Year+1+Literacy

LITERACY Year 1 || =Editing poetry on screen=

Information ||

Objective
• To use rhymes and patterned stories as models for their own writing (Term 1 Text 10: Writing composition)

Prior learning
To benefit from this lesson, children should: • be familiar with many rhymes and patterned stories; • have experimented with writing their own rhymes and patterned stories; • have some experience of using a simple word processing package to compose and edit on screen; • have begun to understand that, as part of the writing process, writers often edit their work to improve it.

Vocabulary
edit, improve, cursor, delete, insert

Resources
• data projector or interactive whiteboard linked to a laptop • ICT suite or set of laptops • appropriate word processing software (in this Example, //Clicker 4//) • draft of a poem created as shared writing in a previous lesson and working from a rhyming, heavily patterned model (as an electronic file)

ICT skills needed by teachers
To teach this unit, teachers need to know how to: • use basic editing facilities in the word processing software selected.

Preparation for this lesson
Load the electronic file of the draft poem for class demonstration. Ensure that the files of children’s draft poems are loaded on their computers.

Lesson extract ||

Shared writing
Read on screen, as a shared text, the poem that was written (in a word processor) during shared writing time in the previous lesson. Ask the children to recap briefly on the poem’s main features (e.g. the rhyme pattern or other patterned language). Give the children access to the word-processor files they created in the previous lesson. Allow two minutes to discuss, in their writing pairs, the main features of the poem they drafted. Q What rhyme pattern did we choose? Q Did we use any repeated words? Q Does our poem have a special rhythm that is repeated all the way through? Read the shared text again, stopping along the way to point out aspects of the poem that could be improved. Demonstrate how a writer decides which changes to make by ‘thinking aloud’ about the relative strengths of particular words or the different effects achieved by changing a line. Invite the children to help with the decision-making. At the same time, edit the shared text on screen to make improvements. Demonstrate how to use the word processor facilities to do this. The demonstration may include word processing features that children are already familiar with (such as scrolling up and down using the scroll bar, deleting and inserting using the cursor), or may include the use of a new feature being introduced to contribute to the children’s developing ICT capability.

Independent writing
Ask the children to return to the draft poems they wrote in the previous lesson, working in the same pairs. Give them a few moments to re-read their poem and to discuss together ways that it could be improved. As a class, share some of their ideas for improvement. Q Who wants to change some of the words they used yesterday? Why? Allow time for children to continue to work in pairs, editing and improving their text as you previously demonstrated. As appropriate, arrange for some pairs to be supported with word banks, poem grids or templates based on the patterned text that provided the original model.

Plenary
Invite the children to contribute to a discussion about improving their writing. Ask pairs to explain //what// they have changed and //why//. Ask one or two pairs to read their finished poems. Select these before the plenary and call up each file to display to the whole class as it is discussed. This means that individual words or phrases can be highlighted on the large display, to draw attention to the alterations that have been made.

Notes ||

Context of this lesson
This lesson could be incorporated into any of the poetry units from the NLS medium-term plans. There are many similar literacy teaching situations where it is highly advantageous for the teacher and/or the children to be able to display and manipulate or create and edit text in electronic format on screen.

Subject links
The theme and content of the poems being written could, if desired, be linked to any other appropriate curriculum area.

Useful resources
A number of software products can be used by teachers to display and manipulate or create and edit text on screen. These are valuable in a wide variety of literacy teaching contexts. Many of the same products can also be used by children to create and edit text on screen. Some are particularly suitable for younger children.

Why use ICT?
The advantages of using ICT are as follows. • It allows the teacher to model the thinking process of a writer more explicitly and effectively for the whole class, by showing textual changes clearly as they are made or undone, without affecting visual readability. • It encourages the children to edit for improvement because changes can be made or undone easily and quickly. • The software provides increased opportunity for differentiated resources that support pupils who require some scaffolding (e.g. word banks). • The clear text on screen improves legibility for pupils with inconsistent handwriting and encourages them to read and re-read during the writing process. • It provides a focus for independent dialogue and encourages cooperative decision-making. • It increases the level of interaction with text and meets the needs of children with preferred learning styles that are kinaesthetic or interpersonal (or auditory if a word processor with speech facilities is used).

