Worked example · Humanities · Year 2
LNF: Literacy → Speaking → Questioning
A finished Year 2 activity page, as a secure pupil might complete it, with notes on what to look for. It is also the answer key. The pupil’s marks are shown in blue. Taid Gwyn and his school are invented; the 1950s school details are real. Task 1: any 3 of the blackboard and chalk, the wooden desks in rows with inkwell holes, the stove with its tall pipe and guard, the crate of little milk bottles. Task 2: who, teacher; what, milk bottle; where, school; when, calendar; how, footprints walking to school. Task 3: Who was your teacher? When did you start school? Tasks 4, 5 and 6 have many right answers. The literacy evidence is Tasks 3, 4 and 6 and the paired talk.
Look for: 3 separate rings, each round a whole object. Ringed here: the blackboard (now a whiteboard or screen), the stove (now radiators) and the crate of milk bottles (now water bottles or fruit). A ring round a desk with its inkwell holes is also right. Not right on their own: the window, the clock or the teacher, because classrooms have these today. Listen for pupils who can say what we have now instead; that is the comparison historians make.
Look for: who, the teacher (a person); what, the milk bottle (a thing); where, the school (a place); when, the calendar (a time); how, the footprints (the way Gwyn got to school). The commonest slip is swapping where and when, which look alike: say them aloud and ask “a place or a time?”
Who was your teacher ?
When did you start school ?
Look for: Who and When copied with their capital letters, and a question mark in each box, formed as a curl with a dot underneath (not a backwards curl, and not a full stop). This pupil also ringed the word before copying it, which is fine. Both questions are on Taid’s answer cards, so pupils hear the answers in Step 6: Miss Owen, and September 1958.
Look for: each question starts with a question word and a capital letter, and ends with a question mark; spaces between words. Questions 1 and 2 use the idea pictures (milk and the stove); question 3 is the pupil’s own idea, which is good questioning even though no card answers it. Not yet secure: a statement with a question mark added (“I like your school?”), a question with no question word (“Did you have a phone?” is a real question, but this task asks for a question word), or no question mark at all. A pupil working at the expected level may write shorter questions such as “Who was your friend?”
Look for: ticks only where Taid’s cards matched the question. Question 1 matches “What did you have at break time?” and question 2 matches “How did you keep warm?”. Question 3 is not on a card, so Taid said “I don’t remember that” and it is rightly left blank. The drawing shows a new fact that came from Taid’s answers, not from the pupil’s own life: here, a little bottle of free milk (one third of a pint) with a straw. Other good facts: the stove with its guard, the outside toilets, a dip pen and inkwell, hopscotch or marbles.
Look for: one choice ringed, and a reason after because that uses a fact from the photo or Taid’s answers. Either opinion is right; the reason is what shows the learning. A strong “would not” answer: “because the toilets were outside and it was cold.” Not yet secure: “because it is fun” with no link to school long ago. A full stop at the end is expected.
Teacher, paired talk (Step 7): asked a clear question answered as Taid using a card gave a reason with “because”
Look for in the paired talk: the asker uses a question word and the rising voice of a question, then listens and asks a follow-up (“Why was the stove guarded?”). The pupil playing Taid finds the card with the matching question word and reads the answer clearly, or says “I don’t remember that. Ask me another question!” when no card fits. When Taid asks “Would you like to go to my school? Why?”, the partner answers with because and a reason. Tick only what you heard.