Fairview

                                                  Miss Felicity Donohue

The Power of Reading

 “You want a magic potion to make your kids brighter? Give them books.” – Jackie French

After such a successful Book Week, I thought it apt to reflect on what makes a good reader?

As students start their learning journey in the early years of schooling, reading is an important foundational skill all students need to develop in order to help their future learning.

In Fairview, we want to encourage our students to develop a love of reading. To see reading not just as a homework task, but an act that is enjoyable and helps them explore real and fantastical worlds around them.

At times, we can encounter reluctant readers who can take a while to warm up to reading. To help build engagement, encourage your child to start with books that interest them. As time goes by, start to challenge them to stretch their reading circle to new authors and genres.

When reading with your child at home, there are three ways in which a child can engage with a story:

Read to

The child listens to you read the story. Typically at bedtimes when children are winding down for the evening, reading a story to your child and asking them to follow along with their eyes or pointing to the words will develop their book handling skills and concepts about print.

Read with

Reading a story together can enhance engagement. This could be through both of you reading aloud at the same time, taking turns on alternate pages or sentences or pausing at an unknown word and sounding it out together. When children are experiencing difficulty with a text, this can help them gain a greater understanding of what they are reading.

Read independently

This is when your child reads aloud to you while you listen along. Encourage your child to sound out unfamiliar words, to use the pictures in the story to help develop their text understanding or use the other words in the sentence to make meaning of unfamiliar words. Being a reading role model for your child is important. If your child sees you taking time to read and enjoying a good book, it can encourage them to do the same. As your child develops into an independent reader, encouraging discussions about what they’re reading and sharing opinions on characters and literary devices can be a powerful way to build your child’s reading comprehension.

Swimming

We have one more week of swimming left for this term. The students have enjoyed their time learning swimming skills and how to be safe in the water. The Prep – Year 3 students participated in water safety activities yesterday and I commend all students who participated for coming to the pool prepared to swim in their clothes. It was an exciting experience for all and a new experience for some. Our students learnt some important water safety skills not just around the swimming pool, but staying safe around rivers, beaches and even at home. The Splash team created an excellent program for our students. I encourage you to talk to your child at home about what they have learned about being safe around water, what we need to consider when we are in shallow or deep water and who we need to call in an emergency. Talking about this with your child encourages an open conversation about water safety. It’s been a great program!

Next week will be our final swimming session and the Splash team have organised some fun activities and surprises for the students. We look forward to celebrating their newfound skills next Thursday!