Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Primary School
Better Never Stops
Interventions used to support Learners at OLQOH
Learning Interventions
Numicon
Numicon is a quality first teaching approach designed to give children the understanding of number ideas and number relationships that is essential for success in maths. We use a series of structured patterns - Numicon shapes - to represent numbers, as part of a progressive teaching programme.
Numicon is a quality first teaching approach designed to give children the understanding of number ideas and number relationships that is essential for success in maths. We use a series of structured patterns - Numicon shapes - to represent numbers, as part of a progressive teaching programme.
Jump Ahead
Jump Ahead’, a joint initiative between the Inclusion Support Team, Occupational and Physiotherapy Services, is a graded intervention programme devised for children with motor co-ordination difficulties.
Research indicates that approximately 6% of children experience significant difficulties with motor co-ordination, which impacts on learning and may affect self-esteem and confidence.
A ‘Jump Ahead’ handbook was devised to support schools in meeting the needs of these children, focusing on sensory motor integration and perceptual motor skills. The introduction provides theoretical background and guidance, with the programme itself comprising three termly stages, which are colour coded. Each stage incorporates five focus areas with five tasks for each area, providing a range of activities for developing skills. Each activity outlines the task, its purpose, equipment required and suggested observation points. Progress is monitored throughout the programme and includes a pre and post assessment.
Neo 2 Touchtypers
Currrently have 15 touch typers in school. These are used by individual pupils to aid with writing in the classroom. pupils who would benefit from a touch typer are first given 4 weeks of touch tying lessons delivered by our yr 6 Teaching Assistant Mrs Cord.
NEO 2 is the simple and rugged note-taking device that has all of the features of a NEO (fully featured word processor, typing tutor, long battery life etc.) but also includes innovative wireless technology that allows wireless printing, wireless voting and assessment functionality, wireless file transfer to a Google Docs account and Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Maths compatability.
oe By Toe is a small red book designed for anyone who finds reading difficult. This includes weak readers who struggle to decode or those with dyslexic difficulties.
Keda Cowling chose the name Toe By Toe to signify that students make progress by the tiniest steps – one toe at a time. However, even though the steps taken are small, students can clearly measure progress right from the first page. Confidence and self-esteem are boosted as a result.
Over 25 years of fieldwork went into the development of the system and it is this research that makes the method so easy to use. You don’t have to be trained in any field of education to coach with Toe By Toe. In fact, the manual often works better with non-professionals as they do not come to the task with any pre-conceived notions and thus simply follow the very detailed instructions to the letter.
Is Toe By Toe only suitable for people affected with dyslexia?
What ever the nature of the reading difficulty Toe By Toe will help. If a child or adult has difficulty decoding words and reading fluently Toe By Toe will address this and help to make significant improvements.
For more information about toe by toe http://www.toe-by-toe.co.uk/
The Acceleread Accelewrite Program uses talking word processor based computer programme (such as Clickr 6) and carefully structured phonic-based sentences. It is multi-sensory and aims to improve reading, spelling and listening skills. Sentences cover all phonic patterns identified in National Literacy strategy plus the first 45 High Frequency words.
- Child works one to one with a Supporter (Teaching Assistant) 20 minutes per day for 4 weeks ie 20 sessions of 20 minutes. (Some children may require another block of 4 weeks after a period of consolidation).
- Follows set procedure:
- Child reads sentence with help if necessary until memorised
- Child types sentence
- Child makes alterations until sentence correct
- Child moves to next sentence
- When card completed, child reads all sentences
- Teaching Assistant asks child to try and identify any patterns
- Screen is cleared and child types as many words as can remember
- Teaching Assistant intervenes as much as necessary and as little as possible
- Teaching Assistant records progress (record sheets provided)
- Starting point: Teachers favour starting at the beginning as it helps develop child’s word processing skills where this is required. Progress through sentences can be accelerated if appropriate.
- The program is particularly suitable for children in KS2 although struggling readers in KS1 find it very helpful. The program starts at CVC level and basic keyboarding skills are required.
Boost Writing Independence with Clicker's Word Processor
Clicker 6 is fast becoming the word processor of choice for primary schools. Pupils can open Clicker and just start writing; the built-in support tools and child-friendly interface really encourage writing independence. If additional help is needed, teachers can provide grids of words, phrases and / or pictures related to that particular lesson or learning objective.
As pupils move through the school, Clicker can be easily adapted to provide support appropriate to their age and ability level.
Customisable tools
Clicker gives pupils of all abilities the tools they need to independently translate their thoughts and knowledge into coherent writing.
As children complete a sentence, Clicker’s clear voice reads it aloud, encouraging them to review what they have written and correct any errors themselves. The speed and frequency of the speech feedback can be changed depending on each learner’s requirements.
Clicker’s intelligent word predictor suggests words that fit the context of the pupil’s writing, encouraging them to use more adventurous vocabulary. Children are able to create flowing pieces of text with accurate spelling and grammatically correct sentences. Set the predictor to whichever of the four levels best meets their needs, or create a customised level just for them.
Picture support
Adding a creative dimension to writing activities helps children to actively engage with the task at hand. Pupils can use the built-in web cam to personalise their documents with their own photos, or create their own pictures with the Clicker painting tools. This also provides early or struggling writers with an alternative way to demonstrate understanding and capture ideas.
Clicker 6 comes with a library of over 2500 curriculum pictures, which can be used by pupils to illustrate their work, or by teachers to provide graphical support for learners who need additional help. Symbol libraries are also available to purchase.
Sassoon font
The Sassoon font has been researched and developed specially for children. It is based on letter formations familiar to beginning readers and writers, for example rounded letters. Key features include the handwriting-like exit strokes at the base, and the longer ascenders and descenders, which aid letter and word recognition. The line spacing is also slightly bigger than most fonts to make texts easier to read. Whilst a range of other fonts is available in Clicker, using the Sassoon font is a really effective way to aid developing readers and writers.
Clicker Sets
In addition to the support built into the word processor, teachers can create or download grids to support writing. A range of styles is available to support different stages of literacy development, including sentence sets, word banks and writing frames. Click here for more information on writing grids and other styles of Clicker Sets for literacy.
For more information about clicker 6 http://www.cricksoft.com/uk/products/clicker/home.aspx