literacy mental / oral starter

• Quick FLAP

• Quick PLAN

• Quick WRITE

• Connectives classification games

• Hold a connective marriage

• Developing verb phrases

• Developing complex sentences

• Consolidating punctuation – punctuation cricket/ rounders

• Dr. Who


A quick note on spelling

• Think about the focus for spelling work – teach the rules not just the words

• Word walls or individual spelling lists are vital for tackling spelling blind spots

• The VAK approach to spelling• Relentless tackling of high and medium frequency words

– a possible aspect of mental / oral starters


Venn diagram analysis of writing


References

• Grammar for Writing– http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/153924

• Support for Writing – Text Types– http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/search/results/

%22text%20types%22

• Teachers’ TV– http://www.teachers.tv/videos/great-primary-lesson-ideas-

writing-activities/download


Developing Reading

• Approximate breakdown of marks awarded:– AF1 – use a range of strategies, including accurate

decoding of the text, to read for meaning: all– AF2 – understand, describe, select or retrieve

information, events or ideas from texts and use quotations and reference to the text: about 20%

– AF3 – deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts: about 50%

– AF4 – identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts including grammatical and presentational features at text level: up to 20%


Developing reading

• AF5 - Explain and comment on the writers’ use of language, including grammatical and literary features, at word and sentence level: 5 – 10%

• AF6 – Identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints, and the overall effect of the text on the reader: 5 – 10%

• AF7 – Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts and literary traditions: up to 5%


Venn diagram analysis of reading


Exploring marking – the read/write link

• AF4 – identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts including grammatical and presentational features at text level: up to 20%

• Many children can pick out the most obvious structural features in a text e.g. a diary has the time / splits into days. However, far fewer can identify stylistic and grammatical features.

• Keep ‘FLAPPING’!


The three-pronged approach to AF3

• 2005 SATs paper• Question 23 – What did Bob find out about the

horses from their tracks? (1 mark)• The most common answers children gave were about

the tracks



• It was a small herd

• He could identify several of the horses

• A herd didn’t travel in a straight line

• They had a territory

• They were three days old

• He found out which way they were heading

• He knew the horses would come to that river to drink every day

• That the horses were not more than a day or two away

• That mustangs never go too far from the water



It was a small herd• He could identify several of the horses (not all horses)

• A herd didn’t travel in a straight line (already knows)

• They had a territory (already knows)

• They were three days old (refers to tracks not horses)

He found out which way they were heading• He knew the horses would come to that river to drink every

day (already knows)

That the horses were not more than a day or two away• That mustangs never go too far from the water (already knows)


Exploring presentational features

• AF5 - Explain and comment on the writers’ use of language, including grammatical and literary features, at word and sentence level: 5 – 10%

• Why are brackets used?– 2005 – LGV (Large Good Vehicles)– 2004 – Bogger Bennett (otherwise known as Bully

Bogger)


Exploring presentational features• AF5 - Explain and comment on the writers’ use of language, including

grammatical and literary features, at word and sentence level: 5 – 10%

• Explain why the ellipsis has been used.– 2005 – He thought about the time when he brought in his first herd

of mustangs...One day several of the cowboys had gone out to capture a herd.

– 2005 – Early the next morning he had ridden out alone...Three weeks later the cowboys had been sitting outside the ranch one evening.

– 2003 – We produce explosions and the thud...thud...thud of a heartbeat

– 2003 – And they always triumph...in the end


Tackling reading

• Guided reading – the single most powerful way of improving writing skills because it is focused and personalised. Don’t forget the strategy check and to ensure there is a clear focus on questioning and to consider which groups you see.

• Shared reading – something challenging which you can approach together

• Quick read as part of your mental / oral starters


Tackling reading

• Recording responses to reading• Keeping you eyes open for exciting texts presented in

less conventional ways• Individual support for pupils struggling to decode• Allocating time for a reading revision unit which includes

poetry• Ensuring that any focus on reading maintains a link with

writing


Year Six Revision Units

• Current revision units are outlined at:– http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/search/results/

%22Year%206%20literacy%20revision%20units%22

• Previous blocks to be uploaded onto the ISP network site. They cover a range of revision units which can be used at any point during Year Six and do provide some examples of texts with very clear features as well as lesson outlines and recommended resources.– www.bucksgfl.org.uk/isp


Any ideas?


Any questions?

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