Reflection on Teacher Questionnaire - What are the main challenges and how can we overcome them?

Let's look at what our teachers are saying -  this will determine the direction we will pursue to make transitions easier on our children. 

Next step - collaboration meeting - WHAT CAN WE DO?

What are some common challenges you've seen in students who are just starting school?

• Inconsistent transition to school from ECE centers is a challenge.
• Lack of a clear guide for children and their families regarding what to expect when starting school.
• Pre-visits to the classroom, meeting teachers, and understanding the school environment are not consistently provided.
• Building familiarity and relationships with teachers and peers is crucial for a positive school start.
• Establishing connections with families during visits helps set children up for success.
• Insights from these visits can be used to support children and remove potential barriers.
• Going out to play in a large school environment can be daunting, even when with friends.
• Children may lack basic skills like using a pencil, dressing themselves, or following instructions.
• Some children may exhibit a self-centered focus and speech difficulties.

What are the biggest academic challenges that students face when they start primary school?

• Major academic challenges observed include low vocabulary and phonological awareness.
• Significant difficulty in writing, with some children still struggling to write a basic sentence even after two terms.
• Writing and fine motor skills are lacking in many tamariki.
• Limited exposure to reading; some children have not been read to or have not engaged with books, leading to difficulties in turning pages and discussing books.
• Lack of perseverance in completing tasks is also a notable challenge.

What are some social and emotional challenges that students may face when starting primary school?

• Increased instances of tamariki arriving at school not yet fully toilet trained due to toileting anxiety.
• Many children are in the process of learning to regulate their emotions, which is developmentally typical at the age of 5.
• Some children start school at the age of 6 with no prior ECE experience.
• Challenges related to separation anxiety from their whanau.
• Issues with not taking care of their belongings.
• A lack of independence..
• Difficulties during playtimes, especially when around older or bigger children.

How do you help them overcome these challenges?

• Implement socio-emotional coaching throughout the day to support children's emotional development.
• Seek guidance or resources to assist whanau with toileting and enrollment challenges for 6-year-old children.
• Foster a free play environment in and out of the classroom, encouraging exploration and peer interactions.
• Use a "magic table" or designated learning time to structure activities, balancing free play with focused learning.
• Establish a buddy system within the classroom and on the playground to encourage peer support and inclusivity.
• Communicate with parents about the importance of fostering independence in their children.
• Offer praise and positive reinforcement to encourage children to take responsibility for their belongings and self-care.

What do you do to assess student entry levels?

• Conduct formal assessments such as the Clay Observational survey and BSLA baseline assessment at school entry.
• Informally observe children in various areas, including play, fine and gross motor skills, and social and emotional development.
• Use a SEA checklist to assess students within their first 6 weeks of school.
• Entry-level test around the 6-week mark to gauge their progress and development.

What are some of the most important skills or knowledge that students should have when they start school?

• Foster curiosity and determination in students to promote learning and growth.
• Teach self-help skills to enable children to independently manage their belongings, toileting, and hygiene.
• Focus on developing fine motor skills to ensure children can hold a pencil and perform writing tasks.
• Emphasise basic life skills, such as putting on shoes, as part of their overall development.

What advice would you give parents to help their child have a successful transition to school?

• Establish a strong relationship with your child's teacher for effective communication and support.
• Ensure your child's regular attendance at school to maintain a consistent learning routine.
• Advocate for your child's needs and well-being, addressing any concerns promptly and asking questions when necessary.
• Consistently prepare your child for school through visits and positive conversations about the enjoyable school experience.
• Use pre-visits to the school to familiarise your child with the environment and create a smooth transition to formal education.

How can teachers help students who may be struggling with the transition to school?

• Teachers should prioritise building positive relationships with tamariki and their whanau
• Allow children time to explore their new environment before imposing strict class routines.
• Maintain open and regular communication with parents to stay informed about the child's needs and progress.
• Praise and encourage the child, and consider using incentives to motivate and reward positive behaviours.
• Establish buddy systems to foster peer support and a sense of belonging among students.

What are some strategies you use to build a positive classroom environment and help students feel comfortable in the classroom?

• Establish a predictable routine to provide structure and stability for students.
• Cultivate a calm and supportive learning environment.
• Offer students opportunities for making choices, promoting autonomy within limits.
• Build and maintain positive relationships with students to enhance their well-being and engagement.
• Incorporate games, singing, and free play to create a fun and enjoyable learning experience.
• Ensure that a portion of the day is dedicated to activities that prioritize student happiness, safety, and a sense of value.
• Foster a sense of whanau within the classroom, promoting a supportive and inclusive atmosphere.
• Act as a role model for positive behavior and encourage students to follow suit.
• Use praise and encouragement to motivate and reinforce desired behaviours.
• Utilise a class mascot to create a sense of identity and community within the classroom.

How do you ensure that students with different learning styles and needs are supported and included in the classroom?

• Collaborate with learners to plan and design customized learning experiences that align with their interests, needs, and abilities.
• Provide additional support and accommodations for students who require it, ensuring an inclusive approach to learning.
• Group students based on their abilities, with some curricula fostering mixed-ability discussions, such as in Math.
• Develop a deep understanding of each student's unique characteristics and learning preferences.
• Prioritise one-on-one interactions with each student to establish a strong teacher-student relationship and address individual needs.

How do you encourage students to develop a love of learning and stay engaged in the classroom?

• Demonstrating a genuine love for learning as a teacher is essential to maintain students' interest and enthusiasm for learning.
• Use words of praise, show enthusiasm, and be a positive role model to make learning enjoyable for tamariki.
• Foster a positive classroom environment by modeling positive behavior and setting a constructive tone.
• Establish high expectations for students and maintain consistency in your teaching approach.
• Implement effective classroom routines that provide structure and predictability for students.

What resources or support systems are available for students who may need additional help or support?

• Utilise SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) for coordinating and managing special education support in the school.
• Provide in-class support from a Teaching Assistant (TA) when available.
• Allocate a Learning Assistant to work with an emergent group, providing one-on-one support.
• Access the expertise of Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLBs) to assist in addressing specific learning and behaviour needs.
• Employ Teacher Aids to support the teacher and provide additional help to students with diverse learning requirements.

How do you balance academic expectations with the need for play and socialisation in primary school?

• Implement "forced choice" strategies, allowing children to select from options tailored to their interests and needs during independent time.
• Create a balance between play provocation and academic tasks to give children the freedom to choose how they spend their time.
• Group students into core curriculums, with some working directly with the teacher and others exploring different stations.
• Establish a structured routine for rotating students between activities to maximise learning opportunities
• Incorporate developmental play sessions into the weekly schedule to support holistic child development.

Creating Collaborative and Decodable Sentences

Creating Collaborative and Decodable Sentences with Word Cards and Picture Prompts

Language development is a vital skill that forms the foundation of effective communication. Encouraging collaborative learning in language development can make the process engaging and enjoyable for learners of all ages. One effective way to foster collaboration and enhance language skills is through the use of word cards and picture prompts. In this blog post, we'll explore how to create collaborative, decodable sentences using these tools and how to take the learning process to the next level by publishing the sentences on paper.

Why do collaborative learning matters?
Collaborative learning is more than just working together; it's about engaging learners in a shared experience that enhances their understanding and skills. When it comes to language development, collaboration can:

1. Enhance Comprehension: Collaborative activities encourage learners to actively engage with language, which leads to better comprehension.
2. Boost Vocabulary: Interacting with peers exposes learners to a wider range of vocabulary and language patterns.
3. Spark Creativity: Working together often leads to innovative and imaginative ideas
4. Picture Prompts: Use pictures or drawings related to the words on the cards. These visuals help learners connect words with their meanings and make the activity more engaging.
5. Sentence Building: Encourage students to work together to create sentences using the word cards and picture prompts. The sentences should relate to the images.
6. Discussion: After creating sentences, have each student copy the sentence on a whiteboard - edit, and then they can publish in their books or on a publishing paper. 

