Literacy at Crawley Green

Writing

The children in the reception classes greatly enjoy mark-making activities using a variety of pens, pencils and crayons. As the children’s confidence grows they are taught how to form letters correctly (example shown on next page) and how to write their names, using a capital letter for the first letter. So that the children can be proud of their work we encourage them to write and draw neatly.

By the time children leave Year 2 they are able to write for a variety of purposes and can join up their handwriting. They have also learned a great deal about spelling and punctuation.

Here is an example of the handwriting style children are taught. The dot indicates where to start each letter; the arrows show the direction in which to write the letter:

The children use computers as part of their literacy work; they develop their word processing skills when writing stories, poems and factual information.

Reading

All children at Crawley Green are taught about the importance and pleasure of learning to read successfully. 

We encourage the children to choose their own reading book within a colour band. This gives the children the opportunity to choose books that they will enjoy and find interesting. We have a very large selection of fiction and non-fiction books which are colour coded according to the level of difficulty. 

The children in Year 1 and Year 2 start the morning with a 20 minute quiet reading session, when all children are involved in reading activities. These include reading their reading books, looking at comics or reading story books.

There are other opportunities to read throughout the day, e.g. computer programs, texts related to other subjects, captions and instructions.

Ways you can help your child at home

The children greatly enjoy bringing home a library book from school each week. By reading the book with your child, encouraging them to talk about the pictures and asking and answering questions you can develop a love of books with your child. We also recommend that you and your child join your local library.

It is important to value reading in your home. Please encourage your child to read as much as possible and allow them to read a variety of texts, including books, comics, magazines, instruction leaflets etc.

If your child is not very interested in reading at home try to find texts that interest them, for example the sports page of a newspaper to read together, comics about animals or their favourite television programme.

Providing pencils and paper and opportunities for your child to write birthday cards, messages and thank you letters all contribute to success in writing.

We encourage parents to help with homework activities such as practising key words and sounds and learning spellings.