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Year 5 Non-fiction - Unit 1 - Building assessment into teaching

Assessing Pupils' Progress

In this exemplified unit we have identified the 'main' assessment focuses for reading and writing. However, it is important to remember that teachers should interpret and adapt the teaching sequence to meet the needs of particular classes and this may affect the types of evidence which it is desirable and possible to gather.  

In order for a judgement to be made against writing assessment focuses 1 and 2 it is important that children are given space and time to develop their own ideas and define their own purposes for writing. Opportunities to plan for this will arise throughout the literacy curriculum as well as through the application of skills across the curriculum.

The suggested outcome for this unit is a set of instructions, which may be created in presentation software in a non-linear approach. The teaching of this unit should support the collection of evidence against Reading assessment focus 4 (identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level),Reading assessment focus 5 (explain and comment on writers' uses of language, including grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level)and Writing assessment focus 3 (organise and present texts effectively, sequencing and structuring information, ideas and events).

Evidence against a variety of assessment focuses will be collected at many points during the teaching sequence.Independence and opportunities to make decisions are integral to children's development in reading and writing, and it will be important to collect evidence of achievement against the assessment focuses from occasions where children can demonstrate some independence and choice away from direct teaching.

Suggestions for the collection of assessment information against a range of assessment focuses are found below.

Opportunities for assessment

The following are examples selected from the teaching content for this unit of work that will support planning for effective assessment as an integrated part of the teaching and learning process. Evidence gathered during this ongoing work will contribute to the periodic assessment of pupils' progress.

Learning outcomes

Example of teaching content and assessment opportunities

Evidence

Approach to assessment

Children demonstrate that they can use more formal aspects of language in a role-play situation.

Following teacher demonstration of each stage of the process children work in role as part of a barrier game. Pairs of children are joined together. Each pair has access to a laptop but cannot see the other pair's laptop screen. One pair (pair A) work in role, giving the other pair (pair B) instructions to use a specific computer programme. Pair A direct pair B focusing on using clear instructions, description and explanation. Following this the pairs work to evaluate the usefulness of the instructions using a simple checklist to guide them, making notes against the checklist. They consider how successful the instructions were, justifying their responses: Do you think the helpline has been successful? How do you know?

Recordings of the instructions are played back to support peer evaluation and notes are made for next time.

The class use these activities to begin to form success criteria for successful instructions, considering those features which might be specific to oral instructions.

Sound recordings of instructions.

Teacher observation.

Children's oral responses and written notes.

Teacher observation.

Analysis of sound recordings.

Oral feedback.

Children can identify and understand key features and conventions of instructional texts.

Children demonstrate that they can evaluate sets of instructions (including attempting to follow some of them) for purpose, organisation and layout, clarity and usefulness.

During guided reading the group focus on their reading target for non-fiction: I can talk about how different information texts are structured, making comparisons. A variety of recipes (store-card recipes, recipe books and web-based recipes) have been gathered. The children have read selected recipes before the session and identified and noted the purpose, organisation, layout and usefulness of each in their reading journals.

The teacher chooses two contrasting examples from the selection and the group discuss the similarities and differences. The teacher uses questions to guide the discussion, e.g. What effect has the [writer/illustrator/page designer] tried to achieve with...'X'? How does the use of [headings/subheadings/illustrations] help the reader locate information? What is the purpose of [...headings/subheadings/illustrations/use of language/use of punctuation/size of font/style of font/use of colour/use of space/etc... ]? Which text is more successful in its purpose? How do you know? What is different about the audience for these texts? How do you know? Responses are discussed in pairs, then as a group.

Following the guided reading session the children compare another recipe with one of the examples used in this session. They evaluate the texts and consider which text is more successful in its purpose, noting reasons in their reading journals.

Children's oral responses during guided and paired discussions.

Written responses (reading journals).

Teacher observation, questioning and discussion.

Oral feedback to journal entries.