English has a unique position and function in the curriculum because it is the first language of the majority of children in Ireland. The child meets ideas and concepts through listening and reading, and he expresses understanding and recounts experiences through speaking and writing. The better is the child’s ability with language, the more effectively will he learn. (Primary School   Curriculum, English Language Guidelines, p. 2).

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Principles of Language Learning

To ensure that the aims of the English curriculum are realised, it is important that a coherent plan for the teaching of English throughout the school be drawn up. This section will examine:

• Curriculum planning for English.
• Organisational planning for English.

Curriculum Planning

The principles, which inform the English curriculum, are as follows:

The integration of oral language reading and writing in a coherent language process:

• Listening, speaking reading and writing are integrated in the process of learning languages. For example, there is a close relationship between competence in reading and the ability to express oneself in writing.

The complementary outcomes of language learning and learning through languages:

• In the process of acquiring language skills and in developing the ability to use language, other dimensions of the child’s personality and potential are cultivated and enriched.

The central place given to oral language throughout the curriculum:

• The development of oral language is given an importance as great as that of reading and writing, at every level, in the curriculum

The development of reading skills through language experience and a range of word identification strategies and the use of a wide range of reading material to satisfy children’s reading needs:

Various strategies with regard to the teaching of reading are outlined at a later stage of this document.

Consistent use of a well-stocked library and a variety of reading schemes is recommended.

For the past number of years, there have been purchases of books each year. Big Books from the Ginn 360, All Aboard and Sunny Streets Series have been acquired. There will not be a concentration on any one series, but much of the early focus will be on the Sunny Streets Language Programme.

A concentration in the writing process on helping the children to become independent writers

It is important that the process of writing is given equal prominence to the product. The child can become an independent writer by attempting to write and by self-correcting his/her writing with the prompting and guidance of the teacher. This entails a consistent experience of writing, editing and redrafting.

The language needs of children

• The language needs of the children in our school are influenced by their social cultural and economic backgrounds. Our pupils come from a reasonably wide range of backgrounds, and they have a variety of language needs. This variety will be reflected in the teaching strategies utilised.
• The language ability children bring with them to the school will influence the level and intensity of oral language activity they need in early years and throughout primary school.

An Integrated language Approach

• Oral language, reading and writing are not discrete language activities in the language learning process.

Oral language in the integrated language process

Consideration has been given to three issues:

• Maximising the use of oral language in developing children’s comprehension and reader response skills. This entails a much greater use of oral language as an alternative to written exercises. The posters from the Magic Emerald series, and the cards from the Chatterbox series provide a starting point for the oral language exercises.
• Oral language activity will provide a basis for writing.
• Oral language activities will be used as teaching strategy in every area of the curriculum.

Approaches Used in the Teaching of Reading

Each child is unique, and responds in a different way to his/ her environment. The logical conclusion to the first statement is that the method which is used to teach reading to the child should be specific to him/her. There cannot be, therefore, one method of teaching reading which is universally applicable. The results of research, experiment and experience have in recent years led to some changes in ideas and in emphasis. The place which oral language plays in the development has been given a heightened emphasis, and the role of interest in the teaching of reading has been more fully recognised with the result that there has been a movement away from strictly structuralist approaches to the teaching of reading.  The new strategies which are being employed attempt to motivate and encourage children to enjoy reading.

Paired Reading

More and more parents wish to become involved in their children's education, and it makes pedagogical sense therefore for teachers and parents to seek means whereby the children's progress in reading can be accelerated. Paired reading is a simple technique by which parents can help their children with reading at home. Parent and child are asked to read together on a "little and often" basis. Paired Reading Projects are initiated and monitored by the teachers, and evaluated by teachers and parents at the end of each project  Ms A. Noonan is responsible for the organisation of the Paired Reading Projects, and co-ordinates the distribution of resource material.

Reading Recovery

Reading recovery is a school based early intervention programme which focuses on children who have not attained any significant progress in reading/writing. The children who are selected are those who are adjudged to be most at risk with regard to ever acquiring the skills of reading. These pupils receive individual tuition for 30 minutes daily. The results which have been reported for this approach have been very heartening, but unfortunately, constraints on time and numbers, the programme can only be undertaken with a limited number of pupils.

Language Experience Approach

The Language Experience Approach to reading conceives of learning to read as being part of language development. It recognises the close relationship between reading, speaking, writing and listening. Advocates of this approach suggest that progress in reading is determined by the extent of the child's experiences in all of these language media prior to and during his/her early school years. The LEA can be summarised as follows:

"What I can think about, I can talk about,
What I can say, I can write
What I can write, I can read,
I can read what I write and what other people can write for me to read".

The LEA has been used with considerable success with individual pupils during the past number of years.

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General Policies on the teaching of reading

• The approach to reading which is fostered is based on children’s general language development.
• Phonological and phonic awareness play a central role in the acquisition of word identification strategies. (Cf.  School Spelling Scheme)
• A wide range of reading material will be used throughout the year (Cf. Lists of books for individual classes)
• Textbooks from other subjects and appropriate material from the Internet will be used to teach reading.

The approach to writing

• A gradual development of child’s ability to write through process of writing.
• Consistent use of drafting, editing, and redrafting – use is made of word processing to make class magazines and many of the classes are also involved in `Write a Book’ programme.

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Penmanship

The aim is to teach the children a fluent, legible style of handwriting which will meet their everyday needs in school, and also meet the demands of later life for a legible style of writing. The essential qualities of handwriting writing are legibility and fluency.

• The child should acquire as habits a satisfactory method of sitting at his desk and the correct method of holding and using a writing instrument.
• Basic handwriting instruction should take place in all classes up to and including 4th  for ten minutes per day
• Attention to be paid to correct letter formation – clockwise /anti-clockwise
• Attention to be paid to the methods of joining letters
• The same standard of handwriting is expected at all lessons, and not just during the formal handwriting lesson
• Fluency in handwriting is achieved through practice – rhythmic pattern-making exercises help in the development of fluency (cf. pre-writing books)
• Posture of children when writing should be such that the writing hand and arm have unrestricted movement
• Pen or pencil must be held lightly, mainly by the thumb and index finger. The top of the middle finger rests lightly against the pencil to give additional support
• Order of letters in which letters are taught in Junior Infants:
• c, a, d, g, q, o, r, n , m, h, b, p, I, t, j, f, k, x, u, y, l, v, w, z, e, s 
• Capital letters are taught in same order in Senior Infants
• C, A, D, G, Q, O, R, N , M, H, B, P, I, T, J, F, K, X, U, Y, L, V, W, Z, E, S
• Revise lower case and capital letters in First Class, and commence process of using up-strokes
• Teach all rules with regard to the joining of letters. (cf. School Handwriting Manual).  The aim by the end of Second Class is that most of the children will have acquired a “legible joined script”.
• c, a, d, g, q, o, r, n , m, h, b, p, I, t, j, f, k, x, u, y, l, v, w, z, e, s
• Cartridge Pen or biro introduced in Third Class. Teachers assess the capability of individual pupils to make the transfer from pencil to pen /biro.
• Handwriting competitions are organised twice a term by Ms C. Brangan. Each pupil’s work is displayed. The results of the competitions are aggregated, and there are overall winners in each class at the end of the year.

Assessment

Although allowance is made for teachers’ professional discretion in the use of assessment, the overall approach should be consistent throughout the school.

Range of assessment tools

• Teacher observation.
• Teacher designed tasks and tests.
• Work samples, portfolios and projects
• Curriculum profiles.
• Diagnostic tests such as Belfield Infant Assessment Profile (BIAP), MIST, Jackson, Daniels and Diack, Young Reading Test, and Thackray are available from the Learning Support Teacher or Resource Teacher.
• Micra T is used to assess progress in English reading and comprehension [Standards 1 to 6th ]. The tests are held in December for 2nd to 6th and in January for 1st Class.
• Tests set by individual teachers are held in January of each year, and the results are used as the basis for the reports to parents.
• The end of year tests are set at school level, and consist of a piece of continuous free writing and a comprehension exercise. A detailed marking scheme is made available to assess the free writing 

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Organisational planning: Roles and Responsibilities

The Board of Management

It is the responsibility of the Board of Management to support and facilitate the development and implementation of the English curriculum

Parents

“Parents will also have an important role to play to the extent that they are involved in children’s language development in school”. Consultation with parents occurs at individual level throughout the school year, and at a collective level, at the meetings which are organised throughout the year. Details of school policies on language development  are also outlined in the School Handbook

Principal

• Oversees the development of the school plan
• Consults with the BOM and parents with regard to the provision of resources
• Ensures that sufficient time is made available for the teaching of English
• Identifies a teacher with particular interest in English to lead staff discussion and to draw up a policy document on the teaching of English

Special Duties Teacher

• Develops and co-ordinates school plan with specific reference to curriculum development, assessment, resources and record keeping
• Promotes and organises Paired Reading
• Liaises with parents, teachers and psychologists with regard to pupils who may have/ have special needs
• Presents draft documents to the staff at meetings
• Advises on the choice of reading schemes
• Supports colleagues as they prepare schemes of work and implement the plan

Other Teachers

• Prepare and implement balanced programme in line with the school plan which caters for the needs of each child
• Implement school assessment policies and provide information on the progress of individual children
• Provide information for parents with regard to the programmes being followed in English

School and class libraries

There are approximately 6,000 items in the school library. Books constitute the main part of the collection, but there are also CD’s, photocopiable masters, videos and audio tapes . The books have been obtained from 4 main sources – purchases as a result of grants from DES and BOM, donations from parents, books from the School Library Service and books from Fingal Library. When books are purchased, they are covered with Contact and catalogued. Each class receives an allocation of 200 books approximately. These books can be changed at any stage during the year by returning them to Ms B. White. Teachers are held responsible for the books which are allocated to them, and books should not be exchanged informally between classes. It is advisable for each teacher to put a system in place to ensure that books are not lost.

