'Literacy Lift-Off' is an intensive programme of reading and writing for a set number of weeks. It gives children lots of opportunities to read books at their own level of competency and gradually lift the complexity of what they can do in both reading and writing.
The children are grouped according to the reading level attained in pre-tests (reading records). There are four/five literacy stations with a teacher/SNA at each. The groups spend 10 minutes at each station.
Station 1: Familiar Reading
Pupils re-read previously seen books.
Purpose: Development of enjoyment, fluency, comprehension and speed.
Station 2: Word Work and Phonics
The children work on their phonics and phonological awareness in this station.
Purpose: To show children how words work, so that they can make a fast visual analysis of their reading.
Station 3: Writing
Pupils write sentences based on their own experiences, using words that they encounter in their readers.
Purpose: That they will learn how they can write their own messages by hearing and recording sounds in words, using analogy and learning unusual words.
Station 4: New Reading
Encountering new texts each day challenges the pupils to discover new ways to go beyond their current operating ability and lift their literacy processing.
Purpose: Pupils learn to use strategic activities to read new texts.
Station 5: Independent
The children work on iPads, complete worksheets, play reading games at this station.
Purpose: To reinforce what they have learned at other stations.