My classroom is basically a little square box and I had to be creative with the placement of furniture. I like to have areas where the children can work together so I’ve grouped my desks and tables so that four or six children can work together and discuss the tasks they are working on. Although there isn’t much space I like to keep some open spaces. I think it’s important for the children to have an area to wit and work together and they do lots of co-operative work activities there.

Writing

I schedule writing mainly after recess and before lunch. During that time they spend time working on the stories or whatever type of genre they might be using at the time. At the end of the session we have a writers’ circle. We all come together as a group and sit in a circle. The children are encouraged to share what they’ve written. They are given the opportunity to discuss what they’ve heard and give positive responses to it. It’s a good time for me to introduce writing strategies, use explicit teaching intervention and to monitor the children’s literacy development.

During writing time I also conference with individual children on their written work. The children are asked to put their name card in the pocket of our Writing Conference Chart so I know that they are ready to discuss their writing with me. We proofread the first draft focusing on sequence, sentence structure and language conventions. The writing is then ready to type and illustrate.

I think it is important for the children to develop their own ideas for writing, but I make sure that they are given the support to do this successfully. Before we explored narrative writing, for example, we did lots of work on setting, plot and characters. We developed interesting story starters. We have a ‘Writing Ideas Book’. In it we recorded a list of interesting sentences that could be used to begin a story. There were also lists and pictures of settings and characters for the children to refer to. We brainstormed descriptive words and made thesaurus charts for commonly used words.

I have used the ‘Grab Bag’ activity too. We have three paper bags labelled ‘Who’ ‘When’ and ‘Where’. Each child in the class draws or writes on card a character, a plot and a setting. We put these into the bags and then the children take turns to choose one card from each bag. Using these cards they then create a story to tell the rest of the group.

I also use this time for writing related to a particular topic or theme that our class is working on. For example, when we visited Antarctic Adventure, we wrote reports and compiled questions for an e-mail. I use the writing time in lots of different ways.

(For more information on how to provide support for student writers, see the guided writing strategies outlined in the Targeting Text project report.)

Spelling

I have three types of spelling program in my room. The first is the Superspell computer program, which the children love to use. The children work at their own level. We tested them at the beginning of the year to find out which list they should begin with. There are written activities to support each level if required. At the same time each child has a spelling book with list words and activities using these words. At the end of each activity the children have a spelling test. They work with a partner so that one child is reading a list of words and the other writing. They swap over. I like this activity because it involves reading and writing skills. The other spelling program is the ISL (Individual Spelling List) work, which is ongoing.

Reading

After lunch each day I have approximately half an hour quiet reading time. The children read a text of their choice. It gives me an opportunity to listen to children read and to assess reading skills. At the end of that time we come together as a group again and have what we call our ‘couch potato’ book review. The children volunteer to review a book that they have read. They introduce the characters, setting, and plot. They discuss their opinions and answer questions. They give the book a score out of five. This activity provides me with a means of assessing contextual understanding and allows the children to develop speaking and listening skills.

We have a book corner and I have a selection of junior fiction, non-fiction texts and reading material at different levels. I make sure that there is a variety of reading material available to cater for the children’s interests and needs. I keep a reading log record. The children self-select. Some of the more competent readers choose books from our school library.

Viewing

We have just completed a unit of work on Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach. After reading the book we viewed the video. I asked the children to identify the differences between the novel and the video. We recorded these on a chart. The children then worked in pairs using a Venn diagram to record their own ideas. They were asked to identify aspects that were particular only to the written text, to the visual text and those that were shared by both.

We then explored the techniques used in filmmaking. We identified panoramic views, zoom and angle shots, and discussed their importance. The children created their own panoramic and zoom pictures.

To develop this idea a little further I introduced a cartoon search activity. I collected a series of cartoon pictures that illustrated various visual techniques. Each picture was numbered. The children were given a list of questions to answer using the visual images. For example, ‘Which picture shows a zoom shot?’ ‘A villain? ‘A loud noise?’ ‘A side view?’ A bird’s eye view?’

We discussed the importance of imagination in creating visual images in films, videos and other texts, and compared this with the techniques used by authors to create the same image using words. I then gave the children a selection of illustrations chosen randomly from picture books that we had in our library. Each illustration was duplicated. With a partner the children were asked to develop a short story using their imagination and clues from their picture. At the end of the session the children shared their stories with the class. The children were able to see how interpretations of the same image can be completely different.