Reading and Writing
At Gipsey Bridge Academy we value reading as a key life skill. We aim for all of our children to develop an enjoyment of reading by immersing them in high quality texts from a range of genres. Through our holistic approach to teaching reading, children gain the necessary skills to develop into competent readers, who can read fluently, with confidence and gain a deeper understanding of what they have read.
We also promote a love of writing within our learners. We want them to be creative and express themselves through their writing. We intend to create writers that are able to re – read, edit and improve their writing.
In literacy this week, Class 1 have been learning about discussion texts. The children worked in groups to make a list of all Pro's and Con's of living in an Urban settlement.
In literacy, Class 1 have been re-telling the story of The Tower Bridge Cat. The children worked hard to sequence the key events of the story ready to re-write it later in the week.
Reception loved watching 'The Naughty Bus' and retelling it with real beans and icing as toothpaste! Needless to say it has inspired some wonderful independent writing!
This week in literacy, Class 1 have been researching facts about Cacti ready to write our own non-chronological reports later in the week.
We made some fantastic calligrams in Class 2 today too, all based on the sea creatures we’ve been classifying in science in our #BlueAbyss project!
Some of class 1 made their very own happy family game to help remember alternative spellings in phonics today.
Class 3 have been learning all about the Titanic. They researched about the ship itself, the journey and the disaster. The children created a piece of work about the various aspects of the Titanic and a report about the disaster, giving their opinions on whether the sinking could have been avoidable or not.
I had to take a photo of these fabulous children from my phonics group. Last week they asked to take their dictionaries outside at lunchtime and were challenging each other to find new words
So much amazing discussion around this text this week. Super inferences, based on the pictures and perspectives of the different characters. I even heard a few excited chats about how the children “love guided reading!”
Some very impressive references being made to our reading comprehension strands in Class 2 today in order to reflect on which skill is being used for each comprehension questions. Lots of brilliant discussion!
The third week of our project saw Class 3 children research explorers who had tried to reach the Antarctic or South Pole. Once they had chosen an explorer to research, they then had to write it up in a newspaper report.
Class 3 have been writing a narrative based around an Arctic or Antarctic exploration. They used their knowledge of explorers that they had look at previously and also used what they had learned in geography about the extreme weather conditions and surroundings in both the poles.
In literacy, year 1 and 2 children have been imagining that they are under the sea, inspired by this weeks story, The Octopus's Garden. The children worked in groups to describe using their senses all in preparation for writing their own stories inspired by Ringo Starr's story.
Absolutely brilliant Arctic reports from our Class 3 children today. Great to see all their 'Frozen Kingdoms' knowledge being brought together in a two-paged spread.
The children in Class 1 have been busy researching facts about different musical instruments in preparation for writing their own non-chronological reports.
Another beautiful day taking our learning outside. This time, taking step-by-step photographs to capture the discus technique we'd have needed in the ancient Greek Olympics, ready to help us write our instructions.
Year 4, you blow me away. Just a couple of examples from an AMAZING batch of historical narratives. So proud. Top notch editing too
Class 1 have spent lots of time learning all about Samuel Wilderspin. The children were very interested to learn how he wanted to change the way children were taught during the Victorian Era and how he invented the playground!
Class 1 are learning all about instructions. They began by following instructions of how to make a tiger mask. Later in the week the children are going to be writing their own instructions explaining how to make a tiger mask.
We finished writing our leaflets about Boston and evaluated each other's work to offer feedback, praise and points for improvement.
Class 2 are creating leaflets about our local town - Boston. Today, we spent some time thinking about how it is different to Gipsey Bridge, including using the vocabulary on our knowledge organisers, such as 'rural', 'urban' and 'transport links'. We planned the structure, including paragraphs and sub-titles, using pictures as prompts for our discussions.
This week, class 2 are learning all about story writing. They have started the week learning about the story, Sam's sandwich. The children loved hearing about how Sam made a sandwich for his sister but added some tasty insects to make it extra delicious! The children spent time working in groups to order and retell the story.
We've been learning all about instructions this week. We have been working hard to highlight the key features of instructions.
This week, we have been working together in small groups to create our own version of the poem ‘The Sound Collector’. We shared our ideas about the sounds we could hear around school and put our individual ideas together to create a group poem, which we then read aloud together. We had to think about our intonation and expression and as a challenge, we were asked to think of ways we could incorporate some of the sounds we were describing into the poem!
After researching Caterpillars, the children in Class 1 worked together to write as many facts as they could remember ready for writing our Non-chronological reports later in the week.
Class 1 planning and drafting their mini-beast recounts.