The school librarian visits the Schools Library in Blanchardstown on a yearly basis. Particular cohorts are targeted each year to receive an allocation of books.

Early identification and remediation of reading difficulties

Early diagnosis is essential.  “It is generally recognised that if a child is going to encounter difficulty with reading, the problem will have begun to manifest itself by the time he/she has reached senior infants”. Day–to-day observations of class teacher are very important, but formal assessments are undertaken at this level by Learning Support Teacher and /or other Resource Teachers for children with special needs  (cf. Policy documents on Special Needs)

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The aims of the English curriculum are to:

• Develop an appreciation of the value of spoken, read and written language
• Create, foster and maintain the child’s interest in expression and communication
• Develop confidence and competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing
• Develop the capacity to clarify thinking through oral language, reading and writing
• Enable the child to read and to write independently

Broad objectives

• When due account is taken of varying abilities and circumstances, the English language curriculum should enable the child to:
• Develop the skill of listening actively
• Learn to understand the conventions of oral language interactions
• Expand his vocabulary and develop a command of grammar, syntax and punctuation
• Become fluent and explicit in communicating ideas and experiences
• Identify the key points of a text or oral presentation and organise the information gained
• Justify opinions and present a coherent argument orally and in writing
• Organise, clarify, interpret and extend experiences through oral language activity and writing
• Compose and relate own stories and poems
• Develop a range of reading skills which includes phonemic awareness and a sight vocabulary
• Develop a range of comprehension strategies
• Read from a variety of texts
• Develop a sense of discrimination with regard to the use of language and images in the media
• Write for different purposes
• Learn to edit writing
• Use computer technology in learning to write and for information retrieval
• Enhance reading and writing development through the involvement of parents or guardians

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Content of the Curriculum

The content of the curriculum is presented in four strands at each of the four levels – infant classes, first and second, third and fourth, fifth and sixth classes.

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Infant Classes

Oral Language

Children need basic oral language skills before they can begin to read. The more sophisticated their oral language becomes, the more understanding and vocabulary they will bring to reading and writing.  By achieving competence with language the child will learn to converse with others, to express emotions and opinions and to verbalise imaginative and creative ideas. The Primary Curriculum emphasises the need to focus as much on oral language development as on developing reading and writing skills.

Developing a child’s oral language skills impacts fundamentally on the personal and academic development of the child.  Everything that happens in school is channelled through the medium of language. Oral language development is an integral part of the development of all language skills, and competence in oral language impacts on the development of other language skills.

The English language programme must integrate oral language development with the development of literacy skills, and in our school, it was decided to use the widest possible range of materials to facilitate the development of this range of skills. The main source will be The Sunny Streets Language Programme, and this  will provide the foundation for our approach to the teaching of language. Other suitable resources such as the Magic Emerald posters will also be used.

Content Objectives

Developing receptiveness to oral  language

The child should be enabled to:

• Experience, recognise and observe simple commands such as look, listen and watch
• Listen to a story and respond to it
• Hear, repeat and elaborate words, phrases and sentences modelled by the teacher
• Mime and interpret gesture, movement and attitude conveying emotions

Developing competence and confidence in using oral language

The child should be enabled to:

• Talk about past and present experiences, and plan, predict and speculate about future experiences 
• Choose appropriate words to name things and events
• Combine simple sentences through the use of connecting words
• Initiate and sustain a conversation
• Use language to perform social functions such as introducing oneself and others, greeting others and saying goodbye, giving and receiving messages, expressing concern and appreciation

Developing cognitive abilities through oral language

The child should be enabled to:

• Provide further information in response to teacher’s prompting
• Listen to a story and ask questions about it
• Discuss different solutions to simple problems
• Show understanding of text

Developing emotional and imaginative through oral language

The child should be enabled to:

• Reflect on and talk about a wide range of everyday experiences and feelings
• Create and tell stories
• Listen to, learn and retell a variety of stories, rhymes and songs
• Respond through discussion, mime and role-playing to stories, rhymes and songs
• Listen to, learn and recite rhymes
• Create real and imaginary sound worlds

The posters in the Sunny Streets series will play a key role in enhancing the children’s linguistic competence. The posters will be used to stimulate talk on a range of topics and experiences familiar to the children. The posters are designed to capture the imagination of the children, to engage them interactively and to act as a catalyst for a wide rang of talking activities. It is vitally important for language development that the children would hear a lot of rich, challenging, high-quality language, and it is intended to use story, poetry, rhyme, song, riddles, riddles, puns and tongue–twisters as the media which will enable the children to extend their vocabulary.  Through the poster activities, the children will be introduced to talk through whole class discussion, to work in pairs and in small groups.

The 12 posters for Junior Infants deal with the following topics:

• Water
• Out and About
• Shopping
• I am Me
• School

The 12 posters for Senior Infants deal with the following topics:

• Wild animals
• Food
• Play Time
• Cats
• At the Doctor

Reading

Developing concepts of language and print

The child is enabled to:

• Listen to, enjoy and respond to stories, nursery rhymes, poems and songs
• Become an active listener through a range of listening activities
• Play with language to develop an awareness of sounds such phoneme and morpheme relationships
• Develop a sense of rhythm and rhyme using songs, nursery rhymes, jungles, clapping to syllabic rhythms
• Become familiar with a wide range of environmental print
• Learn about the basic terminology and conventions of books – author and title, left to right orientation, top to bottom orientation, front to back orientation
• Read texts created by himself and by other children in collaboration with teacher
• Learn to recognise and name the letters of the alphabet
• Develop an awareness of letter sound relationships (initial consonants in Junior Infants)

Developing reading skills and strategies

The child is enabled to:

• Handle books and browse through them
• Encounter reading through collaborative reading of large format books and language experience material
• Build up a sight vocabulary from experience of environmental print and from books read
• Learn to isolate the beginning sound of a word or syllable
• Learn to isolate beginning and final sound of written words
• Engage in shared reading activities

Developing interests, attitudes and ability to think

The child is enabled to:

• Re-read, retell and act out familiar stories, poems or parts of stories
• Recall and talk about significant parts of stories
• Predict future incidents and outcomes in stories
• Understand the functions of text
• Differentiate between text and pictures

Responding to text

The child is enabled to:

• Respond to characters, situations and story details
• Perceive reading as a shared, enjoyable experience
• Pursue and develop individual interests through engagement with books

Policies on the Teaching of Reading

It is important that the school provides each child with a reading experience appropriate to his needs and abilities. A structured reading scheme will be used, but it will be regarded as one of a number of sources necessary to provide adequate reading experience for the child. The structured reading scheme provides a source of graded reading material, and it will be complemented by a wide range of other reading material encompassing a variety of narrative, expository and representational text.

