Spiral of Inquiry: Developing a hunch around Oral Language

Developing a hunch
How are we contributing to the situation? "Hunch" is an important word – hunches may not be totally accurate, but it is essential to get them all on the table because they guide the focusing. Sometimes they might be well-established routines of the school or the classroom, and be relevant to your own school. Hunches need testing.

What is my hunch about "What strategies are most effective when supporting WRS learners with reading?" 

Sub-question One:

How might a focus on Oral Language (e.g.Talk to Learn resource/process) support children with their reading progress?

My hunch:

It is widely known that oral language is fundamental for reading and writing. In order for children to develop a strong repertoire of vocabulary, they should be immersed in a range of meaningful, purposeful and lived experiences. My hope is by implementing a widely-used resource created specifically for primary children e.g. Talk to Learn, that I would have gifted children with opportunities to explore oral language in a meaningful way. In addition to this, I would also like to align our vocabulary work with possible field trips so that children's learning can be connected to lived experience.

The current themes in Talk to Learn are as follows:

• Actions
• Animals
• Beach
• Birds
• Birthdays
• Bubbles
• Clothing
• Cooking
• Families
• Fish
• Flight
• Food
• Houses
• Insec
• Kites
• Me
• Nursery Rhymes
• Supermarket
• Toys
• Transport

For each theme, a 30-minute lesson plan can be used daily to support children with specified vocabulary. My hope is to work through each theme over 2 weeks with a field trip (locally) to reinforce the concept.

Example of sequence picture activity