Q. How are these materials different to Ochre ‘s other core resources?
A. All of our core resources are free to access, and will remain freely available forever. This includes all our primary and secondary maths, English, humanities and science resources (including the Grammar Project and all Daily Reviews).
We are supplementing these core resources with a small number of subscription resources, which feature greater levels of teacher and student support.
Our Middle Years Novel Studies Curriculum Resources will be made available to the bottom ICSEA quartile of schools (and very small schools) for free, in line with our mission to support educational equity. To make this possible, we are asking for support from all other schools to purchase a licence for use in your setting.
Q. Are these resources different from the Ochre English Curriculum?
A. The paid-for Middle Years units are an optional addition to our core English curriculum. They are created to be complementary to our free core supports if teachers wish to use them. For example, they can be used in place of the existing ‘English block’ resources as alternatives to the novels currently supported in Years 3-6. Alternatively, they could be used as an extended unit over a single term when teachers want more intensive opportunities for close reading and writing in response to a complex text. The Middle Years Novel Studies Units could also be used to support students in Years 7 and 8 (Stage 4).
Another key difference is the focus of the Units. The core Ochre novel studies are composed of explicit reading and writing instruction. The primary purpose of the Ochre Middle Years Novel Studies units is to gain a deep understanding of the text. Although students are writing as frequently in the Ochre Middle Years Novel Studies Units as they do in the regular units, the writing is primarily used as a vehicle for thinking and expressing ideas from the novel they are studying.
Q. What units are available?
A. We currently have three Ochre Middle Years Novel Studies units available for school to purchase and use: Lenny’s Book of Everything by Karen Foxlee; Blueback by Tim Winton; and The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French. We are planning to create further Middle Years Novel Studies units in the future.
About the Middle Years Novel Studies Units
Q. How long do each of the units run for?
A. Each Unit has 25 - 30 lessons, each of around an hour in length.
Q. Are the units designed to support schools who are implementing the Science of Learning / explicit instruction / structured literacy blocks?
A. Yes. The units embed evidence-based strategies such as explicit instruction and teaching practices that are aligned with how students learn. They support schools to embed structured literacy - an explicit and systematic approach to teaching reading and writing.
Q. What resources are contained within each unit?
A unit plan outlining Curriculum links, key understandings, background knowledge, and individual lesson objectives and content.
A knowledge organiser that specifies and organises background knowledge critical to understanding the unit.
Daily lesson plans (25) with individual lesson objectives, lesson content, means of participation and key understandings.
Daily student work booklets (25) with:
Do Now Questions.
Vocabulary Active Practice.
Stop and Jot.
Sentence level writing activities based on The Writing Revolution.
Annotation tasks.
Exit tickets.
Embedded non-fiction shorter texts to inform students about key topics that can enrich or inform the primary text.
Smaller knowledge feeding artefacts—pictures, diagrams, mini-texts—to provide additional background to critical elements of the text.
Vocabulary instruction with both explicit and implicit vocabulary words.
A curriculum-aligned end of unit assessment.
Q. Does every student need access to a copy of the book?
A. For maximum accessibility, the units have been designed so that students do not have to have access to an individual copy of each text. However, having a copy of the text to annotate is highly recommended, and would be extremely beneficial. To facilitate this, schools may want to investigate options such as sharing class sets with other schools.
Purchasing or accessing a donated licence
Q. Can I access sample materials before purchasing?
A. Yes, there are sample resources available on the Middle Years Novel Studies Curriculum Units page on our website
Q. Does my purchase allow me access to all available units?
A. No - each unit needs to be purchased individually.
Q. Do I need more than one licence for my school?
A. No - the licence allows as many teachers as needed to access and use the resources across your school for three years.
Q. How do I access a donated licence?
A. If you meet the eligibility criteria for a donated licence (schools with an ICSEA score in the 25th percentile or less, and/or with fewer than 100 enrolments on the latest MySchools data), you can go to our Subscription Resources page and click on the apply for a donated licence link. You will be asked to sign a licence agreement, and will then be given access to the Units.
Q. I’m not sure if my school is eligible for a donated licence, what do I do?
A. Contact us at [email protected] and we can help.
Q. Will a donated licence give me access to all the Units that become available over time?
A. Yes, your access will automatically be updated to include access to all the Middle Years Novel Studies Curriculum Units.
Q. I need an invoice raised, what do I do?
A. Once you have completed the purchase you will be emailed a tax invoice to the email address which you have provided. For any questions about billing, please email [email protected] and we can help.
Q. How do I get access to the Units once I have purchased a licence, or received a donated licence?
A. At the point of purchase, you will be asked to nominate a single email address to access the resources (the email address must be from a domain associated with your school - general departmental email addresses are fine). Register and log into the site using that email address and you will have access to the Unit page under the Subscription Resources section. You can then download the resources for sharing within your school.
Q. Do you offer licensing for groups of schools or schooling systems?
A. Yes, please contact us at [email protected] for more detail.
How to use the materials
Q. How can I adjust the lesson length to meet the needs of my classroom?
A. All of the materials are editable and adaptable to suit your context. The essential parts of the lesson are represented with a key to help you make the most effective adaptations.
Q. What professional learning is available to support use of these units?
We have developed a set of professional learning tools and resources to support teachers to implement the Ochre Middle Years Novel Studies Curriculum. The professional learning resources currently available include video modules and slides on:
‘An introduction to the novel and the resources available’
‘Elements of a lesson’.
‘Background knowledge’,
‘Vocabulary,
‘A writing-intensive curriculum’
‘Reading Cycles’
‘Reading Systems’
Other questions
Q. I have another question
A. Email us at [email protected] and we will be happy to help.