OUR LEARNERS
Literacy is a fundamental life skill. Through writing and the English Language Arts Curriculum, students are equipped with the language and literacy skills they will need for success in school, the community, career, and life. It provides students with the opportunity to become effective communicators, to develop and express their own ideas, and to think deeply and critically about the ideas of others. As they explore and create written, oral, and visual texts, students expand and deepen their understanding of both real and imaginary worlds, gaining insight into their own lives and the lives of others.
Our learners connect and engage with others during informal and structured conversations in which they listen, contribute, develop understanding and relationships, and learn to consider diverse perspectives.
Our kindergarten learners can talk about their weekend during sharing circle. Then the students begin with the prompt on the board "On the weekend I" and sound out the rest of the sentence stretching out the word to include all the sounds they hear.
Intermediate students researched legends. Understanding that learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational the students went home and interviewed their parents to find out about a family legend. The class loved sharing the personal stories of their families.
Our learners communicate with intention and purpose. They understand that communication can influence, entertain, teach, inspire, and help us make sense of the world and our experiences. They recognize the role the audience plays in constructing meaning, and they make strategic choices to help convey their messages and create their intended impact. They draw from a range of forms, media, and techniques, monitoring and adjusting their approaches and assessing their effects.
Here one of our students is sharing her persuasive writing. She demonstrates how delivery helps to engage and entertain her audience as well as convince them of the most beautiful place to visit. The student engages with her audience and knows how to deliver her message in the most impactful way possible.
Our learners communicate orally first and then they use sentences. They focus on conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar and punctuation.
These students are participating in an oral language lesson. The students love these lessons that are quick, fun, & multi-sensory! Watch the journey to reading and writing that begins through phonemic awareness. They can follow a pattern, understand beginning and end sounds, and combine sounds to begin the writing journey. The students also understand that they are each on a different learning journey and that learning involves patience and time.
OUR FOCUS
Our learners participate in a variety of learning experiences that focus on thinking, writing, and communicating in all curricular areas. Students aim to build strong literacy foundations that are fundamental for participation in today’s world.
Our students’ learning goals include:
To plan for intentional learning experiences, the progress of one cohort across different subject areas was monitored. This cohort was comprised of Grade One and Grade Two. Cohorts are chosen because we feel it provides a sampling of our students, and they are good indicators of school performance as a whole.
In Grade One/Two, students create texts to deepen awareness of self, family, and community. They learn to identify, organize, and present their ideas in a variety of forms. While practicing our 'Brain Pocket' writing, students are also learning to play with language so they can discover how language works. Using structured phonics programs and following scope and sequence for Grade One and Two , students have developed their roles as sound detectives so that they can be better spellers and writers.
The cohort teacher was asked to communicate students’ progress using the provincial assessment scale. The teacher indicated that all students demonstrated growth in relation to our three literacy goals using data from samples below.
Our school literacy goals are as follows:
Below are examples of students’ writing:
November - Student A (Grade 1) February - Student A
November - Student B (Grade 2) March - Student B (Grade 2)
November - Student C (Grade 2) March - Student C (Grade 2)
November - Student D (Grade 1) March - Student D (Grade 1)
Student A was assessed as Developing based on their writing in November and March. There is definitely an improvement in their writing. Because of daily phonics work, Student A has increased their confidence in sounding out words and spelling words more accurately. Because of this confidence, Student A feels less pressure and therefore is able to share more of their ideas in their writing.
Student B was assessed as Developing based on their writing in November. This is primarily because they had gaps in their phonics knowledge. Their writing improved and was assessed as Developing in March due to their usage of verb tenses. Student B applied their phonics knowledge and was able to spell words more accurately. Student B now shows more care in the way they write, as well as showing curiosity about letter-sound relationships in words. Student B needs further work on grammar skills and needs to remember to use capitals and periods when writing sentences.
Student C was assessed as Developing based on their writing in November and March. There is definitely an improvement in their writing. From of our daily phonics work, Student C has increased their confidence in sounding out words and spelling words more accurately. When writing, it has been observed that Student C sounds out words as they write, showing how they are applying their phonics knowledge to their writing.
Student D was assessed as Developing based on their writing in November. This is primarily because they had gaps in their phonics knowledge. Their writing improved and was assessed as Proficient in March. Student D applied their phonics knowledge and was able to spell words more accurately. Student D shows a genuine eagerness in phonics, often sharing what they observe in the patterns in words. Because of their improved phonics knowledge, Student D is able to share more of their ideas and worry less about how to spell words.
Students A-D, as well as the rest of the class, were assessed based on the following rubric.
Percentage of Emerging Writers | Percentage of Developing Writers | Percentage of Proficient Writers | Percentage of Exceeding Writers | |
November 2023 Personal Narrative | 10% | 80% | 10% | |
March 2024 Personal Narrative | 10% | 60% | 30% | |
June 2024 Personal Narrative |
While we see a 20% growth in student proficiency from November to March there is still 10% of students who are emerging.
Moving forward we will continue to explore students' ability to create meaningful text that deepens their awareness of self, family and community recognizing that learning requires exploration of one's identity and that it takes patience and time. Evidence of student learning will be maintained in their writing folders that follow them from year to year. In the coming year we will go deeper analyzing the students in the 10% emerging range by looking at a LST (Learner Support) or ELL (English Language Learners) cohort.