Action Plan Support Participation in Literacy For further assessments and teaching directions I would suggest the following

g to assist Js learning within Literacy:

1. Develop independency I think that it is crucial for J to gain independency through her work within Literacy. If J can develop ways of only using support and asking for support when specifically necessary, it may be beneficial for her writing fluency and for her to learn to look over her own work and edit. I have listed this as the top element in this action plan as I believe the strategies following will help J to develop her independent work, not needing to rely on teacher or LSO support immediately after a task has been set.

2. Individualized Reading Program & Other Reading Programs To assist J with her reading it would be helpful to make a sight word list or book for her to take home and do as apart of her homework. These words could be made up from the frequency sight word lists and words could be rotated around over the term to ensure she is exposed to new words and old words she already knows. It would be important for J to revisit words she is given in week 1, later on in the term so that she is building up her memory and word bank, ensuring she is retaining her learning.

I would recommend that J be challenged to improve her reading skills by recommending books for her to read and ensuring that she reads with an adult or the teacher every couple of days. By having J read with someone many times throughout the week, she is having the opportunity to develop her reading skills. On top of this, it would be strongly recommended for J to be placed onto reading programs such as Reading Recovery, or Rockin Reading, if the school offers them.

3. Follow up assessments and observations To best support Js progression in Literacy, it would be appropriate to frequently observe her throughout Literacy blocks in the classroom. This could be done through

group reading, individual reading with the teacher, monitoring her spelling progression and work within Dictation. Watching this progress will assist in looking to conduct future assessments on J and to monitor how well she is developing with support.

4. Homework and class after you have finished work Create activities that focus on phonological awareness, blending, segmenting and spelling. These activities could become apart of Js homework or could be activities that can be done once students have completed their set work in class. These activities could be game based like contraction match where students match contraction words together to make the shortened word like couldnt. This way J and others in the class are learning in a fun, hands-on manner that hopefully sticks with them into literacy based work.

5. Paired Reading Have the class read work or instructions in pairs. This will not only assist the learning of J but of all others in the classroom. By having students pair up and read out loud together, students are not being frightened of speaking in front of the whole class and have the opportunity to take in more information. Reading out loud allows students to confirm what they are reading and by reading in pairs, they are sharing each others vocabulary. If J was reading by herself in the class and quietly at her table, she might not understand particular words or take everything in. But when she is reading out loud at the same time with a peer, the peer may be able to validate particular words. This is not only fantastic for reading itself but allows students to collaborate and discuss which would be great for Js social experiences too.

6. Desk labels or Prompts On Js desk or as a working folder to be kept within her tray, I would suggest placing work prompts or labels for her to refer to throughout a lesson before seeking assistance. These prompts could relate to the particular genre of writing they are doing within class or as general prompts for her literacy development. Below are

ideas of these prompts that relate to her handwriting and development of auditory skills:

7. Seating Arrangements To best assist Js vision and auditory abilities I believe it is necessary to consider where J is positioned within the classroom. Currently J is seated in the back row of the room. This may make it difficult for her to block out everything else happening in front of her before she can focus on the teacher standing up the front. It may be beneficial for J to be moved to the front group of tables where she can easily access the board and concentrate on instructions being given for particular tasks.

8. Highlighted words and coloured paper for work and worksheets By printing work onto coloured paper and by highlighting lines in Js handwriting I believe it will have certain benefits for J in her Literacy progression. Firstly, by highlighting Js handwriting pages she will be able to clearly see where the rise and fall of letters need be. It will also make the words stand out better, making her work visibly clearer, helping her not to skip words or lines whilst reading.

Secondly, by using coloured paper for classroom worksheets, the contrast of black and white no longer becomes an issue. If J struggles to read and becomes

distracted easily, using different contrasts of colours may allow J to track words quicker and allow her to see clearer.

9. Mind maps & Sticky Notes Hands-on

In order to improve Js comprehension skills and help her to work individually, it would be great to see her learn in ways she feels most comfortable. I believe that J would benefit from seeing work visually as she would be able to picture her knowledge before looking to write about it. A way to do this would be for J to work on creating mind maps or diagrams of her ideas to organize her thinking.

For example, while I was on observation, the year 5 classes were working individually on writing biographies on famous artists they have been studying in art. J was researching the artist Jackson Pollock and had printed information on him to highlight and then write about. However, due to her have low comprehension and reading skills, J struggled to identify key words or to put the research into her own words. A way to assist these Literacy skills within tasks would be for J to find one or two words in a phrase, which she understands, and only highlight those words This way she is only working with words she knows and could use a dictionary for the others.

Then, to be able to comprehend her findings, J could write the key words on sticky notes and look at how it all comes together under subtitles. To elaborate on this, a mind map as shown would be beneficial for J to create so she

has a visual representation of her learning and comprehension. She would be able to add all her key words from the sticky notes around images that represent her knowledge and under subtitles that could be used to create paragraphs for her writing. Once this has been created J has been able to work hands-on and now has a visual description and understanding for the basis of her written work. This should hopefully help J structure her tasks and be able to comprehend with much more ease.

10. Writing Utensils

To support Js handwriting and posture within her work, an elevated desk stand could be useful. This may help J write neatly and be able to clearly see the positioning of her work. However, considering she is in Year 5 and may not take to that suggestion, strong emphasis on correct writing posture, feet positioning and pencil grip could be implemented in classroom discussions in handwriting lessons. To support J further in her handwriting progress, a pencil grip would be beneficial for the neatness of her work and to control the firm grip maintained when she is writing.

11. LSO support for Literacy (sounds, contractions, spelling words, reading) Although J is on the continuous look out for support, and I have recommended the above actions to help her find ways of working independently, I still believe it would be beneficial for her to receive LSO support for specific areas

of her learning. For a small amount of time each day or at least 2-3 times a week, it would be important for J to gain support in Literacy. Constant repetition appears to be something that J needs and by doing activities based on blending sounds, spelling words and reading to gain fluency and comprehension many times throughout the week, Js Literacy skills should hopefully begin to develop. Constant exposure to language is going to be vital for J.

All of these above recommendations will hopefully be great places to start in order to differentiate work appropriately and to support J to improve on and develop her abilities in Literacy.