Speaking, Reading, Writing, Listening

We decided this week to undertake a whole class writing activity that I had found successful last year.

Using the context of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the students would sequence a series of sentences into paragraphs.

The writing learning consisted of learning about how a paragraph is structured with a topic sentence, supporting ideas and a concluding sentence.

The reading consisted of reading each sentence to determine the purpose of each sentence in the paragraph.

Speaking - each pair recorded the completed paragraph using Explain Everything.

Listening - the paragraphs were listened to, to determine their accuracy and flow.

More importantly, social learning came to the fore. Students were grouped by the teachers into some unexpected partnerships. Our intention was to look for the ability to listen to each other and share ideas and roles. 

The discussion in the classroom was almost all learning based as the students discussed the order of the sentences, how to read the new topic based vocabulary and what to do next. They helped each other, worked together and surprised themselves with how much they knew and could do.

A powerful lesson that comprised all aspects of literacy - including illustrating and sharing - that was fun, engaging, high energy and full of fabulous new content learning alongside our intended curriculum and social goals.

The motivation given to the students on the class site.

The visual instructions of what to do at each step.