Team Teaching Literacy

[Guest]

Our Literacy Co-ordinator - KS2 teacher - has asked if she can come in next week and team teach a literacy session as she has no experience of working with Foundation Stage. She has said she wants it to be 'fun' (isn't it always !!) I really want to show her what we do in the best possible light.

 

Our current topic is Animals and we are visiting a farm this week, so next week our Literacy lessons would normally be focused on our visit - preparing captions to accompany a display, or making a book about our farm visit - though if she comes later in the week this work might already have been completed. We have a Vet's surgery and a Pet shop as our role play areas.

 

Does anyone have any WONDERFUL ideas for things we could do - on any area of literacy at all!! I have argued against doing a literacy hour or using the NNS medium term planning - so I need to show that our 'play' is worthwhile and meaningful.

 

Hope you can help,

Harricroft

[Guest]

You have by the sounds of things a general animal theme running - have you done Dear Zoo?

Loads can come from that book - letter writing in your writing area, finding out about suitable pets and their needs using computer and non fiction texts, making a similar lift the flap book about pets based on your farm animals - eg sent for a cow but it was too big, sent for a hen but too flappy (!) maybe think of a better word than that! Making suitable animal containers using construction, junk modelling, and writing instructions as to how to make them or labels for the front.

 

Plenty for both independent and for focussed tasks and good material for plenary as each group needs to feed back about their chosen activities for that session.

 

Good luck! Let me know what you decide to do.

Edited May 9, 2006 by Guest

[Guest]

Just remembered - the last time we did this book a group of my class wanted to make their own zoo for the small world table - they made enclosures and animal houses using boxes and construction, some of the small world animals were used but one boy wanted baboons and couldn't find any in the box. He set someone off making a clay one and he made one out of card and cut it out. They made an aquarium with a plastic carton and filled it with water. They put in some of those fish counters and some card ones. the "disintigration" of the paper ones and the running of the colours where they had felt penned the patterns on really fascinated them - the whole project went on for well over a fortnight, they just kept adding to it. They made brouchures taking photos with the digital camera of their models and made a guide brochure thing, they made tickets and even a gift shop where they were selling pictures children had drawn of the animals. We got loads of maths out of it, using money, counting, estimating, measuring, area, positional language and direction, as well as mapping and routes.

Obviously this worked so well because it came from the children's idea, don't know how it would compare if we were to suggest it, but you never know.

A great book with loads to do from it.

[Marion]

How about Cock-a-doodle-doo! Farmyard Hullabaloo! (Orchard Picturebooks)

Giles Andreae, David Wojtowycz (Illustrator)

(author of commotion in the ocean and rumble in the jungle)

The book is a lovely rhyming text and lots of fun.

Descriptive language rhyming strings ect?

Farm in small world

matching mother and baby animals

make wooly sheep collage

playdough and animal cutters in malleable/finemotor or animal biscuits if feelingambitious

animal stencils

erm.........

Edited May 9, 2006 by Marion

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies Judy B and Marion. I've never heard of the Farmyard Hullabaloo book Marion - I'll have to hunt that one out. I had intended doing Dear Zoo in week 5 as part of a wild animals section, but I do remember making a copy of Dear Farm one year and that worked well with lots of linked activities as you said - it's funny how much you can draw out of a good book isn't it. It sounds as if your class really got involved Judy - I love the boy who sent someone off to get make a clay baboon! and what wonderful incidental learning from the disintegrating paper - aren't kids great

 

Thanks for the ideas - if anyone has any more, keep them coming.

Harricroft

[Guest]

Decided on Dear Zoo (thanks for the suggestion Judy). We did a quick recap of the book and then decided we could write a letter to say thank you for our puppy (taken from our Pet Shop). Did a shared write with the children to the zoo - talking about letter format (simply) and what we might want to say ... remembering our manners. Some children then went off to write their own letters. Other activities included role play in the Vet's/Pet shop, making cages for small world animals in the construction area (complete with 'daynjurus' label!!), making dough animals, playing animal hopscotch. It went OK, the children were all busy in their own activities ... the teacher said she wouldn't like to do Reception - she would feel frustrated that you couldn't move the children on quickly enough, it was all a bit slow, and how do you cope with all the noise! At least I don't need to worry that she will want to transfer to Reception and leave me having to move to the horror of a QCA structured classroom - LONG LIVE THE FOUNDATION STAGE CURRICULUM.

[Guest]

Well done, Harricroft. Glad it went well.

[Susan]

Well done!