Literacy 

LITERACY EXTENSION

Some of our highly talented middle and senior students have started working with Miss Quinlan for an extra challenge! 

Have a look at this powerful piece of writing. Note the emotion evoked, the deliberate vocabulary choices and the unique writer’s voice shining through.

Rainforest

Through cool valleys forests gloom

In the emerald light old treeferns loom

Bugs come out and start to sprawl

And up the tree trunks green ferns crawl

Mighty branches upwards they soar

Wide spreading vines sheltering all

Wind blows through and thick leaves fall

And so do twigs on the forest floor

Crystal waters swiftly pearl

As winter emerges leaves start to curl

Flowing mossy boulders big and round

The waterfall by the river makes a gentle sound

After all these years of survival

The forest is now threatened by men’s arrival

Once that piece of kindness is found

We could turn this all around

By Siena G - Year 5

But that’s not all… coming soon…

ST JAMES

TEACHING & LEARNING IN YEAR 2

At St James, our teachers have opportunities to observe evidence based teaching practices, modelled to them by others. This is part of our professional development structure, to ensure we are continually reflecting upon and refining our teaching practices, to ensure the best outcomes for our students.

A couple of weeks ago, Miss Quinlan taught in Year 2!   She used a core reading strategy called Guided Reading. The small group were engaged in talking about the text before, during and after reading, in order to build meaning. Miss Quinlan also explicitly taught the students how to break words into parts. 

BOOK WEEK CELEBRATIONS

The students enjoyed a special Book Week performance this week: Bigger, Better, