Writing

We use the Talk for Writing method to teach writing at Grasmere Primary School. This is a powerful programme to teach writing with because it is based on how children learn. It follows the principals if imitation, innovation and independent application and focuses heavily on oracy, encouraging children to express themselves and their ideas fluently and with confidence,

Across the year, children are introduced to six writing styles through six different genres of fiction. Within each unit, children explore poetry and non-fiction writing, experimenting with different writerly techniques and voices.

Each unit is accompanied by a model text through which children are introduced to key grammatical concepts and vocabulary. The model text is learned off-by-heart by the class through a story map, allowing children to internalise these techniques and eventually make them their own.

Teacher modelling is key to the success of Talk for Writing. The teacher acts as a guide, modelling how to think like a writer; demonstrating how to live edit and improve words, be excited by new vocabulary and illustrate the different effect grammatical techniques can have on a piece of writing, be it to change the atmosphere, the position or the impetus.

Talk for Writing exemplifies adaptive teaching, offering and modelling different strategies for all children to support themselves independently or having the additional support of scaffolding through its use of visual cues, ‘magpie’ words or word banks, and texts/writing examples thoroughly modelled by the teacher.

Each unit starts with a ‘hook’ to draw children into the story and get them excited. Can you guess the story for some of the hooks below?

 

Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation 

We follow the Read, Writing Inc. spelling programme and use their Extra Practise Zone. This allows for daily practise in the classroom of spelling and grammar in addition to the daily writing lesson. 

Learning across the week looks as follows:

Reception – KS1

• Green words and red words from their story book. 
• Tested 3 x per week at the start of a lesson.
• Sent home weekly as part of homework. 

Year 2 – Year 6

• Green words and orange words 
• Tested 2 x pers week within a SPaG lesson
• Sent home weekly as part of homework.

The Extra Practise Zone is an online platform that offers children a chance to practise and improve their spelling, grammar and punctuation at home in an interactive and engaging way.

A parent booklet for support in accessing the platform can be found here.

Parent workshops:

Please join us at one of the parent workshops to learn more about how you can support your child at home.

Click the link below to find resources and articles mentioned at each workshop.

Help your child with writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar.