Operation Wipe Out

What we do

School Based Support

Operation Wipe Out

Operation Wipe Out is a project which can be used within a school to help promote the enjoyment of reading and improve reading abilities. It provides the children with a scenario and short frequent tasks which encourage them to look at a range of different reading materials, to explore different books and to play word and letter games. Each task that the child completes allows them to collect mission points and they can use these to 'buy' a set of spy cards.

Operation Wipe Out was trialled with Year 5 and 6 children in a South Derbyshire school from January - April 2010. After this period the children and their parents were asked about the project. All of the responses were enthusiastic and the school reported significant reading age/level gains particularly among boys who had been reluctant to read.

The children are invited to take part in the following scenario by the 'Spymaster' who is the character in charge of Operation Wipe Out:

Children of Britain are expected by adults to go to school and learn about reading and writing when they could be doing other things. Should this happen? Is it right? We need your help to make a decision about this. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is:

to find out about the books and written words that are in your operational zone
to find out which books and texts are important and should be looked after and which we can do without
to recruit other agents to help with the research

Each child is given:

An identification card
A mission record card
A start kit of portfolio, pen, pencil, paper, code cards, first spy card

Missions:

The children than have the opportunity to complete as many missions as they can while the project is running. Completing a mission results in gaining points; these can be used to buy spy cards from Big Q. There are 48 different cards which can be 'bought' showing different agents and spy equipment. The missions are set out in a mission booklet; at times they will need to get extra information about the mission from Big Q. The children can undertake missions in any order, they can repeat missions to help them develop their skills and increase their knowledge. They will log their missions and record their points on a mission record card which is in their portfolio.

Why set up Operation Wipe Out?
There are benefits for everyone involved in Operation Wipe Out.

For the school:

It provides a fun focus on reading
It hleps to develop independent reading
It helps reading age development
It helps planning and organisational skills
It can be linked to work being undertaken by the class and add to this
It involves parents and other adults in promoting reading

For the children:

Their reading and attitude to reading improves
They have time to play with words and letters
They get frequent opportunities to read
They get frequent rewards
They have time to enjoy books and other reading materials
They have time to sample different materials and decide whether to read more or change to something else

For the Parents and Volunteers:

They learn about reading processes and the skills involved
They learn about how to develop their child's skills and deal with difficulties encountered with reading - with no stress
They can have fun with their children

If you would like to find out more about Operation Wipe Out, please contact Carla Eyre or Annette Lowe

by email: info@rowa.org.uk

or by phone: 01629 536403

Or download the Evaluation Report (310 kb - pdf)