Core Reading Books for Junior Infants

• Big Books
• Hurry Up Lucy
• Tidy Up, Jack
• Nearly There
• Good Night, Molly
• Happy Birthday, Molly Brown

Story Books

• Happy Birthday, Molly
• Yummy
• Say `Cheese'

Information Book

• Things we need

Core Reading Books for Senior Infants

• The Please and Thank You Stories
• The Tooth and Twinkle Stories
• The Ready, Steady, Go Stories

Information Book

• Out and About

Writing

Creating and fostering the impulse to write

The child is enabled to:

• Experience and enjoy a print-rich environment
• Write and draw frequently – making attempts at writing, letters and symbols, captions, words and sentences
• Write for different audiences
• See personal writing displayed
• Read personal writing and hear it read

Developing competence, confidence and the ability to write independently

The child is enabled to:

• Learn to form and name individual letters
• Write and draw shapes, signs, letters and numerals
• Understand the left to right, top to bottom orientation of writing
• Develop a satisfactory grip of writing implements 
• Copy words from signs in the environment
• Write his name
• Use labels to name familiar people and things
• Write letters and words from memory
• Become aware of lower-case and capital letters and the full stop
• Begin to develop conventional spelling
• Choose subjects for drawing and writing

Clarifying thought through writing

The child is enabled to:

• Draw a picture and write about it
• Draw and write about everyday experience
• Write naming words and add descriptive words
• Rewrite sentences to make the message clearer

Developing emotional and imaginative through writing

The child is enabled to:

• Draw and write about feelings of happiness, sadness, love and fear
• Draw and write about things he likes / dislikes
• Draw and write about sensory experiences (hot, cold, bright, dark, sweet)
• Draw and write stories
• Hear a rich variety of stories, rhymes and songs and draw and write about them
• Use mime and role-play to create imaginary situations, and then draw and write about them

Suggestions

Pre-Reading

• Sight Vocabulary and Pre-Reading Activities
• Recognise and name words and phrases from signs in the school: "This is a door".
• Respond to classroom captions of the type: "Sit on the chair".
• Recognise and name words from Sunny Street Series.
• Read a selection of Pre-readers, e.g. "First Words", "Read it yourself" books.
• Match a word to a relevant picture among a group of six.
• Match a phrase to a relevant picture.
• Match a picture to a relevant word.
• Match a sentence to a relevant picture.

Suggestions for Pre-Reading Environment

• Large pictures with sentences and duplicate sentences, e.g. Posters from "Child Education" magazine, Magic Emerald posters 1-5,
• Children's drawings or paintings displayed with suitable captions written by teachers.
• News Sheets - news items of interest to the class recorded on newsprint sheets.
• Wall Stories, e.g. pictures of the story of the "Three Little Pigs" with a short sentence under each picture.
• Nursery Rhyme pictures with detachable sentences and duplicates.
• Job Chart - with pictorial clues.
• Command cards e.g. "Close your eyes", "Clap your hands".
• Labels for classroom, e.g. "Our door is green".
• Captions on the children's work on the display board, e.g. "We made this pattern".
• Class books - books made by the children, "Long and Short", "Hot and Cold", etc.
• Children's names.
• Book corner.

Visual Perception

• To match pictures, shapes, patterns, or symbols with their duplicates.
• To match letters, words, and sentences with their duplicates.
• To group together sets of words that start with the same initial letter.
• To identify and match pictures of objects that are associated or related, e.g. cup/saucer, leaf/tree, dog/bone.
• To identify from a set of 4-5 pictures, symbols or letters, the item that is the same as or different from a criterion item.
• To name or draw from memory a set of objects, pictorially represented, after a short exposure to it.
• To name from memory the item removed from a set of five objects.
• To name an item added to a set of five objects.
• To choose letters, shapes or words similar to criterion ones after a short exposure to the original letters, shapes or words.
• To sort a group of ten letters into lower-case and capitals.
• To match a group of four lower-case letters to their capital equivalents.
• To assemble jig-saws.
• To make outlines of the following shapes by using plasticine or matchsticks.  Then trace over the shapes made, and later draw them.

Pre-writing and Left Right Orientation

• To colour within lines.
• To colour in relevant sections of a picture where numbers or letters indicate which colour fits in.
• To draw a line within simple mazes:

Recognition of Letter Names and Shapes

• To name all the letters of the alphabet.
• To select any letter spoken bay the teacher among a group of four written letters.  Teacher says "d", child has to select it in a line of four letters: a, d, p, r.
• To trace and copy letters.
• To write a letter spoken by the teacher.
• To sort a group of ten letters into lower-case and capitals.
• To match a group of four lower-case letters to their capital equivalents.
• To write on his own some words from the word list.

• Remember simple directions and repeat them when asked.
• Repeat numerals or unconnected words in sequence (at least four.)
• Repeat and say, on his own, jingles and rhymes.
• Select from a number of pictures the picture mentioned by the teacher.
• Sequence at least six pictures that suit a story told by the teacher.
• Re-tell a story previously told by the teacher.
• Tap or clap simple rhythms while listening to rhymes or music.
• Tap or clap simple rhythmical patterns in imitation of the teacher, e.g. ?
• Differentiate between two sounds played simultaneously on a tape-recorder.
• Identify and differentiate environmental sounds, e.g. sounds made by animals.
• Imitate familiar and unfamiliar sounds.
• State whether a sound is the same of different from a criterion sound.
• Make judgements about the quality of sounds and use appropriate descriptions (loud/soft, high/low, near/far, faster/slower).

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

In acquiring the ability to use sound-letter relationships, the child needs to develop phonological and phonemic awareness. Activities recommended are:

• Saying and hearing nursery rhymes
• Reproducing rhymes
• Clapping to syllabic rhythms
• Segmenting of words into syllables

Onset and rime

Onset–rime knowledge can help in developing awareness of spelling patterns by introducing analogy through word families which share the same spelling and rime (sand / hand).

READING

Suggested Sequence of Instruction

• Introduce the main characters
• Introduce flashcards and posters (oral language lessons).
• Introduce the eight words with flashcards and appropriate instructions e.g. Put on your jumper etc.
• Introduce the Big Books and introduce the following concepts e.g.
• The story comes from words.
• The words are read from left to right.
• The words are read line by line from top to bottom.
• The pages are turned from front to back of book.
• The pages are turned one by one etc.
• Writing Activities  - Samples of exercises in all Activity Books

THE STORY

It is recognised that teachers read or tell stories to children so that they will enjoy them and absorb language in a receptive capacity.  But the story can also be used as a means of developing language and cognitive skills.

Objectives:

• To listen while a story is being read.
• To recall some features of the story.
• To re-tell, in his own words and in correct sequence a story read by the teacher.
• To make predictions about the likely sequence of events.
• To ask questions requesting further information about a story.
• To project into the experiences and feelings of the characters in a story.
• To describe how he would react if placed in a similar situation to a character in a story.
• To complete a story.
• To show appreciation of stories by:
• requesting them.
• listening to them.
• telling them.
• using them as a base for a play.
• by making illustrations of them.

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First and Second Classes

Developing receptiveness to oral language

The child should be enabled:

• to experience challenging vocabulary and sentence structure from the teacher
• listen to stories, descriptions, instructions and directions
• listen to sounds and respond to them
• express in mime various emotions and reactions
• become more adept in using verbal and non-verbal behaviour in order to secure and maintain attention

Developing competence and confidence in using oral language

The child should be enabled to:

• talk about and reflect on past and present experiences, and plan, predict, and speculate about future experiences
• initiate discussions
• engage in real and imaginary situations to perform different social functions
• focus on the subject under discussion and sustain a conversation on it

Developing cognitive abilities through oral language

The child should be enabled to:

• give a description or describe a process, and answer questions about it
• listen to other children describe experiences
• become increasingly explicit in relation to people, times, places, processes and events
• engage in real and imaginary situations
• ask questions

Developing emotional and imaginative life through oral language

The child should be enabled to:

• describe everyday experiences and events
• tell stories in his own words
• listen to, read, learn and recite a varied repertoire of poems
• listen to, learn and tell riddles and jokes
• recognise and re-create sounds in the environment

The Primary School Curriculum’s belief in the primacy of oral language is recognised by the level of emphasis which will be placed on giving children opportunities to talk and discuss a wide variety of topics. The Sunny Streets posters will provide a starting point for some of the discussions. 

The News

Emphasis should be on topical events of interest to the child.  A good method of discovering the interests of the children is to give them an opportunity to give an account of their news.  If a certain period of time can be allocated to "news" (e.g. after roll call or after morning prayer) it will encourage children to prepare their account and it will avoid disappointment to any child who has prepared his work but has not got the chance to air his views.

Children can give their news on a rota basis.  It will stop individual children monopolizing "news" time and the teacher can note the shy children who don't contribute any day.  These children may later be encouraged to retell their stories or read on mock T.V. screens. Children who have idiosyncrasies of speech can have these checked provided this can be done without drawing too much attention to them.  If any child has a bad speech impediment it might be worth finding out if the parents are bringing him to a speech therapist. Items of news that crop up regularly can be given special consideration.  Additional vocabulary can be presented at such times. Discussion will arise from most areas of the curriculum and these opportunities may be used to present new words.

Story

• Retell the main ideas of a story.
• Ask questions to elicit further information about a story.
• Suggest a new title for a story.
• Make hypothetical suggestions about antecedent events when final section of story has been told.
• Recognise incorrect detail.
• Project into the feelings of a character in a given story situation.
• Illustrate a situation or character in story visually.
• Mime a situation or character in a story.
• Write a story where key words are given along with picture sequence.
• Develop an original story in a group situation.

Reading Strategies

The child should be enabled to:

• Engage in shared reading activities
• Visit the class library
• Continue to build up a sight vocabulary of common words
• Engage in activities to increase awareness of sounds
• Self-correct reading errors
• Develop reading skills through engaging with reading material appropriate to his stage of development
• Adapt reading style for different purposes

Reading for pleasure and information

The child should be enabled to:

• Read from a range of children’s literature
• Engage in personal reading
• Read aloud to share a text with an audience
• Find information
• Perform simple information retrieval tasks such as using a table of contents and using a simple index

Developing interests, attitudes and ability to think

The child is enabled to:

• Pursue individual interests through independent reading of fiction and non-fiction
• Adopt an active approach to a text by posing his own questions
• Develop comprehension strategies
• Perform alphabetical order tasks
• Express a formal response by giving a report in oral or written form
• Use Information Technology to enhance reading development

Responding to text

The child is enabled to:

• Continue to listen to stories and poems being read aloud
• Engage with a wide variety of texts
• Listen to stories read aloud in instalments
• Explore different attitudes and feelings by imagining what it would be like to be certain characters

First Class

Core Reading Books

• Sunny Street Friends
• Books, Books, Books
• Never Bored with Books

Group reading and individual reading are desirable for children in 1st and 2nd Classes.  Children will need training at speed and pitch.  Plans of questions on reading material should be made out to test comprehension. A scheme of extra readers (library) should be drawn up to cater for spreading interests of the children. The children will have these books at home and they can bring them in to form a class Library.  Each child can select a book which he can exchange for a new one when he had finished reading it.  Children can bring these books home to read or read them in class.  Each child must look after the books carefully.  A few questions should be asked about each book on its return. Reference books can be referred to for information during class, e.g. dictionary, encyclopaedia etc.

Auditory Comprehension and Memory

• Isolate and name a specific sound from a number of sounds on tape.
• Tell the order in which a number of familiar sounds were made.
• Identify fast/slow, high/low, loud/quiet sounds.
• Repeat polysyllabic words, e.g. industry, excellent.
• Remember simple instructions and repeat them when asked.
• Repeat in order a sequence of 4-6 letters or numbers presented orally by the teacher.
• Re-tell a story previously told by the teacher.
• Use percussion instruments to beat out rhythm.
• Continue rhythm initiated by teacher.
• Repeat and say simple poems and jingles.

PHONICS and Spelling

See School Spelling Scheme

WRITING

Creating and fostering the impulse to write

The child is enabled to:

• Experience a class room environment that encourages writing
• Seek help from teacher in order to achieve accuracy and appropriate standard of presentation
• Write regularly for different audiences – personal purposes, the teacher, other children, the family
• Choose topics to write about
• Have writing valued

Developing confidence, competence and the ability to write independently

The child is enable to:

• Experience oral language when preparing a written task
• Work at drafting and re-drafting
• Understand the conventions of punctuation – full stops and use of capital letters
• Spell words in a recognisable way based on an awareness of common spelling strings
• Spell correctly a range of familiar words and use a variety of sources as aids to spelling – words displayed in class, personal dictionaries
• Choose topics for writing after consultation with teacher
• Confer with teacher on the quality of presentation
• Write notes and messages to different audiences – teacher, friends, parents

Clarifying thought through writing

The child is enabled to:

• Write in a variety of genres – stories, poetry, diaries, cards, invitations
• Write a version of a story told by the teacher
• Write the significant details about an event or activity
• Write a simple sentence and add words to extend its meaning
• Write answers to questions asked by the teacher
• Listen to a story and write down questions to ask about it

Developing emotional and imaginative life 

The child is enabled to:

• Express feelings in writing
• Write about experiences
• Draw and write about sensory experience
• Draw and write stories and poems
• Express in writing likes and dislikes
• Listen to music and write about it

Handwriting

The letters of a word should be kept quite close together while the spaces between words should be generous.  Some children will write neatly but for many six and seven year olds, they will need much practice at headlines.  Use of photocopier will prove very useful in this instance, as it will in the making of work cards.  Need for punctuation may be confined to use of full stop in first class.

Second Class

Oral Language

Suggestions

Topics

• Fun and fantasy
• Dinosaurs
• Travel
• Birds
• Kitchens
• Weather
• Pied Piper
• Festivals
• Space
• Sounds
• Daily News
• Nature Study : Talk about the seasonal changes, animal and plant life.
• What would you do if ?
• Story endings.
• Flying - airports, being on an aeroplane
• Supermarkets
• Toys
• Telling the Truth
• A Scary Monster
• Fish
• Ghosts
• Wishes
• Clothes
• Pets
• Being Lost in a Shopping Centre
• Accidents in the Home
• Witches 
• Seasonal topics

Possible Approach

• Anticipate what will happen by discussing the title of the story
• Analyse the plot
• Building  of characters from contextual clues:  Physical appearance, behavioural traits, feelings.
• Predicting what will happen as the story unfolds.
• Get children to tell story in four or five sentences.

Reading

The main goal of the reading programme is to teach the children how to read, but the ultimate objective is to foster an enjoyment of reading. The two main aims are subsumed under the headings of reading to learn and learning to read.

Core Reading Books

• Sunny Street Fiction Favourites
• More Sunny Street Fiction Favourites
• Sam and Some Sticky Situations

Spellings and Phonics

See School Spelling Policy Document

Writing

Possible Topics

• Relating a story from experience
• Completing a story
• Write a Book
• Language Experience Approach
• The day I caught a fish.
• Icarus and the moon.
• The silliest thing I ever did.
• A Moon Bear comes to Earth.
• You have the power to make people dance.......
• Make 4 Wishes
• My Fancy Dress Outfit
• Putting out the Dragon's Fire.
• The Lost Dog
• Lost in a Supermarket.
• My House
• My Summer Holidays
• The School Jog
• Halloween
• My Pet
• The Zoo
• My Favourite TV Programme
• The Day I fell Off My Bicycle
• Myself
• My School
• My Favourite Sport

Poetry

Give the children the opportunity to hear, recite and write poetry. Explanation of ideas, showing why poet opted for one word instead of another.

Drama and Integration with Other Areas of the Curriculum

• Dramatise various stories
• Act out people at work
• Act out various poems
• Act out familiar emotions - anger, happiness, sadness... 

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Third and Fourth Classes

Oral Language

As the pupil advances from the Junior classes his command of spoken language improves rapidly, and the time devoted to oral expression will decrease slightly, but the importance of oral language will not diminish. Oral language will still play a vital role in the development and consolidation of ideas. Every lesson is a language lesson, and each subject area provides scope for discussion of themes and concepts. Language may therefore be seen as the integrating influence in the curriculum.

Developing receptiveness to oral language

The child is enabled to:

• Listen to, retell and tape a narrative or a description
• Give and follow instructions
• Use mime to  convey ideas
• Discuss the use and effect of music, sound effects and non-verbal clues

Developing competence and confidence in using oral language

The child is enabled to:

• Initiate conversations and respond to the initiatives of others
• Present ideas in a logical sequence
• Summarise and prioritise ideas
• Discuss the origins and meanings of words
• Become aware of new words
• Play synonym and antonym games
• Become familiar with the functions of words – nouns, pronouns, verb, adverb, adjective and preposition
• Practise the common social functions in the everyday context of the class

Developing cognitive abilities through oral language

The child is enabled to:

• Discuss issues that directly affect his life
• Discuss a story being read
• Discuss different possible solutions to problems
• Listen to a presentation
• Learn how to use the basic key questions – why? How? Where? When? What ? What if?
• Make presentations to class about his interests
• Justify personal likes and dislikes
• Argue a point of view
• Explore historical events through drama

Developing emotional and imaginative life through oral language

The child is enabled to:

• Describe everyday experiences to the class
• Describe favourite moments
• Express reactions to events and stories
• Dramatise stories
• Experience playful aspects of language

Topics

• Current affairs: local and global
• People: Our families, people who help us
• Special occasions - Christmas, Easter, St Patrick's Day, birthdays, Lent.
• Stories, poems, incidents in the classroom and in the school community, Greek legends, the Fiannaiocht and other stories from history
• Social and Environmental Studies - the weather, the changes in Swords during the various seasons
• Topics related to the stories from the texts which are being read.
• Animals of the jungle
• A problem I helped to solve
• Races - the Olympic Games
• Things we keep in a fridge
• People who spend their lives helping others
• Pets which the children keep and how they care for them
• A bad mistake I once made
• Space travel
• The Tidy Towns Competition
• Litter
• Bicycles
• Ghosts
• Musical Instruments
• India
• A Summer Job

Reading

The main goal of the reading programme is to teach the children how to read, but the ultimate objective is to foster an enjoyment of reading. The two main aims are subsumed under the headings of reading to learn and learning to read.

