ABSTRACT
Jane is a very experienced teacher. She teaches a mixed ability class of 32 children, 17 boys and 15 girls, all in Year Two. Her classroom is attractive and well organised – trays are labelled in order to foster the children’s independence in locating and using resources. Some trays are labelled with her name and children know that they should not touch these. Tables are tidy, with a pot for table points centrally placed. Book shelves are attractively arranged, stock is regularly rotated and there is a range of fiction reading material to satisfy the choice of boys and girls across the ability range. All books are colour coded so that children know which band they can select their book from. Any request from a child to read a book above their current banding is met with a quiet, but firm, conversation about assessing progress in reading. An ‘Author of the Week’ stand highlights a writer whose books Jane has chosen. An extra box of non-fiction books labelled ‘TOPIC’ awaits use during the relevant lesson. Display is colourful and relevant. Boards supporting literacy and numeracy learning are obviously updated regularly and children’s work on the current topic of ‘The Victorians’ is neatly mounted and demonstrates a high standard of attainment. Children know where to put completed work for marking and where to locate their books when needed for the next lesson. In the cupboard are rows of files, each labelled with a subject and a term. Long, medium and short term planning is sequentially filed with differentiated activities and work-sheets ready to photocopy.
