Teaching & Learning

Words Their Way

As we have been sharing in the past few newsletters, we are embarking on a new model of teaching spelling that is more conducive to our new COVID norm.

Words Their Way will be a phrase you will probably hear your children talking about over the next few weeks. It is a model of explicitly teaching spelling sounds, patterns and meanings using a mixture of direct instruction and discovery learning. It is effectively asking students to work with letters and words in many different ways so they develop a deep understanding of the letter sounds and patterns that underpin accurate spelling.

Last week we outlined the different skills that will be taught throughout the stages in the model, and this week we would like to introduce you to a Word Sort.

A Word Sort is an activity that students will be presented with on a weekly basis to help them make stronger connections to a spelling sound, pattern or meaning.

The students are presented with a word sort like the one below. It is focussing on short and long A sounds.

After being presented with a word sort and working with the teacher on the strategy being presented, the students then move into sorting mode. They may work independently or in groups to manipulate, break up and and explore the different words in order to sort them out and group them together.

In this case students are looking for words with:

a letter pattern CVC which also has a short A sound as in BLACK.
a letter pattern CVCe which also has a long A sound as in SPACE.
A letter pattern CVVC which also has a long A sound as in RAIN.
Oddballs - are any words that have the letter patterns as above but dont have the appropriate short or long A sound.

Often the Oddballs become the challenge in Word Sorts as students really have to break down the sound and pattern components to find these words.

There are 2 Oddballs in this word sort. Can you find them??

The students work on this spelling pattern for 20 - 25 minutes per day, gradually taking part in more complex learning experiences as the week goes on. To finish off the week, the teacher will check for understanding by asking students to recall a number of the words from the word sort.

Inquiry Through Lines - Term 3 2020

Every term each year level has a focus on one of the schools identified through lines. A through line is a major theme that has been identified by the school as important for big picture thinking. We have 8 through lines:

The through lines have been organised that each student will focus on each of these at least twice during their primary schooling.

In Term 3 2020 teachers have been working hard to develop these units of inquiry:

Writing

Last week we talked about our continuing journey to develop a writing model that is built more around student voice and agency. A big part of this model is to ensure students have a clear understanding of the writing process. It is for this reason that a writing cycle will be explicitly taught as the students progress through the school. The writing cycle is important to help students understand that writing just doesn’t happen, it is carefully crafted and planned over time showing creativity, perseverance and organisational skills. We will discuss this in more detail in future newsletters.

The writing process that the school will basing our new writing model on is”:

What are the kids saying?

"We are using real books to help us become better writers. We read a book called The Grouchy Ladybug and then did some writing. It helped us see how to set out an information report".

Neve and Julian - Yr 1

"We are looking at lots of different examples of how people persuade others. We have looked at videos, books and posters to see how we can persuade people to do what we want. Writing is lots more fun because you get to make up your own ideas".

Aubree and Flynn - Yr 3

"I look forward to writing time as there is more writing involved on a specific thing. There is more time now to plan, draft and publish our writing. An example is when we were writing about sunflowers, we took pictures and planted sunflowers to prepare for our writing. We had something to base our writing on".

Ava and Rhys - Yr 5

Victorian Premiers Challenge

Congratulations to the following students who have joined the list of those who have completed the Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge. Let’s have a look at what books these students have been reading.

Claudia W