Developing reading strategies

The child is enabled to:

• Identify unfamiliar words by reference to word parts
• Continue to self-correct reading errors
• Become an increasingly independent reader
• Understand the relationship between text and illustration

Reading for pleasure and information

The child is enabled to:

• Have access to books
• Use library facilities outside school
• Select personal reading material
• Experience different types of text
• Engage with a wide variety of poetry on a regular basis
• Develop basic information retrieval skills – using table of contents, chapter headings and index
• Use simple dictionaries effectively

Developing interests, attitudes, information retrieval skills and the ability to think

The child is enabled to:

• Read short books in one sitting
• Explore new interests and perspectives
• Seek recommendations for books to read and recommend books
• Use IT to enhance reading development
• Know the structure and terminology of books – cover, spine, illustration, dedication, table of contents, introduction, page, chapter
• Develop a range of comprehension strategies
• Use a knowledge of printing conventions as an aid to expression and comprehension – bold type, punctuation marks and capital letters
• Keep a record of personal reading

Responding to text

The child is enabled to:

• Extend and develop his response to more challenging reading material
• Talk about books
• Talk about choice of books
• Experience a shared response to fiction through the use of a class novel
• Share responses with other children and adults to cultivate a community of readers

Core Reading Books

Third Class

• A Perfect Fit and other stories
• No Room for an Elephant and Other Stories

Other Books

• The Five Hundred
• Jimmy and the Banshee
• Charlie Harte and the Two-Wheeled Tiger
• The King of Wisdom’s Daughter
• The Great Pig Escape
• Albert and the Magician

Writing

Creating and fostering the impulse to write

The child is enabled to:

• Experience a classroom environment that encourages writing
• Use personal reading as a stimulus to writing
• Write stories in a variety of genres
• Re-read writing
• See his work valued by having it displayed, by having it included in a class anthology, by reading it aloud

Developing competence, confidence and the ability to write independently

The child is enabled to:

• Write regularly
• Engage with a piece of writing over a period
• Experience oral language activity as a preparation for writing
• Learn to ask questions as a mechanism for expanding and developing a story
• Give sequence to ideas and events in stories
• Develop an appreciation of the difference between written and oral language
• Learn to revise and re-draft writing

Clarifying thought through writing

The child is enabled to:

• Write in a variety of genres –stories, diaries, reports, letters, notices, memos
• Read a story and write it in his own words
• Read a narrative and summarise it
• Write about ideas encountered in other areas of curriculum
• Write a sentence and elaborate on it
• Expand and clarify thoughts through drafting and re-drafting
• Write down directions on how to perform a particular process

Developing emotional and imaginative life through writing

The child is enabled to:

• Express his reaction to particular experiences in writing
• Write about experiences in dairy form
• Create stories and poems
• Write extended stories in book form
• Write about favourite moments, characters and events in stories
• Express in writing his reaction to poems
• Use his artwork and that of others as a stimulus to writing

Topics for Creative Writing

• One day I felt left out of things
• The day I won the race
• The day I won the lottery
• As I was walking along a cliff, I heard a voice..........
• One day I found a ... and brought him home. I asked my Mum could I keep him.....
• What I would do if I had a lot of money
• If I had a magic wand  (6 sentences)
• One day the Zogs on our planet got up to mischief
• The day I made the dinner
• My second hand bicycle
• When I was small, I was very frightened of.....
• The day I met a leprechaun
• One day I played a wonderful trick on.....
• A farm is.... (6 sentences)
• If I had a squirrel...
• Reports - daily news, places visited, sports events, review of library books
• Practice in note taking
• Class magazine - this is a combination of the creative and the functional aspects, and it will also involve word processing

Handwriting

See Policy Document on Handwriting. Legibility of handwriting is a minimum requirement at this stage. Practise  headlines each day. Transcription of useful phrases and sentences.

Poetry

Poems are chosen from class texts and from other sources.

Punctuation

• Question mark, exclamation mark.
• Use of capital letters
• to start a sentence
• for the word I
• for the names of people
• for the names of places
• for the names of days
• Commas
• Use a comma when you write a list

Phonics Spellings

[See separate phonic programme]

Fourth Class

Suggestions for Oral Language Topics

• Local, national and international news
• Television, radio programmes; Videos and films.
• Discussion of books read to class by teacher and by pupils.
• Oral reports on football matches, sports day, tours, trips.
• Hobbies.
• Related to texts being read:
• Cooking. Favourite recipes.
• Story tellers - seanchai
• Favourite football teams.
• Rescue services
• My ghost story
• Wild animals of the Irish countryside
• The life of an Eskimo
• Tortoises
• An interview with a person returning from a space voyage
• The vast universe
• Treasure
• Famous painters
• Famous sculptors
• Famous paintings
• Sherlock Holmes
• Detectives
• Criminals
• Advantages and disadvantages of various modes of travel - DART, train, steam engine
• Cruel sports
• Conservatio

Reading

Core Reading Books

• Its Not Fair and Other Stories
• Flying Free and Other Stories

Other Reading Material

• Seven Spiders Spinning
• Juliet’s Story
• Star Dancer
• In Deep Dark Wood
• The Castle in the Attic
• The House on the Shore

Specific guidance given on the use of a dictionary,

• look up the word "bridge".
• Bridge starts with the letter B. Are B words at the start, the middle or the end of the alphabet ? Find B part of dictionary.
• R is the second letter, so Br words will come near the end of the B words.
• Look for the guide words. Guide words are the words in dark type at the top of each page of the dictionary.
• There is more than one meaning given. Which one is right?
• Bridge: A crossing over a river or a road
• A platform on a ship
• Part of a violin
• The bony part of the nose
• A card game.
• Go back to the sentence from which we took the word "bridge" and check the context clues.

Extension of Reading Vocabulary

• Synonyms - words which are similar in meaning - use thesaurus.
• Antonyms - words which are opposite in meaning - use thesaurus
• Homonyms - would, wood: isle, aisle; to, too, two; blue, blew; tale, tail; road, rode.
• Compound words - make one word
• Use of prepositions
• Compile a list of abbreviations
• Make a list of the words used in History and in Mathematics
• Study of prefixes
• Singular and plural
• Write out fifteen words which begin with a vowel use of a and an.
• Write out fifteen words which begin with a consonant
• Cloze procedure - discuss suitable words for inclusion

Writing

• Extension of previous years' work - class diaries, news sheets
• Punctuation - capital letters, commas, full stops, apostrophes, question mark, exclamation mark.
• Paragraphs: Introductory work.
• Transcription: Small amount to facilitate the development of a legible hand.
• Reports on matches, television programmes, book summaries.
• Class magazine - use of computer.
• My Home Town
• A Visit to Swords Castle
• A Walk along the Estuary
• A Trip to Dublin Airport
• My Hobby.
• Write the recipe for a pudding.
• Write a conversation between a butcher and a customer.
• A Monkey finds a Guitar.
• The Ghost that played a Tin Whistle.
• What are you? I'm just a schoolboy.....
• Matuk's land is cold......
• Write a list of questions to be asked of a person returning from a space flight.
• My Treasure.
• Write a recipe for biscuits.
• The Night the Watchman Slept
• Supersub.
• Brave Boy saves his Younger Brother.

Letter Writing

Grammar

1. The noun
2. The verb.
3. The adjective.

Poetry

Give the children the opportunity to hear, recite and write poetry. Explanation of ideas, showing why poet opted for one word instead of another.

Handwriting

See separate policy document

Phonics and Spellings

See separate policy programme

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Fifth Class

Oral Language

Developing receptiveness to oral language

The child is enabled to:

• Listen to expressions, reactions, opinions and retell or summarise them
• Listen to radio broadcasts and discuss what he has heard
• Follow detailed instructions
• Use mime to convey ideas
• Interpret mood, attitude and emotion in video extracts, advertisements, paintings and photographs
• Listen to or watch sound tapes, videos and films, and discuss how sound effects enhance the film
• Listen to authors reading and discussing their own work

Developing competence and confidence in using oral language

The child is enabled to:

• Acquire the ability to give detailed directions
• Converse freely and confidently on a range of topics
• Practise and use improvisational drama to acquire a facility in performing social functions
• Discuss the positive and negative effects of jargon, slang, cliché
• Understand the functions and know the parts of speech – noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, conjunction, preposition, article and interjection
• Learn about and name the basic properties of nouns and verbs – common, proper, gender, case, tense, voice, person and number
• Become familiar with compound and complex sentences, and know and understand the terms `phrase’ and `clause’.
• Explore the possibilities of language and sentence structure
• Discuss the meaning, effect and diversity of local words and expressions

Developing cognitive abilities through language

The child is enabled to:

• Discuss ideas of major concern
• Discuss ideas and concepts encountered in other areas of the curriculum
• Use a discussion of the familiar as the basis of a more objective grasp of a topic
• Use the basic key questions and checking questions as a means of extending knowledge
• Listen to a presentation on a particular topic, decide which are the most appropriate questions to ask and then prioritise them
• Agree points of view from the perspective of agreement and disagreement through informal discussion
• Justify and defend particular opinions
• Respond to arguments presented by the teacher
• Discuss the value, truth or relevance of popular ideas, causes and proverbs
• Explore and express conflicts of opinion through improvisational drama

