Classroom News

Junior School News

Why Reading Fluency Should Be HOT!

This term the teachers have been focusing on developing fluency in student reading. Through repeated readings, the students have had an opportunity to learn to project their voices, add expression and develop confidence with decoding. Students are learning to add emphasis to words in a sentence, respond to the punctuation by pausing or changing the tone in their voice, and read at a steady pace. Despite what many think, fluency is not about speed. Think of a newsreader and their ability to convey meaning in their words, stay at a good pace, and keep the viewer engaged – these skills all involve fluency. As students move through the year and develop their reading confidence there is an eagerness from families to challenge them with harder and harder books. Consider instead encouraging your child to read with fluency – expression, pace, and projection. It is considered to be an authentic skill that will improve confidence and reading outcomes. 

If you would like to read more about fluency you can follow this link to an excellent article by Tim Rasinski.

Middle School News

Grades 2/3A and 3/4B have been busily readying for their 1st intercultural encounter with their South Korean sister school classes, as part of the Global Lyncs Program. Ballan Primary School has been fortunate to have been involved in this program for the past 5 years. Students have a fabulous opportunity to learn about a different culture and share information about themselves and their lives. We get to compare and discuss differences and similarities in the foods we eat, our types of clothing and housing, cultural celebrations, and language. Each class in the program creates resources to share with their partner class, usually using PowerPoint – which provides an excellent opportunity to hone some of our digital literacy skills as well. On the day of the link up we always start by greeting each other in our language and then each other’s. We have learnt to say hello in Korean, which is ‘ann-yeong’. The link-up sessions also provide a great chance to practice our speaking and listening skills as we talk to our South Korean friends and listen to/respond to their questions and answers. 

** 3/4H will also be joining in with these activities but will be working with Mr. Heeps’ school contacts from Japan, once he is back from paternity leave 😊

Some interesting things we have been surprised to learn about our South Korean friends:

• Most South Korean students go to night school after regular school (like tutoring) either in Maths or English.
• All students and teachers brush their teeth twice a day – at school!
• Lunches are provided at school, so South Korean students get up later than we do, as they don’t have to pack a lunch box.
• Nearly everyone in South Korea lives in a high-rise apartment/flat.
• The school has limited grass or garden areas for play. 

Click on the links to see the PPT presentations we are sharing with our South Korean friends as well as their PPT they are sharing with us.

Senior School News

Last week saw the first round of District Inter school Winter Sports happen for our senior students. Last week our students participated in Football against team throughout the district. Congratulations to everyone involved we were able to make it all the way to the Grand Final. Thank you to the parent helpers that came along and a big Thank you to Mr Petersen and Mr. M for organising such a successful day. We look forward to hearing back from the Netball team this week and the Soccer team next week.