Curriculum News

CURRICULUM REPORT

Welcome back to 2019!  It’s hard to believe we are almost at the halfway mark of what has been a wonderful start to Term 1.  It’s been great to see how focused and settled all students have been, in particular our Foundation students.  This year will be an exciting year of learning; here is a snapshot of what we have been up to so far.

Establishing Reading and Writing Communities

This year, along with Setting the Learning Climate, our teachers and students have been busy establishing their Reading and Writing Communities.  This unit of learning is focused on setting up the routines, expectations and key elements of their Reading and Writing Workshops.  The term Workshops simply refers to the daily reading and writing lesson, in which students are engaged in explicit instruction, independent reading and writing, conferences and strategy groups.  Last year we had a school-wide focus on improving writing, which saw some fantastic results.  Whilst continuing our focus on writing, this year we will also be looking to enhance our practice in reading, by developing our CAFÉ and Daily 5 approach.

Writer’s Notebook

This year we have launched Writer’s Notebooks as a part of our Writing Workshops.  The Notebook is designed as a tool for our students to use when writing.  It is a place where they can record their own ideas, memories and experiences and use these entries as a starting point when planning a piece of writing.  It is also a place where they can practice different writing techniques, refine their ideas and collect examples of strong writing.  A key concept we are working on this year is the understanding that writers write about things that they know well and are important to them.  The response from students has been so positive and many of you would have seen the Notebooks on display during our open morning.

Homework

This year our School Improvement Team, along with the Education Sub-committee will be reviewing our Homework policy as part of our 3 year cycle.  The topic of homework often brings with it a range of opinions from everyone in our school community – parents, teachers and students.  This term, homework is not starting until Week 6 and at the end of the term we will be sending out a survey to parents and carers to ask for your feedback about homework. 

Miss Bec Garrow, Leading Teacher