Literacy
How to choose a 'good fit' book for your child
One of the first reading lessons that students in Grades 3 to 6 participate in each year is discussing how to pick a 'good fit' book for their reading ability. A 'good fit' book is a text that the students can confidently read independently while also understanding most of the word meanings and comprehending the text. A method that parents can use at home is written below.
Parents explain the following to their child:
1. Choose the book you think you would like to read.
2. Open to a middle page that has quite a few words on it.
3. Begin to read the page.
4. Each time you come to a word you don’t know, hold one finger up.
5. If you have all five fingers up before the end of the page, you may not be ready for this book just yet.
6. A book that you have two or three fingers up is probably the one that you might like to try.
The article was adapted from the PETAA paper on Valuing Parents in the Reading Process
Writing Competition
Every year Dymocks runs a short short competition and this year the prizes are bigger and better! Students are required to write a short story that is between 500 and 1500 words long and can be written on any topic. The stories are required to be submitted by the 31st May 2024. Details and how to enter the competition are on the website below:
Fortnightly Segments
Comprehension questions to ask at home
This fortnight’s questions are (these could relate to poetry or narrative text types):
- What was your story about? Describe the most important events as they occurred in your story.
- How do the events in the story affect the characters? Match the events with examples of the character description.
- Choose a part of the book that has special meaning to you. Why did you choose it?
Writing Challenge
If your child enjoys their writing and is keen to write for enjoyment at home, below is a prompt that you could ask your child to write about.
- The dinosaurs are back, and they’re in your street. What happens next?