I had lots of different copies last year and by the end of the year there were a few that had very little in them.
Literacy
We call the copies ‘Personal Writing’ – which includes all the writing genres – stories, recounts, procedures, explanation as well as the childrens response to stories/poems etc.
‘Functional Writing’ which includes comprehension activities and grammar activities.
Magpie
This copy is an idea of Pie Corbetts – Talk4Writing. Children were given a topic and wrote as many things down as they could. We then shared our ideas and children ‘magpies’ good ideas from one another. For example; words for said. Children have 5 minutes to write as many words as they can think of before we share the ideas. These are brilliant as a reference for writing.
Maths
We had two copies last year – but only used one at a time. (When one was completed the children then started using their second copy)
Gaeilge
I used 1 Gaeilge but split it into 2 parts. At the front, we did any writing – answering questions/ grammar activities/ writing about myself etc. and at the back we wrote grammar rules e.g. mo + h and then examples or counting people etc.
SESE
While I did use a copy for SESE last year, I don’t think I would use one again. I did a lot of project and research work throughout the year and this was displayed on A4 or A3 sheets around the classroom. Any writing based on questions/activities or experiments doubled as Literacy activities so could be written in the functional writing copy.
Music
We had a Music and Poems copy. We learned a lot of songs and poems during the year as well as learning the Tin Whistle so all of this was put into the Music and Poems copy.
Art
We stored our Art in large A2 Black folders – so no copy required.
SPHE
I didn’t have a copy for SPHE as most of the lessons were based around circle time, discussion, drama and any writing was put in the personal writing copy.
Test
This is where we completed our weekly Spellings tests, tables test and sometimes Maths tests/ some questions based on the topic we had been covering during the week.
R.E.
I work in a Catholic school so this copy was used for prayers, summaries of stories from the Bible and songs for Mass.
Homework
We had two homework copies – the children used a different copy each night when I corrected the other. However, I found it much more beneficial to correct the copies during the day and the children then used just 1 copy. The children wrote the date at the top of each page so if homework wasn’t completed it was recorded in the copy – it was then really easy to spot a pattern/ notice if a child wasn’t completing their homework.
I didn’t have copies for Drama or P.E.