Developing emotional and imaginative life through oral language

The child is enabled to:

• Discuss with others his reaction to everyday experiences and events
• Discuss the concerns of others
• Discuss ideas encountered in literature
• Discuss personal reading and writing
• Express individual responses to poems and literature and discuss different interpretations
• Discuss plays, films and television

Reading

Developing reading strategies

The child is enabled to:

• Achieve proficiency in word identification skills
• Improve his ability to recognise and understand words by using root words, prefixes, suffixes and syllabication
• Engage with an increasing range of narrative, expository and representational text
• Become confident independent readers

Reading for pleasure and information

The child is enabled to:

• Read widely as an independent reader from a more challenging range of reading material
• Learn about the structure and appreciate the function of the component parts of a newspaper – editorial, news, features, review, sport, obituary, crossword, advertisement, schedule of radio and television programmes
• Visit the local library

Developing interests, attitudes, information retrieval skills and the ability to think

The child is enabled to:

• Listen to, read, learn, recite and respond to poetry
• Have access to a wide range of reading material
• Continue to keep a record of personal reading
• Use comprehension skills such as analysing, confirming, evaluating, synthesising  to aid deduction, problem-solving
• Develop study skills such as skimming, scanning and note-taking
• Retrieve and interpret information presented in a variety of ways – flowcharts, diagrams, lists, web, survey, question, read, recall and review (SQ3R)
• Read and interpret different kinds of functional texts – forms, menus, timetables and recipes
• Explore non-fiction texts for various purposes
• Use information retrieval strategies in cross-curricular settings
• Distinguish between fact and opinion, bias and objectivity in text and in the media
• Use the class and public libraries to develop insight into book location, classification and organisation
• Find information relevant to purpose in non-fiction texts, graphs and pictorial data and the use of IT

Core Reading Books:

• The Jazzman and Other Stories
• Edge of the Wild and Other Stories

Other Reading Material

• Strongbow , Amelia, The Guns of Easter
• Four Kids, Three Cats, Two Cows, One Witch (maybe)
• Brian Boru
• Under the Hawthorn Tree
• Cherokee
• The Moon King

Writing

Creating and fostering the impulse to write

The child should be enabled to:

• Experience a classroom that encourages writing
• Express and communicate reactions to reading experiences
• See his writing valued
• Write for an increasingly varied audience
• Receive and give constructive responses to writing

Developing competence, confidence and the ability to write

The child should be enabled to:

• Write regularly on chosen topics
• Write for a sustained length of time
• Engage in the writing of one piece over a period  - a week, a number of weeks, a term
• Experience consistent oral language activity as part of the pre-writing process
• Write independently through a process of drafting, revising, editing and publshing
• Observe the conventions of grammar (See separate note)
• Use dictionaries and thesauruses
• Explore the possibilities of syntax and sentence structure
• Choose a form and quality of presentation appropriate to the audience
• Develop a legible, fluent personal style of handwriting
• Develop skills in the use of IT (See separate policy document)
• Take part in co-operative writing activities – projects, class newspaper

Clarifying thought through writing

The child is enabled to:

• Write in a variety of genres – narrative prose, poetry, instructions, diaries, reports, letters, summaries, forms, recipes
• Write for a particular purpose
• Express and communicate new learning
• Use notes to summarise reading material
• Sketch an ordered summary of ideas
• Argue the case in writing for a particular point of view

Developing emotional and imaginative life through writing

The child is enabled to:

• Analyse in writing his reactions to personal experiences
• Write stories and poems
• Write longer stories in book form
• Express reactions to a poem
• Express in writing reactions to music, artwork, films, television programmes and videos

Note on Grammar and Structure of Writing

• Basic skills such as the use of capital letters, commas, full stops, question and exclamation marks, inverted commas and apostrophes to be revisited.
• Paragraphing
• The structuring of sentences. The aim is to develop sentence structure by proper use of conjunctions.
• Structuring of essays. Introduction, middle and conclusion. Study texts to see how they are structured - when paragraphs occur, and how conclusions are presented.
• Proper use of adjectives and adverbs.

Suggestions

• The Best Place in the World
• How I would like to change my life
• The Most Important Moment of My Life
• A Daunting Task
• Elephants
• The Day I Saw a Shark
• My Summer Holidays
• The Year 2050
• My Camping Holiday
• Smugglers
• The Man Fell off the Roof
• I Can Fly
• The frog is a most unusual creature.....
• My dog was stung by a wasp....
• A day in the life of ....
• Leaving Home for the First Time

Letter Writing

How to structure a letter, begin and end it; address an envelope; letters to friends and relations; letters seeking employment; looking for information. Integrated with geography work.

Functional Writing

1. Filling out forms
2. Responding to advertisements
3. Drafting advertisements

Poetry

Give the children the opportunity to hear, recite and write poetry. Explanation of ideas, showing why poet opted for one word instead of another.

Phonics and Spellings

Spellings are based on words from reader, from spelling lists and phonic drills. [See separate phonic programme]

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Sixth Class

Suggestions and General Approach

Oral Language

The encouragement of concise self-expression in speech through the form of discussion, poetry, and the narration of stories and experiences. Methods such as "forging links" and "orbiting the story" will provide a varied approach to the process of oral language development. As the children approach their final year in primary school, it is necessary to assess the extent to which the aims of the curriculum have been realised, and whether or not the children are articulate and confident in their use of English. The importance of oral language cannot be over-stressed because to expect the children to write fluently in English without allowing them the facility to express themselves orally is to lose sight entirely of the purpose of language. Discussion enables both child and teacher to integrate and accordingly every opportunity should be availed of to enable the pupils to develop their powers of expression.

1. News: Local, national and international. Some attempt at analysis without inflicting too many of our own biases.
2. Project Work: Discussion of approaches to projects, aims of projects, people to be interviewed. Reporting on project to fellow pupils.
3. Television Programmes: Introduction to media education - critical evaluation of programmes.
4. Art: Description of work done, critical evaluation of pieces of art which are reproduced in texts.
5. Cloze Procedure: Analysis of various stories, discussion on reasons for choosing certain words

• Moral Judgements - stealing
• Houses/homes
• Animals/hunting
• Machinery V Humans
• Extremities - bigger than peers, smaller than peers
• Rich/poor
• Animal instincts/habits
• Advertisements - bias in media
• Clubs
• Children missing
• Natural disasters
• Disabilities
• Different tribes
• Thieves
• Fire safety
• Savings
• Journeys
• Explorations

Reading

The main goal of the reading programme is to teach the children how to read, but the ultimate objective is to foster an enjoyment of reading. The two main aims are subsumed under the headings of reading to learn and learning to read.

Core Reading Books:

• White Fire and Other Stories
• Short Story Anthology 2

Other Reading Material

• Red Hugh
• Benny and Omar
• A Farming Home
• A Winter of Spies
• Benny and Babe
• No Peace for Amelia
• Lockie and Dadge
• Wildflower Girl

Suggestions and General Approach

• Oral reading - necessary for those who are weak in reading ability. Oral reading for all pupils is unnecessary, though it can occasionally be undertaken to help elimination of poor enunciation, lack of expression, repetition and ignorance of punctuation.
• Silent reading - reading for pleasure. Importance of school library.
• Functional reading -through this, the child should improve his ability to comprehend and absorb. Regular work on the following are essential :
• Finding the answers to specific questions
• Skimming reading material to locate information
• Reading to find essential points
• Drawing conclusions
• Form filling (driving licence, t-v licence)
• Reading time tables
• Reading league tables
• Written instructions
• Map information
• Letters
• Statistics
• Telephone messages
• Money language (writing of cheques).
• Reading research : Ability to use reference books to the full through the use of tables of contents, indices and chapter headings. Note taking of relevant material; ability to select, abbreviate and transcribe useful material and phrases.
• Using a dictionary
• Using an encyclopaedia
• Using a library - Dewey System
• Newspapers, pamphlets, brochures

Language Structure, Grammar and Punctuation
Revision of the following topics

1. Gender of nouns
2. Plurals - regular and irregular
3. Between and among
4. Subject, Predicate and object
5. Use of apostrophe
6. Tenses - past, present and future
7. Neither/nor; either/or
8. Adjectives and adverbs
9. Collective nouns
10. Adverbs
11. Full stops
12. Capital letters
13. Exclamation mark
14. Inverted commas
15. Question mark
16. Pronoun
17. Abbreviations
18. Contractions

Writing

• Basic skills such as the use of capital letters, commas, full stops, question and exclamation marks, inverted commas and apostrophes.
• Paragraphing
• The structuring of sentences. The aim is to develop sentence structure by proper use of conjunctions.
• Structuring of essays. Introduction, middle and conclusion. Study texts to see how they are structured - when paragraphs occur, and how conclusions are presented.
• Proper use of adjectives and adverbs.
• Letter writing.
• Project work.
• Word Processing : Production of a class magazine

Topics

• A Brave Deed that I witnessed
• The Fox and the Chickens
• The Traffic Jam
• The Morning after I became a Giant
• Our School - a letter to a pen pal
• A Surprise Birthday Party
• One evening after dark I was sitting alone in the kitchen....
• My Gang
• Two children have been reported missing...
• An Old Man tells his Story
• Crossing the
• Residents Abandon Seaside Town
• Weather Warning!!
• Be safe, be seen.

