Fairview

Ms Kerrie Neophytou

Advent

At this moment, the focus in Religion and Values Education is Advent. We are discussing a candle each week and how this prepares us for Christmas. It is providing the children with the true meaning of Christmas. The candles represent, Hope (purple), Peace (purple), Love (purple), Joy (pink) and Jesus (white).

The Gift of Reading

Reading is a wonderful gift; it permits us to gain information for leisure, education, business and day to day purposes. As adults, we model reading to children and the importance of this necessary skill. We encourage children to read for meaning and try to gain as much information as possible. In Fairview, we develop skills and reading strategies for the children to use in a variety of situations. Children actively participate in the home reading program, encouraging parents to engage in their learning and the process of exploring the text via questioning and discussion. Reading with your child every evening should be a very special time to share as a family.

When you listen to your child read, these strategies are very useful:

Before reading with your child, discuss the cover, title, the pictures and what the book may be about.
While reading with your child, discuss the events that are occurring and what may happen next.
After reading with your child, talk about the story and the pictures e.g. “What was your favourite page?”
When your child encounters new words:

Pause to give your child the time to work out the word.

Prompt - Go to the beginning of the sentence and read to the difficult word.

Look or discuss the clues in the pictures or words.
Look at the first letter and talk about the chosen word. “Does this word make sense?” or “Can you see that word in the picture?”
Try to sound out the word.
If necessary tell your child the word.
It is recommended that you choose one or two strategies, not all of them for working out one unknown word.

Praise your child for trying (even when errors are made).

Please ensure that home reading occurs at the same time after school and in a quiet place. Establishing a routine is crucial for developing consistent home reading habits.

The Homeroom teacher will hear the children read during the week, they are not hearing them read their home reading book, but a book from a guided reading activity or similar task. The children are reading an unseen text and the teacher is assessing the skills and strategies they are using. The teacher gains an enormous amount of information from this process. This monitoring process occurs via a variety of learning experiences and amongst all learning areas. There is a strong focus on comprehension, prediction, fluency, questioning, retelling and self-correction.

We try not to focus on the reading levels the children are currently reading at, however, the skills they are establishing and utilising. There is also no rush for the children to change reading levels or even skip them. At such an early age, reading needs to be an enjoyable process for the children.

Enjoy this shared process, as many memories are made when reading as a family!