Implement EEF’s Key Stage 2 Literacy Guidance with Rockerbox News

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) recently published an update to its Key Stage 2 literacy guidance, providing additional examples, explanations, and resources to support educators in achieving its 7 Core Recommendations.

We’ve put together this handy guide to show you how the Rockerbox News literacy improvement tool can help you implement EEF guidance in a way where you’ll see quick, tangible improvements in your learners’ literacy learning outcomes. Oh, and did we mention your learners, their parents, AND teachers will find it fun and easy to use too?!

In its discussion of developing language capabilities, the EEF Guidance Report describes speaking and listening as ‘foundational’ for reading and writing, and also ‘essential’ for thinking and communication. In order to increase the quantity and quality of classroom discussion, the Report advises collaborative learning, reading aloud, discussion of material, and verbal articulation of ideas.

Verbal Articulation of Ideas and Discussion of Material:

• With 100% non-fiction content, Rockerbox News is designed to inspire curiosity and a thirst for learning. Whether that means reading about abandoned ghost towns in Turkey, the latest developments in space exploration, or rehabilitating endangered orangutans in Malaysia, learners won’t be able to resist asking questions, having an opinion, and wanting to share what they’ve learned with others.

Collaborative Learning and Reading Aloud:

• With the Rockerbox News Listen Aloud feature, every piece of content can be read to a learner, or group of learners. Rockerbox News schools love using this feature in small group targeted interventions to encourage learners to read aloud and learn collaboratively

Extend Pupils’ Vocabulary by Explicitly Teaching New Words:

• All Rockerbox News articles include vocabulary from the Academic Word List as well as High Frequency Words for Key Stage 2. Industry-specific vocabulary also pops up, meaning that your learners are constantly being introduced to new words.

Reading fluency means that a students’ cognitive resources are redirected towards comprehending the text rather than their energy being taken up with decoding the words. EEF recommend modelling and repeated reading as key ways to develop fluency.

Modelling

• The Rockerbox News Listen Aloud feature will read any piece of content to a learner in a British accent. This offers all the benefits of being read to – improved pronunciations, correct phonemes, good intonation, and fluency, to name just a few.

Repeated Reading

• Learners can Bookmark any Rockerbox News articles for repeat reading. As teachers, you can also easily assign specific articles and reading tasks to certain learners via your Rockerbox News Teachers’ Portal.

The Guidance Report states that directing students to use specific strategies that they can apply both to monitor and overcome barriers to understanding is the best method of improving reading comprehension.

Prediction and Questioning

• Comprehension questions are a key part of each Rockerbox News article. They encourage students to read content more carefully and can be used for both independent self reflection and in group settings.

Summarising

• With Rockerbox News, learners can’t wait to share what they’ve learned with peers, parents, and teachers. This means that summarising becomes something they do naturally. If you’re using Rockerbox News for home learning as well as in school, encourage parents and guardians to ask questions to learners’ about articles too.

Activating Prior Knowledge

• Every piece of Rockerbox News content connects to real-world happenings, meaning prior knowledge, vocabulary, and previous academic learnings on a subject (even in another language) is constantly being activated.

EEF’s Simple View of Writing ascribes three main processes that are essential to developing writing skills. The first is text generation, then there is transcription, and finally, executive functions, involving the planning and problem-solving aspects of writing.

Give Pupils a Reason to Write:

• As all Rockerbox News content is non-fiction, learners’ that struggle with fiction find it easier to develop a reason to write after reading. They can tap into current interests, opinions, and passions to inspire their work.

EFF’s report stresses the importance of promoting basic writing skills in order for students to concentrate on composition. These basic skills include spelling and sentence construction as part of fluent transcription.

Spelling

• From Academic Word Lists to High Frequency Words, Rockerbox News articles include new vocabulary that students might not have encountered before. Use the Rockerbox News ‘Checklist’ feature to include a spelling task along with your reading activities.

Sentence Construction

• With levelled content, from short reads to comprehensive interview, Rockerbox News provides infinite opportunities for modelling sentence structures and combinations.

EEF recommend employing formative assessment techniques when monitoring literacy and reading skills, which includes gathering evidence of learning from students on an continuing basis and adapting teaching to meet student needs.

The Rockerbox News Teacher Reporting Suite:

• Rockerbox News is not a ‘fluffy’ learning tool. Access the Rockerbox News reporting suite to baseline, continually track progress and engagement, and report across a cohort, a class, or even the entire school

All-Student Response Systems

• Create gap analyses and assess specific learning gaps with the simple Rockerbox News “Request Help” feature. This simple feature allows your pupils to raise their hand digitally and let you know they need extra help.

Structured interventions are made incredibly easy with Rockerbox News. In fact, it’s one of the key reasons the platform exists. Your teachers can differentiate content and target interventions in less than 10 seconds.

Assign and Schedule Structured Tasks

• With the Rockerbox News Teacher Portal, literacy and comprehension activities can be selected and assigned to specific learners in one simple click – enabling you to personalise literacy strategies and report back on their progress in a seamless way, stress-free way.

These are just a few of the many ways you can use Rockerbox News to maximise your literacy strategies both in and out of the classroom, and even at home.

Book your free personalised demonstration of Rockerbox News today.