Other Topics

Based on reading, flights of fancy, listening to music, television programmes, integrated with history, e.g., being at Clontarf when O'Connell's meeting was cancelled; a messenger in the G.P.O. during the 1916 Rebellion; on board Wolfe Tone's ship, Being on the Titanic in 1913, etc. This section of the programme will be very strongly based on the children's own environment - a trip to the Round Tower, a trip to St Colmcille's  Well, a walk to the Estuary, Dublin Airport etc.

Poetry

• Give the children the opportunity to hear, recite and write poetry. Explanation of ideas, showing why poet opted for one word instead of another.
• Simple analysis of poems will be undertaken to heighten the children's awareness. The poems will be examined under three main headings:
• What is the poet saying?
• How does he say it? [Language used, suitability etc]
• Does he succeed?

Phonics and Spellings

See separate spelling programme

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Notes on Preparation of Long Term Scheme

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Activities to Enhance General Literacy Skills

Children will often copy text verbatim with the result that very little learning takes place. The following list contains a variety of techniques / strategies for the more effective reading of texts.

Aims

• To develop a framework for a more systematic approach to texts
• To encourage a reflective response from the children to texts

Typical Activities

Underlining and labelling diagrams

• Enables pupils to pin down the important parts of texts
• Useful for picking out ideas
• Assists with classification

Sequencing

• Focuses attention on logical order
• Focuses attention on syntactical clues

Completion of Cloze exercises

• Requires careful consideration when making deletions
• Too many deletions result in task which are too difficult or too boring
• It is essential that this activity includes discussion

Prediction of Text

• Focuses attention on logical order
• Encourages pupils to justify their responses and to challenge the responses of others

Word games – word searches, crosswords

Question and answer activities – could include multiple choice and discussion

Writing speech balloons

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Marking Policy

The purpose of marking is to enable pupils to improve their work. It is not intended as a means of undermining pupils’ self-esteem, and the emphasis therefore will be on acknowledging the merit in a piece of work, and then suggesting ways to improve it.

Especially in the junior classes, marking will be simple, positive and child-friendly. Use will be made of stickers, smiley faces and stars.

Marking should provide pupils and parents with clear and relevant feedback, suggestions for improvement and goals to be achieved

Marking should be part of a continuous process – continuity in marking style is very important. A consistent whole school approach is required which remains flexible with regard to the needs of the individual child.

There is no necessity to mark every spelling mistake in a piece of work, and it should be emphasised that mistakes are pointed out to enable children to improve their spelling.

Ideally, the correction of spellings should be done in the presence of the child

Children’s attitudes to spelling change when the positive aspects of their attempts to spell a word are pointed out, e.g., point out the letters which are right in a word

Spelling mistakes should be underlined and `sp’ put in the margin

At the end of a piece of writing, teachers might write the first three letters of the mis-spelt word, and the pupils then complete the correction

If appropriate, the teacher writes down the word for correction

If the same mistake is repeated, it is only marked once

If a common error is discovered, class discussion might take place on families of words or words associated with a particular topic

An able child will have most, if not all, mistakes pointed out

In the case of a child with spelling difficulties, only key words will be corrected

In the early stages of writing, the pupils need time to read their own pieces of work to the teacher, to notice and to question how words are spelled and to extend the range of words they can spell themselves, e.g., commonly used words and words that are important to them.

A copy of the marking policy should be given to parents

Editing Symbols / Marking Policy

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The Assessment of Proficiency in Written English

Overall Objective: 

Pupils should develop the ability to construct and convey meaning in written language, appropriate to context, purpose, reader or audience. The pupils should be taught to use:

1. Compositional Skills: Developing ideas and communicating meaning to a reader, using a wide-ranging vocabulary and an effective style, organising and structuring sentences grammatically and whole texts coherently.
2. Presentational Skills: Accurate punctuation, correct spelling and legible handwriting.
3. A Widening Variety of Forms for Different Purposes: The forms should include diaries, stories, letters, observational records, instructions, lists, captions, notices, poems and messages.

Content Objectives:

In order to assess competence in written language, it is necessary in the first instance to outline content objectives which are arranged in ascending order. The objectives at Level 1 relate specifically to pupils in the Infant Classes, but there will be some pupils who cannot attain these objectives, and others who can attain far more. In this sense, the objectives may be looked upon as a series of targets which it is hoped that pupils will attain as they progress through the primary school, but it is accepted that by the end of their primary school careers, there will be some pupils who may not have attained the targets at Level Three.

Level One: [Infants]

Level 2:  [First/Second Class]

Level 3: [Pupils of average ability in Third Class]

Level 4: [Pupils of average ability in Fourth Class]

Level Five: [Pupils of average ability in Fifth Class]

Level Six:  [Pupils of average ability in Sixth Class]

Suggested Scheme for the Assessment of Competence in Written Language 
Second Class]

Half to one page required

Ideas:

1. None
2. Very few.
3. Basic, but nothing special.
4. Above average, well written.
5. Well written, clearly expressed, creative imagination.   [20 marks]

Organisation of Ideas:

1. No sequence.
2. Sequence - beginning, no end.
3. Sequence - beginning, middle and end. [10 marks]

Sentence Structure:

1. Non-sentences included.
2. Simple sentences.
3. Simple sentences which contain some subordinate and/or co-ordinate clauses.
4. Complex sentences, with correct use of conjunctions. [10 marks]

Handwriting:

1. Poor, some of it illegible.
2. Printed and legible.
3. Printed and very good
4. Joined and good.
5. Joined and very good [10 marks]

Spelling: [Based on School Spelling Scheme]

1. Many primary word errors.
2. Some primary word errors.
3. Primary words correct.
4. Some difficult words correctly spelled.
5. No errors. [10 marks]

Use of Capitals and Punctuation

1. Many errors in use of capitals and full stops.
2. Some errors in use of capitals and full stops.
3. No errors in use of capitals and full stops.  [10 marks]

Suggested Scheme for the Assessment of Competence in Written Language [Third Class]

One page required

Ideas:

1. None
2. Very few.
3. Basic, but nothing special.
4. Above average, well written.
5. Well written, clearly expressed, creative imagination.  [10 marks]

Organisation of Ideas:

1. No sequence.
2. Sequence - beginning, no end.
3. Sequence - beginning, middle and end.. [10 marks]

Sentence Structure:

1. Non-sentences included.
2. Simple sentences.
3. Simple sentences which contain some subordinate and/or co-ordinate clauses.
4. Complex sentences, with correct use of conjunctions. [10 marks]

Handwriting:

1. Poor, some of it illegible.
2. Printed and legible.
3. Printed and good.
4. Joined and good.
5. Joined and very good. [10 marks]

Spelling: [Based on School Spelling Scheme]

1. Many primary word errors.
2. Some primary word errors.
3. Primary words correct.
4. Some difficult words correctly spelled.
5. No errors. [10 marks]

Use of Capitals and Punctuation

1. Many errors in use of capitals and full stops.
2. Some errors in use of capitals and full stops.
3. No errors in use of capitals and full stops.
4. No errors in use of capitals and full stops, use of question mark, commas.
5. Apostrophe used correctly. [10 marks]

Suggested Scheme for the Assessment of Competence in Written Language [Fourth Class]

One to one and a half pages required

Ideas:

1. None
2. Very few.
3. Basic, but nothing special.
4. Above average, well written.
5. Well written, clearly expressed, creative imagination. [10 marks]

Organisation of Ideas:

1. No sequence.
2. Sequence - beginning, no end.
3. Sequence - beginning, middle and end. [10 marks]

Sentence Structure:

1. Non-sentences included.
2. Simple sentences.
3. Simple sentences which contain some subordinate and/or co-ordinate clauses.
4. Complex sentences, with correct use of conjunctions. [10 marks]

Handwriting:

1. Poor, some of it illegible.
2. Printed and legible.
3. Joined.
4. Joined and good.
5. Joined and very good. [10 marks]

Spelling: [Based on School Spelling Scheme]

1. Primary word errors.
2. Primary words correct.
3. Some difficult words correctly spelled.
4. Many difficult words correctly spelled.
5. No errors. [10 marks]

Use of Capitals and Punctuation

1. Errors in use of capitals and full stops.
2. No errors in use of capitals and full stops.
3. No errors in use of capitals and full stops, use of question mark, commas.
4. Apostrophe used correctly.
5. No punctuation errors. [10 marks]

