Log in
Home Page
Reading and Writing
READING CURRICULUM INTENT
“The best readers are the best writers – we read as writers and write as readers!” Stephen King
At Spilsby Primary Academy, we place reading at the heart of our curriculum. Our aim is to provide our children with the opportunities to become fluent and confident lifelong readers, who enjoy reading and who see the purpose in reading, valuing it as the key to success. Our aspiration for each of our children is based upon the need for them to enter the world of work as articulate and literate individuals with a strong love of reading. We strive to give pupils a stimulating environment, where high-quality reading materials are at the heart of our learning and presented in an attractive and inviting way.
IMPLEMENTATION
- Teachers act as role models in their enthusiasm for both reading and writing by exposing children to high quality children’s literature.
- Daily reading lessons create an environment that stimulates the generation of ideas from texts where all ideas are accepted and valued.
- Children with specific reading, speech and language or hearing difficulties will be identified and supported through support programmes in school.
The fundamentals
- A belief that every child can and will become a competent reader.
- A focus on teaching the skills of reading.
- Systematic synthetic phonics taught in EYFS/KS1 through Little Wandle.
- A focus on reading fluency.
- Explicit teaching of vocabulary.
- A variety of high-quality resources are used - fiction, non-fiction, pictures, poems, films and songs.
- Targeted interventions.
- Tailored groupings where appropriate.
- Up-to-date working walls for Reading providing essential scaffolds for learning.
- A thoughtfully constructed Reading Spine.
WRITING CURRICULUM INTENT
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart!”
William Wordsworth
Through our writing curriculum, we aim to equip our children with relevant, useful vocabulary that they can contextualise to enhance their writing. We provide children with meaningful, high-quality models for their writing before showing them how these models are crafted as a writer. We do this by unpicking the big ideas behind a text, modelling how to craft that piece of writing and give the children the opportunity to mirror this process before applying it independently. We aim for our children to see the value in careful planning and critical editing to organise and enhance their written work before publishing a piece of writing that they can be proud of. Ultimately, we want to develop children who can use writing as an effective tool for communication.
IMPLEMENTATION
- Teachers act as role models in their enthusiasm for both reading and writing by exposing children to high-quality children’s literature and modelling correct use of speaking, spelling, grammar and punctuation.
- Writing lessons work towards an outcome with a clear purpose and audience.
- Children with specific writing, speech and language or hearing difficulties will be identified and supported through support programmes in school.
- Strategies for reading, speaking and listening form an integral part of our approach to writing.
The fundamentals
- A belief that every child can and will become a competent writer.
- A focus on teaching the skills of spelling, grammar and punctuation.
- Explicit teaching of vocabulary.
- High quality modelling of speaking and listening.
- A variety of high-quality resources are used: fiction, nonfiction, pictures, poems, films and songs, to stimulate writing.
- Targeted interventions.
- Tailored groupings where appropriate.
- Up-to-date working walls to support and promote independence.
- Statutory spelling lists for year group as part of classroom resources.
Reading is vital to everything we do at Spilsby Primary and we are delighted to be part of the Book Pen Pals scheme. Every year, we are teamed up with an author/illustrator who send us book recommendations via postcards. The recommendations are a classic, a less well-known book you know and love, a brand-new release, or anything in between. We also get to send postcards back to our author/illustrator.
This year we have been receiving recommendations from: Emma Perry.
Year 1 very excited about their next delivery of book recommendations from Emma Perry.
Year 6 have created some lovely pieces of poetry using MAAFA as their theme. First, they chose the words that they would like to be the spine of their poem. Next, they created a word bank of topic related vocabulary that began with their chosen letters. Finally, they drafted their poem, paying attention to where they could add in poetic writing features, and how the punctuation could help the poem make an impact upon the reader.
A fantastic English lesson today. The children in 2C retold the story of The Jolly Christmas Postman using role play to support their oral composition.
Lovely to see phonics in the moment. The children were using the amazing working wall and also their knowledge to blend and write cvc words!
This afternoon for DEAR, 3T enjoyed choosing and sharing a book from the library
Y4 have been doing a unit on Norse myths. They have written a retelling of 'Thor and the Giants' and I am so proud of the final pieces of writing. Fabulous features galore! Here's just a snapshot of some.
A lovely end to English this week with the children sharing their Columbus Narrative work with each other for some peer feedback.
A lovely English lesson between the year 2 classes sharing their Kennings Poems which they created this week!