Decodable Sentences for Early Learners

For early learners, it's essential to create decodable sentences, which means the sentences are constructed using words with phonetic patterns that learners have been taught. This reinforces their reading skills. Here's how to do it:

• Phonetic Word Cards: Create word cards that contain words with the phonetic patterns your learners are focusing on.
• Picture Prompts: Use images that represent the words on the word cards, emphasising the sounds and letters being learned.
• Guided Building: Provide guidance to learners by suggesting a few word cards to start with.
• Building Sentences: Encourage learners to build sentences using the suggested word cards and picture prompts, ensuring that the sentences are phonetically decodable.

Publishing on Whiteboards

To take this collaborative activity to the next level and make it more memorable, consider publishing the sentences on whiteboards:

1. Recording Sentences: Have each group write their collaborative sentence on a whiteboard.
2. Presentation: Groups can take turns presenting their sentences to the class. This helps build confidence and communication skills.
3. Interactive Editing: After each presentation, engage the class in interactive editing. Discuss sentence structure, grammar, and pronunciation.
4. Permanent Display: Keep the whiteboard sentences on display in the classroom for reinforcement and as a visual reference. Rewindable learning.

 

 

Waiti and Waita

 Waitī & Waitā

Waitī is a whetū in the Matariki cluster. It is the star connected to freshwater: springs, streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands and the plants and animals that live in freshwater.

Waitā is a whetū in the Matariki cluster. It is the star connected with the oceans and marine conditions and represents the many types of food gathered from the sea.

Matariki, Pōhutukawa and Hiwa-i-te-rangi

The three stars we are learning about is:

Matariki, Pōhutukawa, and Hiwa-i-te-rangi.

• We learned that the Matariki star cluster is visible in other countries too. They just have a different name.
• Matariki is known by many other names around the world, such as:

• • Pleiades (Greek and English speaking countries) 

  • Seven Sisters (Greek mythology) 

  • Messier 45 (Croatia) 

  • M45

  • Krittika (India) 

  • Subaru (Japan)

  • Mao; The Hairy Head of the White Tiger (China)

  • Mul Mul (Babylonian)

  • Freyja’s Hends (Norse mythology the Vikings

We learned about the mum star and decide to link it to a whakataukī : 

Tukua kia tu takitahi nga whetu o te Rangi

Let each star in the sky shine it’s own light

Look at our beautiful art!!

We have learnt that the star in the cluster of Matariki named Pohutukawa represents those who have passed away. At Matariki we remember them. This is what we have made to remember our loved ones. Weaving stars.

Hiwa-i-te-Rangi is the youngest star in the Matariki cluster.

Hiwa-i-te-rangi is the star that is connected to the promise of a prosperous season. It is also known as the wishing star. Māori traditionally would use this star to set their desires and dreams for the year, commonly known now as New Year’s resolutions.
You can look upon this star to set goals and resolutions for the year to come.

We made a wishing tree and everyone wrote their wishes on the tree. 

Play dough, Robots, and Sharing the Joy of Creativity

Learning all about letter Rr

Learning the alphabet can be a lot of fun, especially when you're exploring a cool letter like 'R.' We recently had a great time learning about 'R' at GTS, and here's how we did it! 

To begin our 'R' learning journey, we incorporated a hands-on approach using play dough. Play dough is not only a fantastic sensory experience but also a fantastic tool for reinforcing the shape and formation of letters. We rolled, moulded, and manipulated the play dough to create the letter 'R.'  This helped us understand what 'R' looks like and how to write it.

 

But we didn't stop there! We wanted to be super creative, so we decided to make robots using recycled stuff like old cardboard boxes, bottle caps, and a variety of other recycled materials. It was like a big arts and crafts project. Each robot we made had something special about it.

After we finished making our unique robots, we wanted to show them off to everyone in our school. So, we had a little walking exhibition where we displayed our cool robots to each class. It was awesome to see how different and creative our robots turned out to be.

Perhaps the most heartwarming part of this journey was the involvement of our senior students.  Their genuine interest in the projects, the thoughtful questions they asked, and the encouragement they provided made the little ones feel like amazing artists. 

In the end, learning 'R' was not just about reading and writing. It was about having fun with play dough, using our imaginations to create robots, and sharing our creativity with others. Learning can be exciting when we get to be creative and share with friends. The letter 'R' is now our favourite letter!