LITERACY Year 1 || =Storytelling=

Information ||

Objective
• To re-tell stories, giving the main points in sequence (Term 2 Text 4)

Prior learning
To benefit from this lesson, children should: • feel confident and comfortable exploring stories, characters and situations through role-play; • have experienced many traditional stories and feel familiar with the way they are usually told.

Vocabulary
digital camera, digital photograph, digital image

Resources
• data projector or interactive whiteboard linked to a laptop • digital camera • suitable software into which digital pictures can be imported, or suitable interactive whiteboard software package

ICT skills needed by teachers
To teach this unit, teachers need to know how to: • take photographs with a digital camera; • download digital images into a computer and store them; • import digital images into suitable software for presentation and simple manipulation on screen.

Preparation for this lesson
Introduce and explore the story of Cinderella, possibly in different versions, in the literacy hour or beyond. Set up role-play explorations of the story, either ‘live action’ (possibly with costumes and props) or with puppets. During the enaction of the story (by one or more groups of children) freeze-frame key incidents of the story and record them with a digital camera. Ensure that photographs are taken of the main events of the story, for example: • Cinderella does housework; the ugly sisters are cruel. • An invitation arrives – ugly sisters go to the ball. • Fairy Godmother arrives – Cinderella goes to the ball. • Cinderella dances with Prince – loses slipper. • Prince fits on slipper – marries Cinderella. Download the images into a computer, and save and import them into suitable software ready for on-screen display and manipulation.

Lesson extract ||

Shared activity
With the whole class, show the images of scenes from the role-play one at a time (not necessarily in story order). Ask the children what is happening in each scene. Get children who were in the scenes to describe what they think the characters are thinking and feeling at that point. You could show all the slides together and ask the children to discuss which scene comes first in the story, which second, and so on. Pick them out as they are selected and reassemble the images in story order. In groups, ask the children to tell the story, using the photos as prompts. Choose children to re-tell parts of the story to the rest of the class, again using the photos as prompts.

Follow-up
Later you can use the images as story-writing prompts, demonstrating how to add a written sentence as a caption to each image. The images can be printed out and used as prompts for further work on ordering and writing the story.

Notes ||

Context of this lesson
This lesson extract could well sit within a whole unit of literacy or cross-curricular work based around traditional tales. There are clearly many alternative stories that could be used as well as or instead of Cinderella.

Subject links
• NLS //Medium-term plans//: Term 2 Narrative 2 (suggested outcome: story based on known structure) • NLS //Developing early writing//: Term 2 ‘Cinderella’ //•// NLS //Speaking, listening, learning: working with children in Key Stages 1 and 2//: Term 2 Objective 8 Drama (to act out own and well-known stories, using different voices for characters) • QCA Drama: – EN4a: use language and actions to explore and convey situations, characters and emotion; – EN4b: create and sustain roles individually and when working with others; – EN11a: working in role.

Useful resources
Many literacy teaching and learning contexts can be greatly enhanced by the introduction of digital images, either photographs or video. These can be readily accessed from the Internet or CD-ROM or provided as ready-made resource banks. More importantly, they can be easily taken by the children themselves, incorporating immediacy and relevance into many reading and writing activities.

Why use ICT?
The advantages of using ICT are as follows. • The use of a digital camera allows instant feedback and subsequently provides a personalised resource, i.e. children can work with and respond to images of themselves, rather than unknown children or adults, with all the involvement, immediacy and motivation this stimulus provides. • ICT allows teachers to project enlarged visual images for whole-class demonstration and discussion; images can easily and quickly be stored, called up and manipulated on screen. • ICT allows the teacher and children to add text to images, and edit it easily, creating captions and supporting story writing.

LITERACY Year 1 || =Writing captions=

Information ||

Objectives
• To write captions for their own work (Term 1 Text 14) • To write captions and simple sentences, and to re-read, recognising whether or not they make sense, e.g. missing words, wrong word order (Term 1 Sentence 4)

Prior learning
To benefit from this lesson, children should: • have been shown how to take photographs with a digital camera; • have some experience of writing captions for pictures to create a simple non-fiction text.

