Literacy Learning

New Levels in Literacy

At the beginning of the year, the team in Takitini reflected on how we have organised and implemented out Literacy programme in the past and discussed options for teaching and learning for 2020.  

We thought it would be better to have each teacher responsible for certain levels.  Last year we each had a range of levels but it was sometimes a struggle trying to teach in a short amount of time and cater to all needs, especially with those that were quite needy.

We decided that I would take the lower end groups.  That felt extremely daunting to me.

In the past, I have usually taken the groups who were the more capable readers.  The groups I have this year range from Magenta to Turquoise.  

I felt inexperienced with taking so many students who were all at these levels.  I felt like I needed to do a bit of upskilling and have a very clear idea of what I would do in Literacy classes and what we would cover.

I spent some time talking with junior school staff and did some online research in regards to teaching reading and writing in the junior levels of school.  I spent the first couple of sessions trying to get an idea of where each child was at and getting to know them as the majority are new to our hub.

After trying to become better informed and working with teacher aides to develop learning support needs, I quickly started to feel more confident and capable of teaching at this level.  

I can see progress in all of the students and have managed to include a range of learning areas within the programme.  The preparation time quite a lot but the benefits of having their resources and activities ready and consistent makes a huge difference for the children.  

Here are a few photos from some of our Literacy activities in term one:

Connor does some matching activities.

Students work near a word bank we co-created to support writing from picture prompts.

Developing work habits and focus has been a priority for many students.

Working on letter formation.

Sharing our learning...and happy about it.

Developing fine motor skills and letter formation.

Writing from picture prompts that we have a group discussion about prior to writing.

Buddy reading with students from another Literacy group.

Buddy reading to increase reading mileage.

Quite high engagement during buddy reading.

Support from other learners.

I created a Wall of Words to support students with recognising high-frequency words.  Essential word cards and visual writing prompts that the junior school use.  This was started during our professional learning with Murray Gadd. 

Our Literacy corner.  Includes:  Reading activities, fine motor skills, handwriting, writing word bank, writing sheets, visual prompt strips, word families, phonics cards, reading book boxes and sight words sheets.

My next step is to continue to refine my programme and give it some time to develop.  I also want to observe in the junior school, Reading Recovery and teacher aides taking precision teaching.

• Be informed by research and innovations related to: content disciplines; pedagogy; teaching for diverse learners, including learners with disabilities and learning support needs; and wider education matters. 
• Select teaching approaches, resources, and learning and assessment activities based on a thorough knowledge of curriculum content, pedagogy, progressions in learning and the learners.

Learning About Cultures

Our Cultures

In Whakamanawa, we have a great selection of books that teach us about different cultures from around the world.  Many of these are about children and tell stories of what life is like for them.  

In our Reading Alone time, we had a selection of books laid out for sharing and children could choose to read them.

Here are a few of our students engaged with the books they have chosen.  

Our aim is to grow our collection and have regular cultural reading as part of our classroom programme.

Social Time

Being Engaged

Relationships and interacting in a positive way is important for us not just in school but for life in general.  We decided to create a time where we could all socialise and interact with each other.  Students selected activities to do and spent time socialising with different people.  We found that this was a great way to connect and get to know each other more.

Our next step is to make this a more regular activity and continue to make and maintain relationships and communication skills.

Cultural Responsive Learning

Supporting Staff Cultural Responsive Capability and Confidence

At the beginning of the year, we had a full staff meeting.  One part that I took was looking at our cultural responsiveness.  Within this, we looked at ways that staff can develop in capability and confidence.  Each staff member wrote a goal for the first half of the year.  

A common goal was to learn the new karakia that we are adding to our repertoire this year, Whakataka te Hau.  In response to this, I created a slide to share with staff that breaks down the karakia line by line.  I included a spoken version and a waiata version so we can also learn how to sing it so we are able to use this in different situations we may be in.



My next step is to learn this myself, create opportunities for us staff to sing and use it to support learning for students.  I also need to look at individual teacher goals to see who wants to learn their mini and create ways to learn these.

• Practise and develop the use of te reo and tikanga Māori. 
• Actively contribute, and work collegially, in the pursuit of improving my own and organisational practice, showing leadership, particularly in areas of responsibility. 

Teaching As Inquiry 2020

Teaching as Inquiry Focus for 2020

This year, my teaching as inquiry focus question is: 

What impact can extended learning conversations between home and school, whānau engagement and relationships have on progress in Reading?

