Literacy and Numeracy

ENGLISH

At Ingle Farm Primary School, we implement a Literacy Block that explicitly teaches the skills of the Big 6 of Reading, text-type understanding and the four Spelling knowledges. Text-type learning is intertwined throughout the whole Literacy Block ensuring that knowledge is introduced and consolidated throughout each English learning area.

When teaching reading and spelling, we implement a ‘three waves of intervention’ system, where students are differentiated, based on relevant assessment data. This model allows teachers to effectively analyse data to target students’ misconceptions and next steps, at a wave 1, 2 and 3 intervention level. Each level of intervention will have their own teacher, including education support staff.

READING

Reading skills are explicitly taught during Guided Reading using information obtained from Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessments and Learning English Achievement and Proficiencies (LEAP) levels (which contains the structures and features of each text-type). Modelled, guided, shared and independent reading and writing form part of the literacy block.

Teachers assess students’ phonological awareness using DIBELS, PASM (Phonological Awareness Skill Mapping) and/or PASOS (Phonological Awareness Screener for Older Students) assessments. Heggerty (Years 1 – 4) and Kilpatrick (Years 5 & 6) are the resources used to develop PA skills. Teachers teach systematic synthetic phonics using the sequence and resources of Jolly Phonics supported by the data collected and analysed from the IFPS phonics assessment.

WRITING

The Teaching and Learning Cycle (TLC) is used for planning text-type learning, with the LEAP Levels being the assessment tool to inform the learning taking place. As mentioned previously, the same text-type 7is used to teach both reading and writing to ensure effective understanding and consolidation of knowledge. Spelling instruction is implemented using the scope and sequence of Jolly Grammar (as this builds upon the learning from Jolly Phonics) and Triple Word Form Theory, a pedagogy researched by Tessa Daffern. The school has its own screener (a combination of the learning from Jolly Grammar and Triple Word Form Theory) that assesses the student’s current ability. Explicit Spelling teaching focuses on the 4 types of spelling knowledge (Phonology, Orthography, Morphology and Etymology) and the ability to cross map these with unfamiliar words.

The primary English curriculum can be found here.

MATHEMATICS

At Ingle Farm Primary School, we use the Big Ideas in Number (BIiN) diagnostic tools to inform teaching and planning that ensure targeted teaching for all students. The Big ideas in number is a framework of 6 numeracy concepts providing the foundation for developing number sense. Number sense is fundamental to mathematical learning. The BIiN support the development of number sense focusing on the number and algebra strand in the Australian Curriculum. The BIiN include:

  • Trusting the count
  • Place Value
  • Multiplicative Thinking
  • Partitioning
  • Proportional Reasoning
  • Generalising

The table below indicates where each of the above ‘Big Ideas’ are focused on:

The primary Mathematics curriculum can be found on here.