Vocabulary
digital camera, digital photograph, digital image

Resources
• data projector or interactive whiteboard linked to a laptop • digital camera • suitable software into which digital pictures can be imported, or suitable interactive whiteboard software package (in this Example, //PowerPoint//)

ICT skills needed by teachers
To teach this unit, teachers need to know how to: • take photographs with a digital camera; • download digital images into a computer and store them; • import digital images into suitable software for presentation and simple manipulation on screen; • add words to photographs to create a simple text.

Preparation for this lesson
Introduce and discuss the idea of safety around the school. Take the children on a tour around the school looking out for and discussing ‘things that keep us safe’ (including the fire alarm, the door locks, the school gates). Allow some children to take their own digital photographs of these safety features. Download the images into a computer, save and import into suitable software ready for on-screen display and manipulation.

Lesson extract ||

Shared writing
Remind the class of the work you are doing on safety around the school. With the whole class, show the images the children took previously. Ask for a reminder of what each is and why it was photographed. Discuss how each helps to keep those in school safe. Explain that you are going to use the pictures and add captions to make an on-screen text about safety around your school. Recap previous work on captions, asking for reminders of what captions are and what they do. Explain that you are going to write some captions for these pictures together. Return to the first photograph of the school fire alarm and insert a text box underneath. Tell the children that you are going to write the first caption to accompany the picture of the fire alarm. Remind them that the picture has been chosen to show something that keeps the children safe and that they need to explain how it does that. Ask for suggestions and take responses. (Type as you go) ‘The fire alarm keeps us safe. It rings when there is a fire.’ Ask the children to read it through. Q Does that tell us everything we need to know? Remind the children that a caption does not need a large amount of information and that it only needs to give the main facts. Show the children a second photograph (with a picture of the lock on an outside door). Q What does this photograph tell us? Take in children’s responses; refer back to the previous slide to provide the model for the next caption. Tell the class that you want to start in the same way. (Type as you go) ‘The lock on the door keeps us safe because …’ Q How would I move this sentence on? Ask the children to think of how they can finish the sentence with their response partner in two minutes. Take responses and choose one to develop on the slide. Type in as the children suggested and refer back to the class. Q Does this make sense? Read through the sentence together. Tell the children to decide with their response partners whether the sentence makes sense or needs improving. Take responses and complete the caption. Select the next photograph (of the gates on the playground). Q How can we start this caption? Ask the children to decide with their response partners on how they would start the caption. Take responses and refer back to previous slides to make comparisons to check accuracy. Model re-reading the start to ensure sense. (Type in) ‘The gates keep us safe because …’ Ask the children to complete the caption on their dry wipe boards. Take responses.

Follow-up
Children work together in pairs to write their own captions to accompany printouts of other photographs (or do so on screen if a computer suite or laptops are available).

Notes ||

Context of this lesson
This lesson extract could well sit within a whole unit of literacy or cross-curricular work based around ‘safety’.

Subject links
• NLS //Medium-term plans//: Term 1 Non-fiction 1 (suggested outcome: captions, lists) • The lesson could be adapted to support NLS //Medium-term plans//: Term 2 Non-fiction 1 (suggested outcome: book or class display – could be an ICT text)

Useful resources
Many literacy teaching and learning contexts can be greatly enhanced by the introduction of digital images, either photographs or video. These can readily be accessed from the Internet or CD-ROM or provided as ready-made resource banks. More importantly, they can easily be taken by the children themselves, incorporating immediacy and relevance into many reading and writing activities.

Why use ICT?
The advantages of using ICT are as follows. • The use of a digital camera allows instant feedback and subsequently provides a personalised resource, i.e. children can work with and respond to images they themselves have taken of things in their own school environment, with all the involvement, immediacy and motivation this provides. • ICT allows teachers to project enlarged visual images for whole-class demonstration and discussion; images can easily and quickly be stored, called up and manipulated on screen. • ICT allows the teacher and children to add text to images and edit it easily, creating captions and supporting non-fiction writing. This is presented at a size and scale that all children can see and comment upon.