Suggested Scheme for the Assessment of Competence in Written Language [Fifth Class]

One to two pages required

Ideas:

1. None
2. Very few.
3. Basic, but nothing special.
4. Above average, well written.
5. Well written, clearly expressed, creative imagination. [20 marks]

Organisation of Ideas:

1. No sequence.
2. Sequence - beginning, no end.
3. Sequence - beginning, middle and end.
4. Some paragraphs.
5. Paragraphs correctly used. [10 marks]

Handwriting:

1. Poor, some of it illegible.
2. Printed and legible.
3. Joined.
4. Joined and good.
5. Joined and very good. [10 marks]

Spelling: [Based on School Spelling Scheme]

1. Primary word errors.
2. Primary words correct.
3. Some difficult words correctly spelled.
4. Many difficult words correctly spelled.
5. No errors. [10 marks]

Use of Capitals and Punctuation

1. Errors in use of capitals and full stops.
2. No errors in use of capitals and full stops.
3. No errors in use of capitals and full stops, use of question mark, commas.
4. Apostrophe used correctly.
5. No punctuation errors. [10 marks]

Suggested Scheme for the Assessment of Competence in Written Language [Sixth Class]

One to two pages required

Ideas:

1. None
2. Very few.
3. Basic, but nothing special.
4. Above average, well written.
5. Well written, clearly expressed, creative imagination. [20 marks]

Organisation of Ideas:

1. No sequence.
2. Sequence - beginning, no end.
3. Sequence - beginning, middle and end.
4. Some paragraphs.
5. Paragraphs correctly used. [10 marks]

Handwriting:

1. Poor, some of it illegible.
2. Printed and legible.
3. Joined.
4. Joined and good.
5. Joined and very good. [10 marks]

Spelling: [Based on School Spelling Scheme]

1. Primary word errors.
2. Primary words correct.
3. Some difficult words correctly spelled.
4. Many difficult words correctly spelled.
5. No errors. [10 marks]

Use of Capitals and Punctuation

1. Errors in use of capitals and full stops.
2. No errors in use of capitals and full stops.
3. No errors in use of capitals and full stops, use of question mark, commas.
4. Apostrophe used correctly, quotation marks used correctly.
5. No punctuation errors. [10 marks]

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Possible Topics for End of Year Assessment

Second Class

1. My Pet
2. My Favourite Sport
3. A visit to a farm
4. Lost in a Supermarket
5. The day I fell off my Bicycle
6. Myself

Third Class

1. Write about yourself, your height, weight, eye colour, hair colour, brothers, sisters, your favourite sport, hobbies, favourite food, games, what interests you, what bores you?
2. Write an account of what you did on one day – at school, who you played with, what you did when you went home.
3. Write an account of a day in summer – what you did, the weather, the people you met.
4. Write about a football match you played in or a football match you saw.
5. Finish this story: It was a bright sunny day. Paul and John were playing on the swings in the park. Suddenly, the sky darkened overhead. In the centre of the blackness a bright light appeared. Something fell from the sky. A strange creature stood up, brushed himself down and said. “Hi. I’m Al, an alien from outer space. Who are you?”
6. The fisherman had just returned from a fishing trip. He told his family all about it. “I hooked an enormous swordfish, but then a gigantic wave struck the ship, and the fish escaped”. Write what you think really happened.
7. Write an excuse for your teacher explaining why you didn’t do your homework.
8. Continue this story: The horse bolted. Philip was still sitting on its back, holding on for dear life. With a big effort I cleared the fence and started to run…
9. Storm at sea – these words should help you – how the people felt at the start of the voyage, where they were  going, tossed, angry sea, shipwreck, crashed, jagged, forks of lightning, roar scream, terror.
10. The Camping Holiday that went wrong
11. Lost at sea.
12. You have been asked to write about Swords for a travel brochure. What would you write?
13. Write about your school.
14. Write about the time you became a teacher for the day.
15. Write an excuse for your parents, explaining how you tore your runners.

Fourth Class

1. Write about the time you were taken hostage by an escaped convict. How did it happen? Where?
2. You spent a day with Tarzan. Write about what you did.
3. You are being chased by a  lion.
4. One night you see a robber trying to break into a house. What did you do?
5. Write your story about “School Adventure”. Where did it happen? How many characters were there? What will happen? How will it end?
6. There is a dog for sale. You go along to the address but soon realise that something very strange is happening….
7. Write about the time you were ill in hospital.
8. A School Sports Day to remember.
9. Write about a dream you had.
10. Write about a famous person you would like to meet.
11. You are lost in the desert….
12. Write about the time you stopped a bank robbery.
13. When running on a quiet beach, you slipped down a hole as the sand gave way. Describe what you did.
14. You got separated from your family on the first day of your holiday in Paris. What did you do?
15. Write about the day you took over when your teacher went home sick?
16. Write a review of your favourite film.
17. Write about an animal you’d like to be and why.

Fifth Class

1. Write about an exciting event that took place at the Airport
2. A Road Accident
3. Which sports star / pop star / film star you would most like to meet and why?.
4. Pretend you are a famous person and write about the pressures that you feel.
5. Write a letter to a pen friend in Germany telling him /her about you and your family
6. Compile diary entries for a week in your life
7. Write to a television station complaining about a programme that you dislike
8. Finish this story: Commander Ericson and her crew were looking forward to meeting their families again. Their experience on the space station, Plato, isolated from all communications with earth, had proved a resounding success. They had survived many difficulties. The starship stormed into the earth’s atmosphere and Commander Ericson turned on the video scanner for the first time in five years. The crew gathered around, straining to catch a glimpse of their home planet. However, they were horrified at what they saw…
9. Your neighbour’s house is on fire. Write a report.
10. Write a newspaper account of some sporting occasion or concert.
11. You win the Lotto. Write about what you will do with the money.
12. What would you like to be when you finish school.
13. Where would you like to go on holidays.
14. You’ve climbed Mount Everest. Write a report.
15. You’re about to sky jump from an aeroplane. Write about your feelings.

Sixth Class

1. Write about an exciting event that took place at the Airport
2. A Road Accident
3. Which sports star / pop star / film star you would most like to meet and why?.
4. Pretend you are a famous person and write about the pressures that you feel.
5. Write a letter to a pen friend in Germany telling him /her about you and your family
6. Compile diary entries for a week in your life
7. Write to a television station complaining about a programme that you dislike
8. Finish this story: Commander Ericson and her crew were looking forward to meeting their families again. Their experience on the space station, Plato, isolated from all communications with earth, had proved a resounding success. They had survived many difficulties. The starship stormed into the earth’s atmosphere and Commander Ericson turned on the video scanner for the first time in five years. The crew gathered around, straining to catch a glimpse of their home planet. However, they were horrified at what they saw…
9. Your neighbour’s house is on fire. Write a report.
10. Write a newspaper account of some sporting occasion or concert.
11. You win the Lotto. Write about what you will do with the money.
12. What would you like to be when you finish school.
13. Where would you like to go on holidays.
14. You’ve climbed Mount Everest. Write a report.
15. You’re about to sky jump from an aeroplane. Write about your feelings.
16. Write about a disaster that you prevented.
17. Write the story “Skyscraper Inferno”.
18. Write a letter to a newspaper expressing your opinion on some current issue.
19. Imagine you are Orville Wright. Describe the day you flew the first powered plane.

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Written Expression

The ability to express one’s thoughts clearly in writing is one of the key skills in the development of language. In keeping with other areas of learning, written expression must be taught. It is not sufficient to hope that pupils will acquire the ability to express themselves clearly if they are not given clear guidance with regard to expectations.

In the assessment of written expression in School Plan on English, (pages 49 - 51,) a number of objectives are outlined, and this note is a development of that section. There are references to elements of formal grammar such as nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions and clauses. These may be taught informally from 3rd Class upwards, and formally from 5th Class upwards

• Every sentence should begin with a capital letter, contain a noun and a verb, and end with a full stop
• Initially, the pupils are asked to write simple sentences and these are then developed into sentences which may contain a number of clauses
• A piece of writing should have a beginning, middle and an ending.
• If it is a work of 1 page, the aim is that it would contain 3 paragraphs – beginning, middle and ending
• If it is just a paragraph, again it should have beginning, middle and ending
• The final sentence in one paragraph should prepare for the first sentence in the next paragraph
• Aim to have each noun qualified by an adjective – e.g., “the stubborn boy”, the “kind teacher”, etc
• Aim to have each verb modified with an adverb – e.g. “ran quickly”, etc
• Do not allow the use of “went” – use synonyms for “went” such as ?
• Sentences do not start with conjunctions – “and”, “then”, “because”
• Practise drafting and re-drafting
• Use the PC for drafting and re-drafting
• Use thesaurus for synonyms

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