I am going to use our target group in Takitini and focus in on the learners I have in my Literacy group. The other teachers in Takitini will also focus on these students which are our Māori readers.

Appraisal 2020

My Appraisal Document For 2020

Toolkits 2020

Amplify Math Through Talk Moves

I love it when I don't really know what I am getting in to and then I find some inspiration and interest.

I signed up for a Manaiakalani Toolkit called Amplify Math through Talk Moves.  I didn't actually have much of an idea of what this was going to be about.  Basically, it was about using Talk Moves in order to develop learning discussions.
One of the tools we had a go at using was Flipgrid.  This was a great tool to be able to explain our learning.  We used an activity called Grandpa's Pockets and used whatever we wanted to solve the problem.  We then explained our working out and then used FlipGrid to make a video of ourselves explaining it.  Because this is a collaborative tool, the sharing was instant.
Here is the slide Donna Yates, who hosted the toolkit, took us through.

How I worked out Grandpa's pocket problem.

Five of us managed to get our clips on to Flip Grid
Click here to see what Flipgrid can do

My next step is to use this with my Numeracy group.

• Engage in professional learning and adaptively apply this learning in practice. 

Cultural Sharing 2020

As part of our school-wide getting to know our learners, I created a culturally focused survey that we sent out to our whānau.  The aim of this was to get a really clear idea about the cultural experiences of our community.  My next step for this is to collate findings and use them to guide what we do.

We also had a cultural sharing day where students could share different aspects of their culture.  The aim was to develop a culturally inclusive mindset for staff, students and whānau.  Classes used the following slide to help guide their planning for the day.

Students in Whakamanawa worked on a Cultural Sharing slide and then presented these on the big screen to the class.  The engagement and encouragement from students were really lovely to witness.  All students were really focused and full of positive comments and questions during the sharing sessions.  

This is an example of one of the student's slide:

We had a class shared lunch and an afternoon of performances.

Our next step is to finish off sharing cultural slides which I could link to our Oral Language programme.  I also intend to organise another cultural event later in the year.

• Develop an environment where the diversity and uniqueness of all learners are accepted and valued.

Setting Expectations

At the beginning of the year, the class looked at our school-wide expectations from 2019 and discussed how they are relevant and why.  In groups, students came up with ideas about the expectations we have within the school.  

We collated ideas and displayed them on a chart in our learning space.   

We discussed what work habits are and what good work habits and focus looks, sounds and feels like.  Children were then given the opportunity to complete learning tasks with attention to being focused on their learning.

• Demonstrate high expectations for the learning outcomes of all learners, including for those learners with disabilities or learning support needs. 

Te Reo Māori Planning 2020

Te Reo Māori

As part of my leadership area of Cultural Responsiveness and to strengthen the use of Te Reo Māori across the school, I have been developing a bank of resources and planning templates to support staff in their own learning and in our teaching and learning for tamariki.  

Part of Te Ara Whakatau Unit Plan

For our mihimihi learning, I created a slide showing the progressions in mini development from Year One to Year Six.  This will need to be monitored to ensure children are actually confident with reciting their mini at the different year levels.

Slides showing mihimihi progressions

At the beginning of the year, we had a staff meeting where all staff set some goals for their own development and confidence in using Te Reo Māori.

The slide is what I presented at the beginning of the year staff meeting.  It shows our goals for each staff member.  My next step here is to offer support systems to enable staff to reach these goals.

• Practise and develop the use of te reo and tikanga Māori. 

Te Tiriti o Waitangi 2020

Treaty Work in Whakamanawa

In Te Rōpū Whakamanawa in 2020, we started our year working on a Treaty of Waitangi unit.  Each day, we did more learning about what a treaty is, how and why the Treaty of Waitangi was created and how the treaty impacts on life in Aotearoa.  

We created a class treaty which we keep alive by having a student read three of our treaty actions out loud as we start our day.  

Children have shown good engagement in this as they would ask when we would be doing more treaty work and are keen to read and repeat our own treaty ideas.  This helps to reinforce that a treaty is an agreement and we are acting within a partnership.

Students worked in groups to come up with ideas they wanted to be included in our class treaty.

We read The Tree Hut Treaty and did follow up activities.

Students could view what was written and how the treaty was signed.

We created our own treaty and acknowledge it every day.

• Understand and acknowledge the histories, heritages, languages and cultures of partners to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.