An English lesson exploring the senses in the school environment for Year 2 ready for their description writing this week!
Year 3 are getting ready to write a set of instructions on how to make a mummy. This morning, we've watched a video and then acted out the process with a partner, thinking carefully about adverbs of time and ways to make our sentences more interesting.
Year 1 have been using puppets to re-enact the moon landing. They thought carefully about what happened and used their knowledge to create a performance.
Year 6 have created their own mythical story to show how something in the Solar System was created. They had to keep their tense correct and also the vocabulary and objects they used within their story. They helped the reader to picture their characters appearance and actions through expanded noun phrases and dialogue.
Year 2 have started their week as reporters in English today. They watched footage and read information about Neil Armstrong and the moon landings to create a factual list as a class!
Year 5 and 6 worked collaboratively today to offer positive peer feedback for their narratives. Discussions focused on good story telling as well as emotive vocabulary to captivate the listener.
Thank you Mrs Morris for our book yesterday, the children are so excited to start reading it! Perfect timing too as we have just finished our class book so have made some predictions this morning!
Loved reading this book to Year 2 today especially when joined by a special guest! Great links to their Rio de Vida project all about the Amazon rainforest
Lovely to hear Year 2 sharing their narratives with their peers in English today. They added expression and read fluently to celebrate two weeks of planning, drafting, editing and publishing!
Absolutely blown away by these incredible non-chronological report double-page spreads about teeth. Year 4 have been working on them for the last few weeks and I'm so impressed with the pride shown in both the presentation and content
Year 6 worked in pairs to create a report on the workings of the human heart. They worked in unity to organise their facts and information. Once the planning and drafting stage were complete, they organised the structure and layout of their reports to include diagrams, did you know facts and a glossary to help the reader understand.
The children in Year 2 are looking at directions. They have already followed some directions for moving between two landmarks on a map of London. Today, they created their own set of directions for moving between two more landmarks in London.
A very productive and engaging lesson in Year 2R this morning, as the children started to gather together their learning and information from the previous two days to create their informative poster all about Queen Elizabeth II. Today's task was to create the heading, label the picture and then create a list of some of the Queen's favourite things. All the while thinking about their capital letters, full stops and spacing between words.
Year 6 don’t let isolation stop them learning! Some creative letters responding to Pestilence and brilliant project presentations produced this week.
A lovely end to two weeks of writing their seaside narratives in year 2 when they read to each other and shared their work!
This week we're using Flotsam trays inspired by the picture book to create a character description. Year 3 and 4 are so excited!
Absolutely WOWd with these biographies, so impressed for a first double page spread! Some gold card worthy writing and presentation here!
We love a double page spread in year 4. This week we have been learning about the amazing Jacques Cousteau & really enjoyed creating biographies. We watched films & read about him, then wrote about him using our research.
Year 2 created a plan for their recounts all about their memorable experience to the beach last week! They used pictures, time adverbs and the first person to complete the task!
So proud of the beautiful creative writing this week in year 6. Thoughtful detail to personify and describe movement, character and behaviour of the dreaded Pestilence. Chills down your spine ....
Year 5 have been struggling with speech punctuation so we have used Kung-Fu punctuation to secure our knowledge
Year 4 really enjoy DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time on a Friday afternoon. We have a variety of reading materials for this reading for pleasure session and we LOVE sharing these texts with our friends
Year 5 are debating our big question. ‘Which is the most important force and why?’ Some amazing points being made.
Year 6 debated their project ‘Big Question’ today. Which force is the most important and why? Presentations required supporting evidence and persuasive language
Oh no! Reception have found some 'Letter Litter' in the outdoor area! We used litter pickers to tidy up, identify & sort the phonemes. Reinforcing grapheme/phoneme correspondence for reading whilst looking after the planet!
Year 2 have enjoyed their Coastline project this term and this afternoon used their learning and knowledge organisers to work through tasks about the entire project!
Year 5 have been writing pages for a non-fiction book. They have used lots of technical information and some fantastic grammatical features.
Practical SPaG in Year 4 today using macaroni to practise using speech marks accurately (shame SPaGhetti wasn't the right shape!
Today’s lesson was all about recording their reports on an iPad to piece together their 'Visit Whitby' videos! Tomorrow will be editing and making the final movie ready for presenting on Thursday!
Year 2 worked in groups today to choose tourist attractions for Whitby in preparation for their reports this week!