 

 

Exploring the Stars: Matariki-inspired Star Patterns

 Stars have always fascinated humans with their twinkling beauty in the night sky. For generations, people from various cultures have looked up to the stars for guidance, inspiration, and storytelling. In New Zealand, the Māori culture celebrates a special cluster of stars known as Matariki, which signals the start of a new year and the winter season. 

During Term 3 will explore the Matariki star cluster, its cultural significance, and how we can use it as a foundation for teaching and learning. We'll also share a fun activity of creating star patterns and extending them further, allowing young minds to engage with math and cultural awareness.

For the Māori people, Matariki holds immense cultural significance. It's a time for reflection, celebration, and connecting with the land and community. During this time, families come together, share stories, sing songs, and learn about their ancestors and traditions.

Matariki offers a rich platform enabling young learners to explore multiple facets of learning.

Mathematical Thinking: Creating star patterns involves spatial reasoning and geometry. Students can experiment with shapes, sizes, and angles while developing problem-solving skills.

Creativity: Students can express their creativity by designing unique star patterns, enhancing their fine motor skills and imagination.

Creating Matariki-inspired Star Patterns

Materials Needed: Geometrical shapes

While they work on their star patterns, discuss the shapes they are creating (e.g., triangles, squares, pentagons) and how these shapes relate to the stars in the night sky. How can you extend the pattern further?

Finally, students share their star patterns, talk about what they learned.

As educators and parents, let's continue to inspire our youngest learners to reach for the stars, both in the sky and in their quest for knowledge and understanding. Happy Matariki!

    

This little learner struggled with the more structured learning environment, he often does not participate in learning activities. Celebration time!!! He participated and did an amazing job!!
So proud of him - just goes to show the importance of hands-on activities and learning through play is.

 

Ensuring Quality Transitions From Early Years’ Establishments Into Primary Schools: Putting Research Into Practice

Inverclyde Educational Psychology Services, Greenock, United Kingdom

 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.499917/full

This study focuses on preschool to primary school transitions and aims to explore the elements necessary to support these transitions and foster a nurturing environment for children. The research takes a flexible qualitative approach, promoting collaborative activities to create shared meaning.

Participants, including early years' staff, primary teachers, parents, and pupils, were recruited from a Scottish local authority to engage in qualitative and quantitative activities. Through a Person Centered Planning (PCP) approach and four identified qualitative activities, a transition timeline was co-constructed. This timeline outlines essential preparatory activities for all pupils, including those with additional support needs (ASNs), and highlights examples of excellence in practice.

The intention is to promote consistency of practice across service providers, ultimately enhancing existing procedures for transitions without replacing any positive transition work that may already exist in different contexts. By sharing this study's findings, it is hoped that the process of transitioning from early years' centers to primary schools can be made smoother and more beneficial for all involved parties.

Transitions and changes in a child's daily life can be overwhelming and anxiety-inducing. When practitioners are unaware of these anxieties, they can worsen the situation. Therefore, it is crucial to plan for and support transitions appropriately. One of the six nurture principles in relationship-based practice is supporting transitions, which can positively impact academic achievement.

To ensure successful preschool transitions, it is essential to have activities and events that bridge the gaps that might disrupt a child's learning and development. This responsibility falls on practitioners in both ECEs and receiving primary schools, as well as the broader multiagency team, including educational psychologists. Collaborative efforts among professionals maximise the chances of successful transitions. Moreover, involving parents, children, and families further enhances the process.

For my inquiry I will start with my Stages and plan accordingly and as time permit me to do so.

Aim
• To investigate what should be in place to support transitions.
• To develop a shared understanding of what makes a nurturing transition for children across providers.
• To create a document outlining the values and principles underpinning transitions for children.

Stage 1:

Ethics
Allocate and meet with educators who are willing to participate int his journey to make transitions smoother for the tamariki.
Participants will be made aware of their rights to withdraw at any time and debriefing took place for all.

Design
The overall design of a qualitative and flexible approach that takes an interactive nature to co-create shared meaning of transitions. The initial stage 1 served as an exploration regarding the next steps.

