Mulgrave Primary School

Jessica Mann & Nicola Weerakoon

Mulgrave Primary School is a small school in the Eastern Metropolitan region. We currently have

around 200 students in 8 classes, and have 2 specialist teachers. In 2008 we had a change of

leadership, with a new Principal taking over, after having had the same Principal for 23 years.

MPS is undergoing a great deal of change in a number of areas, and the one that interested us

the most was the evaluation of our literacy program.

Over the past few years, we have noticed a decline in our student results in the areas of

writing and spelling, especially in the grade 5 area. The data obtained from AIM and NAPLAN results shows that students in grade 3 are at the state mean, but by the time they reach grade 5,

are significantly below this level.

Our writing showed similar results, but as our school is already undertaking the Courtenay

Gardens Writing program, we felt that spelling would be an ideal focus for our action research

project.

We decided to start our action research by asking staff what they currently did to teach

spelling to students. Some of the things being done were – - Introducing individual

letters each week - Discussing different sounds- Brainstorming words-Model spelling- Using Oxford word lists -4 words per week -Select one word a week to create memory trick- Brainstorm a sound per week that is linked in with the topic- Home work - Looking at syllables - Brain tricks

- Look Say Cover Write Check - Place words in sentences- Spelling tests- Phonics programs on computer during literary rotations - Diary writing - Focus sounds each week explicitly taught each week for whole class - Phonic groups- Personal dictionary - Spelling “have- a- go “sheet - Proof reading with students- Spelling games

We asked staff to estimate how much time they spend explicitly teaching spelling to their

class.

By reviewing all responses from staff, on average across the school we are currently

spending two or more hours

a week teaching spelling to our students.

We asked our teachers what they felt were the most effective ways to teach spelling. These

were the responses –

- Look Say Cover Write Check- Focusing on problem words- Phonetic groupings - Topic words- Grammatical rules - Teaching grammar

- Cued articulation - Spelling computer games - Word families- Peer assistance - Written conversations- Memory tricks

Our next question was very important, and that was, why are some of our students not

experiencing success in spelling? We asked staff what they saw as the problems with our current

spelling practices, and this is what they said--No consistency with sight word lists - No consistency with assessment -Don’t know what’s been covered the year before - Need different approaches based on need - No scope and sequence chart

- A need to schedule for year of testing, assessment - We need moderation for the whole school- Some activities are boring- Some activities are hard to teach children that have language difficulties.

We asked some students from the upper school why they felt it was important to learn to be a good speller. This clip shows some of

their responses –

Now we had a clear idea of what was happening within classrooms, and of what

staff felt in regards to spelling, we needed to decided how best to launch a program that

would suit the whole school.

The biggest problem that our school was facing was …….

Lack of consistency!!!!

!

We had no real program, and no similar resources through the school. Everyone

taught spelling their own way, with different resources and different approaches. Some people taught spelling for several hours a

week, others just did it as part of homework.

We needed a consistent set of materials, and a consistent understanding of what was

expected from both teachers, and students.

We decided to set up all staff with the same set of resources and information…

Each staff member was presented with a folder of spelling resources. We decided as a

staff to use the Oxford Word Lists and associated resources as a focus point through

the school.The resources were available online at

http://www.oup.com.au/primary/learning/thesuccessfulteacher

This folder had all the Oxford materials,

professional reading on spelling and other information on the assessment and teaching

of spelling.

We also presented staff with an activity box. This box had lists, resources and ideas for students to use when engaging in spelling

related activities.

The next step was to actually get staff involved, and the research project underway.

The focus questions for all staff to keep in mind were ;

What, out of the new resources I’ve been provided with, works best for me?

What activities are most beneficial and useful in my class?

Have I noticed any improvement in student outcomes by using new resources

and activities?

Staff were given 4 weeks in which to trial all the new resources and activities that they had

been provided with.They were asked to have at least 2 specific and explicit spelling lesson times per week,

and to incorporate the spelling materials where possible into other areas of the

curriculum.Each staff member was given a record sheet

to fill in at the end of each week as a means of cataloguing data for us, and to provide evidence of the lessons that had been

undertaken.

Lessons were undertaken by each grade in the school. These included a range of

activities and approaches such as whole class, individual and group activities, games, ICT

resources etc.

To really lift the profile of the spelling program within the school, we held a whole school spelling bee as part of literacy and

numeracy week. Every student in the school was involved in revising at home the words that formed the

basis of our spelling resources. This was a great activity, and also raised some

money for the school as well!

After the 4 week trial period, we collected all the data generated by staff on the project. This included their planners, student results and

evaluations and reflections of the spelling lessons.These were our main findings –

1.Overall the teachers felt this spelling experience was positive and engaged the students. They felt

that they could incorporate these spelling activities within literacy groups and writing

lessons.2.Most students spelling improved throughout the

trial period. Some quite significantly.3.They also felt that the children were more

careful about how they were spelling words and what types of words they were using.

The main challenges that our staff identified were –

1.Trying to fit more teaching time into an already overcrowded curriculum.

2.Finding spelling related activities that catered for all learning styles.

3.Some teachers found it hard to group children according to their spelling ability as this is quite

varied.

These are all areas in which we will need to put more time and effort into addressing.

We were also able now to make informed decisions about the type of spelling program

that we would like to have in our school. Staff decided that we would use –

Magic words in grade PrepOxford most used words resources in grade 1-

3Mulgrave words in grades 4-6. (this is a

resources that we created especially for our senior students)

We hope that –•Staff continue to implement spelling specific

activities on a regular basis, and continue to use and add to the resources provided to them.

•Staff will adopt the new spelling program with vigour and enthusiasm as on term 1, 2010.

•Our student results continue to improve, and hopefully validate this with analysis of to NAPLAN

data.•Students continue to enjoy and be engaged by

the new spelling program.

Thank you for your interest, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact either

Nicola or Jess at Mulgrave Primary School on (03) 9795 2477, or email through edumail.