Year 6 have shown great creativity in English this week, creating their very own digital radio adverts: combining language and vocabulary skills with computing knowledge
An excellent build up of work resulting in these amazing poems, a super opportunity to show off their handwriting for a pen license too! It was really tricky to follow the pattern of the poem, but these 2 examples are fantastic independent examples!
Over the last few weeks, Y4 have been having a real push on improving handwriting skills. We are 3 weeks into our whole class intervention programme. Pic 1 is Buddy's writing in December. Pic 2 is today!
Year 6 have created some fantastic pieces of poetry focusing on a theme park experience. After first looking at the different kinds of language and structure of poetry, they gathered vocabulary linked with theme park rides and adapted this to create different phrases such as similes, metaphors and hyperboles to help the reader feel the theme park ride through their expressive words.
Rehearsing poetry in the lovely sunshine.
'His potions were colourful and sizzling but boiling with beauty' That sentence alone has put a smile on my face this morning!
Year 5 are making the most of the sun and sharing our Frozen Kingdom narratives.
Year 6 created their own Polar themed Haiku Poetry. They first looked at the structure and layout of the different example poems and what vocabulary was used in them. They then chose their own favourite Polar animals and created a word bank of vocabulary to describe it’s movements, appearance and behaviours.
Following this, they then began to put their poems together using the 5,7,5 syllable pattern. Upon completion of their first draft, year 6 then tested replacing words with a range of synonyms to help the poem have the most impact upon the reader.
Following this, they then began to put their poems together using the 5,7,5 syllable pattern. Upon completion of their first draft, year 6 then tested replacing words with a range of synonyms to help the poem have the most impact upon the reader.
Year 6 created their own Polar themed newspaper report after first looking through example texts to help identify the structure, layout, grammar and range of punctuation used within the WAGOLL piece.
They then began their report by first planning the different paragraphs content and what writing features they could include. The next step was to create an introduction using the 5Ws ( what, where, when, who and why), helping the reader to know what would be in the report. Upon completion of the first draft, the children then looked back upon their planning to edit and ensure they had covered all their points and included different forms of punctuation.
They then began their report by first planning the different paragraphs content and what writing features they could include. The next step was to create an introduction using the 5Ws ( what, where, when, who and why), helping the reader to know what would be in the report. Upon completion of the first draft, the children then looked back upon their planning to edit and ensure they had covered all their points and included different forms of punctuation.
This week's whole class reading text for Year 4 was the brilliant CBBC book 'Incredible Edibles' by Stefan Gates. We've looked at the text about creating a naked egg and tried the experiment ourselves for British Science Week.
This week in Year 4, we've been creating adverts for our own magic potion. Cooper's is too good not to share...
Some fantastic 'Darwin’s Delights' newspaper reports, created by year 6, focusing on Future Humans.
So proud of this little girl in EYFS using her phonics to write a question, question mark & all! So independent & responsible in her learning, using the phonics wall "to check the digraphs". A very worthy Gold Card!
Some of the Year 2 children proudly showing off their list poems all about for their 'School Days' project.
Year 2 making use of the working wall in English this morning to sequence the story of Hansel and Gretel.
Year 5 are very proud of their adverts. They have created persuasive adverts and used iMovie to present them. They have then created QR codes to their adverts.
Year 2 have used imperative verbs in their instructions for creating a woodland crown this week and published their final pieces today.
Some lovely remembrance poems written in year 5 today.
In English this week Year 2 have been looking at Little Red Riding Hood so today they used the IPads to retell the story in their own way! Some used Scratch Jr others narrated the story with others using Comic Strip Design to publish the story!
An excellent class effort at a slow write this morning using ISPACE. Making careful vocabulary choices and creating amazing sentences
An amazing recount by Hannah in Year 4 of our brilliant Stone Age to Iron Age workshop day with Past Productions . So many brilliant writing skills used here
When a vocabulary check during whole class reading leads to a full on discussion about the periodic table. Year 4 always eager to learn and even linked it to their Y3 project about Mighty Metals!
Year 1 have been reading for enjoyment this afternoon. Sharing their home reading book with a friend.
This week the children have been learning the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, the children used the skill of role play and performances to retell the story to their peers.
Wow, what a brilliant recount planning session! The excitement & enthusiasm from Y4 talking about their workshop day with Past Productions & how we can fit in text features, content in paragraphs, specific grammar & anecdotes was awesome
Year 4 really enjoyed looking for features in a 'WAGOLL' recount text this morning. We can't wait to use them in our own writing to tell everyone about our stone age visitor, who will be visiting us for a workshop tomorrow.
