Writing at HBN
As the children at HBN develop their writing we focus on two key areas in our teaching: composition and effect, and the sentence structure and punctuation. We provide engaging lessons using the children's interests and base much of our writing on a book or the half term's topic. At the beginning of a unit of work, a hook is often used to engage the children, make writing fun and also give it purpose. This may be a link to a book; a trip or experiences; or a special visitor. Some exciting hooks to learning are shown in the above pictures, for example, CCTV video footage of Santa's reindeer having a party in school, a dinosaur break-in, and use of our wonderful Curiosity Cabinet. These hooks for learning allow children to practise and apply what they have been taught across a range of genres such a stories, recounts, poetry and information texts. Throughout the school, particularly in Key Stage One, we use the Talk 4 Writing process to embed story structure, vocabulary and language features. The writing process is focused around the use of a story map (as shown below) which retells the story using pictures. The children use their Signalong signs to retell the story, enabling children to gain understanding of the story's vocabulary and to remember the story's structure. They then work on innovating the story using their imaginative ideas. This approach helps encourage independence by providing a strong foundation the children can build on.
Spelling and Handwriting at HBN
Spelling and handwriting are taught discretely on a weekly basis. We encourage children in Key Stage Two to use the Spelling Shed App to practise their spelling.
For more information about handwriting click the following link - Parent_Information_Leaflet.pdf
Speaking and Listening at HBN
At HBN, we focus on providing skills that prepare them for their futures - speaking and listening is a key part of this. Throughout the curriculum, we provide opportunities for the children to practise and build confidence in the different areas of speaking and listening: talking to others: talking with others (listening and responding); talking within role play and drama; and talking about talk (discussion about meaning and impact). Every term, we dedicate a week to focus on and practise these skills.
Reading at HBN
In Key Stage One, children apply their phonics skills during Guided Reading session in which each child is read with at least once a week in small focus groups while other groups of children work independently on practical activities to consolidate their grapheme knowledge and reading skills. In focus groups, we read Monster Phonics' specialist Guided Reading books at school which include the colour coded graphemes but are slowly removed as the children move up through the book bands. These are also complemented by a range of other books that enable children to practise decoding and reading skills in other contexts. The use of additional books ensures the children encounter a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
In Key Stage Two, children continue to develop reading skills such as retrieval, inference, prediction and analysis of the language and structure of texts through Guided Reading Sessions. We use a wide variety of books and extracts that engage the children and explore different themes as well as some written by some of their favourite authors. In addition to Guided Reading sessions, children take part in whole class reading lessons as they progress throughout they Key Stage 2 - these session may focus on a particular skill or link to their writing.
At HBN, we provide the children with different opportunities, resources and events that seek to develop a love of reading throughout the school. Every year we celebrate World Book Day - a day full of fantastic costumes and fun activities. During he week that World Book Day takes place, we hold a book fair that allows us to raise money for the school to invest in new books. Every half term, each class visits the family library and we have our brilliant reading shed on the playground.