Participants
Methods of recruitment for the investigation are consistent with obtaining active and informed consent from participants. The session is intended for practitioners that included a mixture of early years’ staff, primary teachers and principals

Materials

My intended plan: Getting enough people together to formulate an action plan.

Procedure

• Working together—all practitioners have developed transitional guidance unique to them.
• Consistency of practice could be ameliorated by working from the same guidance.
• Listening carefully to identify people aspirations for positive transitions.
• Identifying strengths and solutions.
• Focusing on what could be possible rather than just what was available. Local authority resources fluctuate yet the focus needed to be upon the creativity of resources.

Matariki overview Learning Slides

Introduction

Matariki, the Māori New Year, is a significant cultural celebration in New Zealand. It is a time to reflect, celebrate, and learn about the stars, nature, and Māori traditions. Incorporating Matariki into the curriculum for young learners, specifically Year 0-2 students, can be an enriching experience. In this blog post, we will explore how Matariki learning slides can be used to engaging "Learn, Create, Share" activities.

Why Matariki for Year 0-2 Students?

Matariki offers a unique opportunity to connect children with the natural world and Māori culture. Year 0-2 students are at a crucial developmental stage where they are curious, receptive to new concepts, and eager to engage in hands-on learning experiences. By integrating Matariki into their curriculum, we can foster a love for learning, build cultural understanding, and develop essential skills.

Matariki Learning Slides

Matariki learning slides are digital or printable resources that can be tailored to the specific needs of Year 0-2 students. These slides can include information about the Matariki star cluster.

Celebration time with our Science Showcase

At GTS, we're all about making learning exciting and hands-on. This term our focus during LEARN CREATE SHARE was Science, our students got to choose what they wanted to learn about in: (material world)stuff in our world, (physical world)things that move, or living things. What they did with their choices was nothing short of amazing!

We decided to show off our students' hard work with a Science Showcase, and guess what? Loads of whanau came.

 

It was a big surprise for us, but it shows just how much they care about their child's learning.

Living world - looking at invertebrates like jellyfish - they have no bones!!

Volcano on a lemon??

Material world - it's all about mixing stuff together and see what happens - the WHY?

Our students were like little scientists, showing off what they'd learned with big smiles on their faces. Everyone was so proud.

Physical world - making things move and how can we make it faster or slower. Newton's cradle - this was a very big challenge,  but we persevered and got it in the end!! A few burned fingers from the hot glue gun, but the outcome was mazing!!

Magnet fun - even a bit of magic!!

Doing art with magnets - who would have thought!?

Simple machines - making a ramp for our car we created that can really move!!

Floating - scenario was set. We have a ship and it crashed into some rocks. The ship sank. The people are safe on the island but now we have to make a boat that will float to get the people safely home - what are we going to do. What makes a boat float? It's all about the shape and the load!!!

What made this showcase special was how much everyone loved it. Whanau couldn't stop saying nice things about our teachers and students. We believe in teaching in a fun way that helps all learners. We want to make sure learning is exciting for everyone.

Let's look at our bones - we made a spine!! 

Our hands can move - each little bit of our fingers moved just like a real hand!

We don't do science like you might think. No boring lectures here! Our students get their hands dirty, because learning is messy, and have a blast doing it. They learned about cool stuff like chemicals mixing together, how things move and the wonders of nature. Every moment was a chance to learn and have fun. We are all about failures too - if we try to create and it doesn't work the first time, we can reflect and make it better.

Our students were so excited and curious. They looked like future scientists, engineers, and nature lovers. But most importantly, they looked like children who love learning and exploring.

In a world that can sometimes be confusing, it's great to know our children are getting ready to take on any challenge. The Science Showcase wasn't just about what they learned this term. It was about showing their incredible potential.

We're excited for the future and can't wait to see where their curiosity takes them. Thanks to all the whanau for their support, and congrats to our fantastic students. Together, we're making the future a little brighter and a lot more curious!

4 Strategies for Sparking Critical Thinking in Young Students - EDUTOPIA 12th May 2023

Fostering investigative conversations in a junior class can be challenging but incredibly beneficial for promoting critical thinking. Let's look at some strategies:

Encourage Friendly Debate: 

Providing open-ended prompts that engage students' interest and allow them to take a stance can spark organic engagement and critical thinking. By encouraging students to share their opinions and participate in debates, they develop their ability to articulate their thoughts, provide evidence, and respectfully engage with peers. The math talk questions and picture-based discussions are great examples of how to generate interesting conversations.


Put Your Students in the Question: 

Centering students' viewpoints in a question or discussion prompt fosters deeper thinking. By personalising the topic, students are encouraged to analyse, reflect, and make connections to their own experiences. This approach enhances engagement and allows for more meaningful exploration of the subject.


Open Several Doors: 

Some students may be hesitant to participate in classroom discussions. Providing opportunities for them to express their opinions, such as using hand signals or participation cards, ensures that everyone's voice is heard. These strategies create a supportive environment where all students can contribute comfortably and encourage the conversation to flow.


Provide Discussion Sentence Starters: 

Young students often struggle to connect their contributions to their peers' ideas. Introducing sentence starters and modelling how to build upon others' thoughts helps students engage in more meaningful and connected conversations. Celebrating their correct usage of sentence stems reinforces these behaviours and encourages further growth.

Here are a few more suggestions to foster investigative conversations and critical thinking in the junior class:

Use Scaffolding Techniques: 

Provide scaffolds such as graphic organisers, visual aids, or sentence frames to support students' thinking and expression. These tools help structure their thoughts and encourage them to delve deeper into the topic.


Incorporate Real-Life Examples and Experiences: 

Relate the topic of discussion to real-life situations, experiences, or current events that are relevant and relatable to the students. This connection enhances their understanding, encourages critical thinking, and promotes engagement in the conversation.


Encourage Active Listening and Reflection: 

Emphasise the importance of active listening during discussions. Encourage students to listen attentively to their peers, ask clarifying questions, and reflect on what is being shared. This practice enhances their understanding, promotes empathy, and supports the development of critical thinking skills.


Create a Supportive Classroom Culture: 

Foster a safe and inclusive classroom environment where students feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, asking questions, and challenging ideas. Encourage mutual respect, active participation, and valuing diverse perspectives.

By implementing these strategies and providing appropriate support, teachers can create a classroom culture that nurtures investigative conversations, critical thinking, and deep learning among their junior students.

The Writing Rope

The Writing Rope - created by Joan Sedita

Let's look a the basics of each strand and what it means with an example and simple ideas. All 5 strands need to be taught for the students to become efficient writers.

1. First Strand - Critical Thinking

• Generating ideas and gathering information
• and teaching about the writing process like organising, drafting, editing and revising

- Very important in junior years to teach our children to brainstorm ideas and to let them know they have a bunch of ideas to write about and plenty of ideas to share with others

- Important to instil that they are writers and that they can do this
  Joan Sedita has broken down the writing process into 4 categories where the writing and revising parts are usually the hardest parts 

- We can also put it in 5 different categories which may be more applicable to juniors and New Entrants: 

•    THINK - I can think of an idea to share
  
  
  
•    PLAN & SAY - I can take my idea and plan what I want to share. This is because in junior classes and                     especially ESOL students, the Oral Language is so important. We know that all of our students have all these       ideas in their brain but the writing, transcribing part is going to be the hardest part for them. They are             learning how to use all the skills, e.g. writing a sentence, use punctuation, grammar and also how to physically     write down the words. Before they attempt the writing, make sure they are able to use their language orally.
  
  
  
•    DRAW & WRITE - I can draw and write my ideas on paper. Drawing is a very important part of the writing             process
  
  
   
•    EDIT & REVISE - I can re-read my story to add and fix things. At this level we have to focus on                             punctuation,  capitalisation and going back to my story and add more.
  
  
  
•    SHARE - I can share my story with all of you. We have to understand that we are not always just writing for         ourselves but also for an audience. That way we can praise and celebrate.
  
  
  

Now, during the writing process we have to focus on each step and explicitly teach each step. Let's look what it can look like:

Day 1 and Day 2 is very similar. 

