The View

From the Director of Primary

Book Week

The purpose of Book Week is to inspire a love of reading.  Not surprisingly, the ability to read is one of the strongest predictors of future success.  Studies show that children who enjoy reading do much better at school and when reading with their parents, literacy skills improve considerably.

Reading with children is one of the most enjoyable activities a parent, grandparent or carer may do.  Shared reading significantly contributes to children becoming good and willing readers.  In order to make the experience as beneficial for children the following tips are recommended:

  • Make time to read together every day – the longer the better, but even 15 minutes is better than not at all.
  • Read together in a place without distractions like television or computers.
  • If it is a new book, look through it together first and discuss what it might be about.

With younger children:

  • Explain how books ‘work’. Discuss that all books have a title and an author, how to hold a book, that we turn the pages from the front to the back, and we read the words from left to right down the page.
  • Point out letters in words and talk about their sounds. Start with the first initials of the child’s names and their family’s names.
  • Include books with rhyme or alliteration to help development phonemic awareness.
  • Include books with an interesting variety of words to develop vocabulary. Talk about the meaning of new or unfamiliar words and try to use those words in conversation over the next few days.
  • Include classic fables and fairy-tales from a variety of cultures to develop children’s cultural literacy.

With older children:

  • Choose books for shared reading that are more challenging than children are capable of reading on their own, which will expose them to words, ideas, themes, and concepts that will contribute to their vocabulary, and general knowledge.
  • Alternate books by contemporary authors with books by classic authors like Rudyard Kipling, CS Lewis, and Robert Louis Stevenson. This will open up new worlds to children and extend their cultural literacy.
  • Encourage children to be more adventurous in their own book choices, especially at the library.
  • Don’t insist on finishing a book if they are not enjoying it after the first few chapters. Put it aside and maybe come back to it another time.                

Source: www.fivefromfive.org.au

 

Next week, the Year 10 Curriculum Leaders together with the Year 5 and 6 Leaders will provide students with a range of activities based on the theme, “Reading is my Secret Power.”   These will include reading on the green, designing book marks, chalk drawings and character cavaliers at lunch time. 

On Friday, the students are encouraged to dress up as their favourite character for the Book Week Parade on Friday commencing at 11.10am.  Students are permitted to wear their costumes for the day, or change into other clothing if they would prefer to do so.  It is not necessary to purchase costumes and in fact, the students are encouraged to be creative and use the items from home.

The Student Leaders are also inviting students to donate a loved book which will be donated to one of a number of organisations including the Women’s Shelter.   

Focus of the Fortnight

For the coming fortnight the Year 5 and 6 Leaders are encouraging students to be organised.  In particular, the Leaders are recommending to older students the idea of completing a TO–DO-LIST as a way of helping to manage their time and to be more organised. 

When completing a TO–DO-LIST, tasks are listed in order of priority with those that are most important and require the most energy being placed at the top.  Being organised is a great way to help students be less stressed and improve wellbeing.       

 

Mrs Caroline Wilson-Haffenden

Director of Primary