At Idsall, we believe that literacy is a vital part of a student's education. Being able to communicate effectively through the written and spoken mode is at the heart of everyday life and, therefore, we are committed to ensuring that high quality Literacy is at the heart of every subject.
Literacy across the curriculum
Across our curriculum, teachers will make specific reference to tier three vocabulary that they will be using in each lesson so students know which subject specific vocabulary they will be learning. Teachers will regularly check the subject specific vocabulary through quizzes, retrieval questions and questioning. The learning of this key tier three vocabulary is a very important way to improve subject knowledge and examination outcomes.
Literacy Focus presentations
Please follow the links to find our Literacy Focus presentations that can be used to support your child.
Literacy Focus 2 - Question Marks
Literacy Focus 3 - The appropriate use of commas
Literacy Focus 4 to be able to use 'there', 'their' and 'they're' with accuracy
Week 1 - There, Their, They're
Week 2 - There, Their, They're
Week 3 - There, Their, They're
Literacy Focus 6 - Apostrophes
Subject specific reading
Each subject area will have specific reading skills that are required to be successful. The exam papers for each subject will have different types of text and a variety of command words used in the questions. Teachers will explicitly model how to read these exam questions and break them down for their subject area.
There are also some more generic strategies that are used in the classroom to improve literacy in individual subjects. These include:
- Inferring meaning from context.
- Summarising or identifying key points.
- Using graphic or semantic organisers.
- Developing questioning strategies.
- Using a text marking strategy such as BUG (box the command word, underline the key points, and glance over the question again).