The best bit about moving up a year with my class is knowing exactly what knowledge was shared last year. Reading this book with a child today, and I asked what tower is in Japan that we learnt about in 'Towers, Tunnels & Turrets' and so many children could remember, super proud!
Year 6 have worked hard on creating an exciting Egyptian Narrative. They thought about the whole presentation process: powerful grammar and punctuation, to storyboard pictures. All to entertain the reader and create a vivid picture in their minds.
This week, the children in Years 3 and 4 have been writing cinquain poetry about iron age jobs. They have had to think carefully about writing a poem with 5 lines, selecting words with a set number of syllables and from the right word class. They have done a superb job!
As well as writing and editing their poems, they have been working on reading aloud their writing with appropriate intonation and volume.
Year 4 have created some fantastic non chronological report posters about Stonehenge. They've looked carefully at the features of a report and tried hard to include them in their own writing.
Here are some of Year2 using imperative verbs in the instruction writing explaining how to plant a seed!
Year 6 took a deeper look at the role of the Pharaoh this week. They then chose one to do some deeper research and create a fact-file in English. They looked at the presentation, layout and structure of different reports and decided upon areas of the Pharaohs life to report on.
This morning, Year 2 had to follow a set of instructions about how to plant a seed. After planting a seed in groups, they then had to think about what features make a good set of instructions.
We are using peer feedback across several pieces of work to improve our English.
Year 6 have worked creatively today to plan their Pharaohs storyboard/story maps
In English, year 2 followed a set of instructions and planted a seed.
Year 5 are rehearsing a poem to perform to the class. They are ensuring they use a range of performance skills.
Year 6 worked hard on the structure and layout of their Pharaohs fact file in English today. They highlighted their research to group ideas and planned it’s presentation layout.
Year 3 chose a project book to practise their 'reading and retrieving' at the end of English today, great teamwork!
Year 2 used their research skills on the IPads to find some information about their woodland creature in English.
Year 2 have used their knowledge of cacti and daffodils to create some non-chronological reports in English this week.
This week in guided reading Year 4 have been looking in detail at the vocabulary and meaning of a Celtic insults poem. Today we have been working on fluency and expression and have created a performance of the poem with real feeling.
Year 6 using peer reading to build their skills in their Drop Everything And Read session this week.
Year 6 have used the story of ‘ The heart and the bottle’ and the changing emotions to create their own poem. They took ownership of it by choosing the layout they wanted to follow to present it.
Story time with Freddie! An absolutely stunning piece of writing.
Reception are ready to save the world! With their super phonics & #imagination powers, they've told us what their superhero name & superpowers are. So we can now choose the right superhero to save us!
We're loving Paddington Bear this week, today we've thought about what we'd take if we went on holiday with him and why. All sort of things have been packed, from mosquito nets to hand gel and going all over the world from London to Brazil and Iceland!
Year 6 are designing their fund- raising posters to advertise their forthcoming Dodgeball Tournament for the British Heart Foundation.
In English, Year 3 peer assessed each other’s work to make corrections and edit their work before publishing it tomorrow!
Year 6 have had a great morning in English researching the adverse effects of smoking on the human body. They then used this knowledge to recognise and explain the impact of diet, exercise, chemical substances and lifestyle in their Science lesson . This in turn help their understanding by discussing habits, choice and support in their PSHE lesson.
This morning Year 1 have been making marmalade sandwiches for Paddington Bear. Tomorrow we are going to write the instructions so other people can enjoy making them too!
Year 3 and 6 have taken turns to read their mythical stories to each other. They discussed which features they should include for their year group and aimed to identify them in each other’s.
We've gone back to 1666 and we're in Pudding Lane, what could be happening? This week Year 2 are learning about the Great Fire of London and have made bread. They've thought about the order ready to write instructions.
Absolutely fabulous analysis of a maya poem in Year 5 this morning. Such deep thinking and great reading of the imagery and poet's specific choices of language and form.
Super independent writing in Year 1. We have been very resourceful and used lots of things to help us.
So proud of Year 5's double-page spread non-chronological reports about Mexican animals. They've taken such pride in their presentation and they are spectacular.
Year 3 proudly showing off their amazing myths based on Theseus and the Minotaur!
Year 3 did some amazing self and peer marking today in English! They’ve worked hard creating their myths and now worked with each other to improve their writing even more!
Reception found some very interesting eggs outside today. We wondered who they belonged to! We have decided to keep them safe until they hatch or are collected by whoever left them behind. We have been writing a list of instructions of how to look after them.
