At Whitefield Infant School, language acquisition is paramount to ensuring children access the whole curriculum effectively. We strive to be good role models as we interact with children and value quality dialogue. The use of first hand experiences, quality texts across the curriculum and artists work further develops children’s understanding of questioning, language and builds up a purposeful and meaningful vocabulary.
We are a reading school. We instill a love of reading in our children through providing them with daily opportunities to read and tell stories with adults and peers. A systematic approach to teaching phonics ensures children develop fluency and confidence in reading and spelling.
Click on the year group links below to see the year group expectations in Literacy:
An example of a class poem created in Reception, inspired by a piece of art by David Hockney.
An example of a class poem written in Year 1, inspired by a piece of art by Duffy.
An example of a class poem created in Year 2, inspired by a piece of art by Sonia Delauney.
Modelled writing in Year 1
Writing outcomes in Spring term Year 1 which show the sequence of learning
Modelled writing in Year 2
World Book Day
Thank you to everyone who took part in our World Book Day 'make a recycled bookmark' competition. We had so many wonderful entries, the class teachers really struggled to pick a winner! Our winners received a new book, however all our children will receive a £1 book token that can be used to buy a new book in a local book store.
During 'World Book Day' children participated in an online zoom story telling session with Burnley Youth Theatre and many other schools in the local area. Children loved listening to the interactive story and engaging in the activities. We continue to support Burnley Youth Theatre by having a drama specialist in school every Friday.
Writing is modelled by the teachers and displayed on our learning lines to support children's learning.
Our classroom environments support children's vocabulary development and helps them with their writing.
Texts in our classrooms and around school are carefully chosen to support children's learning across the curriculum.
Texts to support year 2's healthy eating topic in Science
Vocabulary and texts to support 'our local area' Geography topic
Year 2 have emailed the author of 'Mr Wolf and the Three Bears', Jan Fearnley some of their creative writing.
Phonics areas in all classrooms allow children to practice and apply their phonics skills throughout the day.
Reading, writing and storytelling opportunities in the EYFS
Goldilocks says sorry!
Children in EYFS have been emersed in the text 'Goldilocks and the three bears' and have produced some amazing writing!
Teacher demonstration of writing throughout the school shows a build up of skills.
Story telling in Year 2
Year 2 worked with story teller and artist, Creeping Toad, to create and plan their own adventure stories based on Chris Judge's stories, 'The Great Explorer' and 'The Lonely Beast'.
Children found objects in the forest school that their explorer might need.
They created a camp for their explorer to keep safe.
Then children planned a problem their explorer might encounter and recorded their ideas on a story map.
The Year 2 children then used their plans created with Toad to write their own adventure stories.
Rosy's Lost Jewels by Faizah
The Lost Friend by Sahil
The Lonely Toothfairy by Alishbah
We Are Reading Project
Our Year 2 children have been involved in a project with the Year 5 children from Lomeshaye Junior School. Here are some of the letters the children wrote to one another.
Letters from Year 5 children
Replies from our Year 2 children to Year 5
We Are Reading Project
Not only did we enjoy learning to read together, the project also helped our Year 2 children with their transition to the junior school. Watch the video below to find out more!
We enjoy reading for pleasure at Whitefield. We love our reading shed to enjoy stories at playtimes
Year 2 have been lucky this week to have a Year 6 pupil in school to help with our learning. Tia shared a lovely story with the children during story time.
Year 2 Fire of London Poetry
World Book Day
Each child designed a headband to represent their favourite book or character. Below are just a selection of the fantastic headbands children and their families created. Thank you to all the children and families who took part in World Book Day.
Share a Story for World Book Day
School council wrote a letter to each class to set them a challenge to share a story each day leading up to World Book Day and find the most interesting place around school to share a story!
Class 4's Creative Story-telling
Class 7 told stories in the snow!
Class 1 had a cosy story time in the cloakroom!
Class 8 shared stories in the library
Nursery shared the story of 'We're going on a bear hunt'
Congratulations to our writers of the month
Examples of next step marking
Next step marking is used in English to move children on in their learning and encourage children to proofread, edit and improve their writing. Children are given the opportunity to respond to next steps in their learning.
Progression in writing across the school
Nursery
Reception
Year 1
Year 2
Children are given daily opportunities to read for pleasure.
Character hats
Mystery objects
Reading buddies
Small world and story telling
The story teller's chair
Class reading areas
At Whitefield Infant School we are all story tellers! Can you guess which stories we are learning by looking at our doorways to learning?
Story telling in Nursery
Children in Nursery used a story map and props to learn and re-tell the story of 'Owl Babies'.
The Nursery classroom provides many opportunities for children to tell stories.
Children in Nursery use mark making to record their stories.
Story telling in Reception
In reception children use fabric, props and puppets to support their story telling. Aminah in Class 1 loves using her imagination to tell stories with her friends.
Shared writing in Reception
Opportunities to write with independence
Story telling in Year 1
Children in Year 1 use small world and story language to re-tell stories with their friends in the reading area.
Children have been reading and analysing the story of Little Red Riding Hood. They have learnt more about the characters in the story and collected vocabulary to help them write their own descriptions and stories.
Teacher's demonstrate the expectations of writing in Year 1. Through shared writing they model how to spell using phonic knowledge, how to make writing interesting and extend sentences and how to use the correct punctuation.
Story telling in Year 2
Story telling stones are used to allow children to create their own stories and use their imagination.
Teacher demonstration of writing in Year 2
English learning walls are used throughout school to develop children's skills and support their writing.
Year 2 visited Nelson Library to watch a performance of 'The Boy who Steals Christmas'. We learnt all about the Lancashire Reading Trail and received information about how to become members of Nelson Library.
Please ask your child's class teacher if you would like some more information about joining the Lancashire Reading Trail.
Year 1 worked with a drama specialist to create 'A Play in a Day' all about a superhero's adventure! It was incredible what the children achieved in just one day and the parents and year 2 children thoroughly enjoyed watching their performance.
Year 2 children worked with the explorer, Creeping Toad to create characters, settings and story maps to support writing their own adventure stories. The children worked in small groups to share their creative ideas and created a bank of interesting language to support story writing.
Collaborative, creative learning to build a story map
At Whitefield the reading area is a focus in every classroom to create an enjoyment and love of reading. Wouldn't you love to tell stories in one of these reading areas?
Tell a story on the sofa in Class 6
Visit Class 4's reading garden
Choose yourself a reading buddy in Class 8
Each class has an author study area where children can become familiar with a certain author and their stories. This month Class 5 are studying Julia Donaldson.
Writing is displayed in our classrooms on our washing lines to show our 'live learning'.
Reception have been learning the story of 'The Shark in the Park'
Live learning in Year 1 linked to their key text 'Lost and Found'
EYFS provide children with lots of reading, writing and role play opportunities in the classroom.
In EYFS the writing area is at the centre of every classroom.
Progression in handwriting across the school
Nursery
Reception
Year 1
Year 2
Congratulations to our colleague and friend of Whitefield, Dawn Robertson who recently got confirmation that her first children's book will be published. The children of Whitefield had a lot of input into characters in the book in the early stages and we were lucky enough to interview Dawn when she visited school this term. We can't wait to see the final copy on the shelves in our school library.
Year 2 learnt that literacy was a lot different in Victorian times
Play in a Day
Year 2 created a 'play in a day' around their topic of The Great Fire of London. The children did amazingly well to create a performance in one day and learnt lots of facts and information about our topic. Thank you to all the families who came to watch their performance.
Literacy through the Arts
All the children love going to our school library
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