Learning and Teaching
Literacy Assessment at St John's
In the last couple of weeks, you might have heard your child say “we had to do a test today”. At St John’s we use a range of assessment for our students but by far the most effective assessment is when we seek and interpret evidence and data from ‘tests’ in order to understand where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there. We call this formative assessment or “Assessment for Learning”. It helps to inform our teaching by allowing us to modify our teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment.
For example, one assessment that takes place at this time of year is an online set of Reading Comprehension questions that are aimed at each student’s level of understanding. Results from this assessment (PAT-R) help us determine the placement of students into Reading groups in our learning areas and highlights what each group needs to focus on to move forward in the Progression of Reading Development. This data is then supported by a great deal of observation tasks, analysis of individual and group readings and responses to teacher questioning. We understand the importance of using a range of different findings to determine the student’s developmental stage. We are also using a program called Brightpath to help us moderate our students’ writing and determine the next steps for each student to show the desired growth in their writing.
Another use of assessment at this time of year is to determine what Literacy Intervention is required for our students with additional needs. This may include participation in
- Reading Recovery,
- Enhancing Reading Intervention Knowledge (ERIK) focus groups,
- Oral language support,
- Phonological Early Reading Intervention (PERI) focus groups
- English as an Additional Language (EAL) support,
- Group Reading & Rereading Easy Appropriate texts Daily (GRREAD) focus groups to improve reading fluency,
- Toe-By-Toe reading program
- Extension groups
- or a tailored one-to-one reading program for specific needs.
A great deal of planning and teacher knowledge is used to determine the learning needs of our students. We are fortunate to work in a small environment where we know our students well and work collaboratively as teachers, supported by our fabulous Learning Support Officers (LSOs) to continuously improve outcomes for all of our students.
Ange Crowe
Literacy Leader
So many wonderful things are happening here in the world of Mathematics! The students are thriving with open ended challenges and there has been a real focus on asking the students to verbalise their reasoning for the way in which they are solving problems.
Below I have attached a link to a great game that you might wish to play with your children at home. It is accessible for all ages and introduces the students to the concept of multiplication, arrays and the connection with repeated addition.
I hope that this resource will help support you and your kids!
Reverse Land Grab
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgQhIGjPW3Y
For a full range of games, visit www.lovemaths.me/games
If you have any questions regarding your child in Math, please feel free to email me
Rhett Masters