Day 1- you are introducing the genre you will focus on and introduce some key points e.g. For HOW TO informative writing genre. This is a simple model you can use to introduce and the students can always refer back to it. Also look at a piece of writing to model with.

Day 2 - brainstorming day. this is our thinking step. A brainstorming sheet is useful to get all their ideas written down. Using the sheet and model how to use it as a tool to brainstorm their ideas. Ask for student feedback and making sure they understand how to use it before they go off and write. You can also fill it in together and the students can copy the ideas.

Next is the planning step. This is where you will give the students the different plan to use for different genres e.g. narrative will have a beginning, middle and end, a informative text, you will have a main idea and then jot down some details and explaining the procedural steps they need to take.

Very easy step to write - they use their planning to write their story. Here they can cross check with you if they are still following the plan for the specific genre.

For revising and editing it is easy to use a checklist to follow. Here is an example of the checklist for the HOW TO genre. Making sure that you follow all of the things. 

General editing checklist: 

2. Second strand - Syntax

• Grammar and syntactic awareness
• Sentence elaboration
• Punctuation

Grammar and syntactic awareness and sentence structure are very different in each level the students are at. This will grow and expand as they become more confident. 

In the junior levels this is what students need to focus on:

• understand what a sentence is
• write an complete sentence
• the different sentence types
• expand sentences into super sentences - this is where students can focus and explore using different punctuation and edit their sentences.

After the whole group modelling the students can go into writing centres or groups to practice as well as go over the writing and discuss.

1. Teach them about conjunction sentences - using the word and but 2 words together. It is good to model this first with the whole group because they can hear what it should sound like before they write independently.
   

   
   

   
   
   
   
2. Sentence scrambles is also good practice to look at syntax and grammar. they have to put the words in order to make sense. Decodable sentence scrambles are great because students can do these independently.
   
   
   

3. Third strand - Test Structure

• 3 different types of writing - narrative, informational and opinion writing
• paragraph structure
• organisation 
• linking and transition words

At junior level the patterns and organisation is not really applicable yet, but you can teach about the 3 different types of writing and how they are different from each other and also a few transition words. 

Explicitly teach what each genre is e.g. modelling, brainstorm ideas together and have that available when they do writing independently. Looking at features what makes a narrative and an informative text. Teach them why transition words are important and how the story will make sense if you use them correctly.

4. Fourth strand - Writing craft

• word choice
• awareness of task, audience and purpose
• literary devices

There are a couple of things we can do in the junior level. We want to make the students aware what type of writing they will be creating, Teaching each genre specifically and what it looks like through modelling and the purpose. We can expect 1-2 sentences and expanding as they grow more confident.

As literary device you can introduce direct speech - like speech bubbles during a shared reading or reading to. Explaining why they are there and why did the author do it like that.

Also using sensory details - modelling a text and pointing out the sensory details - e.g. what did we see, hear, smell, taste or felt at the beach.

We can introduce our students to some of the features they will be using later on.

5. Fifth strand - Transcription

• this is the most important part for students
• spelling 
• handwriting

As we said before the physical act of writing is the most difficult part of writing  because it is a developmental skill that many students may or may not have learned yet. 

We have to make sure while we are teaching writing they say all the wonderful ideas they have and what a sentence may look like that we also focus on spelling and handwriting. 

Through handwriting we teach automaticity  - they have so many things that is going on all at once - think about the word they want to write and breaking down the sounds, make sure they know the grapheme phoneme correspondents, then take the pencil and hold it correctly and thinking how to form the letter correctly.  

There are 2 different types of spelling: 

Inventive Spelling - during writing we have to rely on inventive spelling to get the ideas out. They are not going to be able to proficiently spell the words correctly yet because we haven't taught it to them yet. That's why our students need explicit spelling instruction during phonics. Want to teach in a systematic and sequential way - through phoneme and matching it to the corresponding graphemes. 

Resources: Sussan Jones

The Writing Rope - Joan Sedita - Session 1

The Writing Rope - Joan Sedita - Session 2

The Writing Rope - Joan Sedita - Session 3

The Writing Rope - Joan Sedita - Session 4

The Writing Rope - Joan Sedita - Session 5