Year 2 have told the story of Rapunzel through Talk for Writing this week, we are really excited to write it tomorrow!
A great afternoon combining year 3 and 4 to study the Battle of Marathon! They sequenced the battle before writing a recount as if they were an Athenian or Persian soldier!
This week in English, Year 3 have been looking at the myth of Icarus and Daedalus! They studied the myth before writing a diary entry from the viewpoint of either Icarus or Daedalus!
A fantastic effort during letter writing this week, and an even more fantastic effort from some children with their handwriting. Working super hard for a pen license!
Absolutely stunning instruction-writing in Year 5 this week. We've looked in detail at the Ancient Maya game of Pok-ta-pok and the children have created the most amazing instructions.
Year 2 are learning about the parts of the castle this week. Yesterday we labelled them, today we've used iPads, books and information to help us work out what the parts of the castle are used for to help them make a definition and at the end of the week we're making posters to show the parts of the castle. Great teamwork Year 2!
Year 4 have continued researching the Greek Gods, this time working in groups of 6 to produce 12 fact files showing the unique qualities of each. 🏛🏺
I couldn't be prouder of Year 5 today. Their Blitz poetry has absolutely floored me. The creativity, emotion and stunning use of language that comes through each and every one of them is simply stunning. #writers #blitz #poets
Reception B are loving their Winter Wonderland classroom, especially their reading igloo. They pick a winter or Christmas book and a polar creature and read a book to them in the cosy igloo. ❄☃❄
Year 3 have worked really hard to create a poster advert this week for their smoothie business they had to include lots of eye catching features to grab the reader’s attention!
Our elf brought us some strange things this morning, one of the children worked out it was what they had learnt about in RE on Monday. In English we followed verbal instructions to make a Christingle, then tomorrow we are going to write our own. At the end, we all tasted a piece of orange!
A fabulous English lesson this morning in Year 5 developing imagery to describe the Blitz for our own poetry. We're amazing at personification: 'The houses falling to their knees, begging for mercy' and 'planes hover like vultures hunting for their prey'. We can't wait to get writing our Blitz poems!
Amazing writing from our Y2 children. Following their research about Brazilian legends, they had to create their own legend and come up with a name for them!
Year 6 are typing up their ‘Blitz’ newspaper reports to ensure they use the correct layout and structure.
Year 3 have been creating some Nonsense poems this week all about a fruit salad! They had to include descriptions for different fruit using nonsense words!
Year 2 had to choose their new class book by just reading the blurb. They had to decide which one best matched their 'Muck, Mess and Mixtures' project to help them decide.
Some great diary entries by year 6: based on the diary of Anne Frank and hiding in a secret room.
Year 4 had an awesome time making MUD PIES today! We sourced all ingredients from the local area and followed instructions to create our masterpieces.
Year 3 had a very fun English lesson this morning following instructions to make mud pies!
Year 5 have been evacuated this week to start our Child's War project and have written letters to their parents all about their first week of evacuation in Carmarthen, Inverness, Rothesay and Barnstaple. Parents will be receiving them through the post at the beginning of next week and the children have been so excite to write with real purpose.
Y2 used 'The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch' as inspiration for their writing. Through 'Talk for Writing', they retold the story and then wrote their own version of it!
Year 6 imagined that they had landed on a far away planet and wrote some amazing descriptions of what they could see. They used a variety of descriptive language and writing features. Which ones can you find?
After watching the film, 'Baboon on the Moon', year 5 wrote some amazing recounts all about the Baboon's day. Can you spot on recount features in their writing?
Year 3 had to think carefully about the layout and language features of their explanation texts. They began by designng theor own robots and had to describe their explanation and explain how it works. Which machine do you think would be most helpful to you?
Year 5/6 watched a World War 2 evacuee telling their experience of being evacuated to help plan their evacuee letter home.
Reception enjoying our whole school Friday afternoon 'Drop Everything And Read' session.
Reception had a visit from 'Metal Mike' today. He only liked to eat the wirds when we sounded them out in our best robot voices. At the end of the phonics lesson, we 'powered down' and turned our human voices back on.
Rec Phonics.MP4
Year 3 published their list poems this morning and they had to use lots of adjectives and verbs to describe metals in different states!
- Spilsby Primary School
- Woodlands Avenue,
- Spilsby,
- Lincolnshire,
- PE23 5EP
- T: 01790 752503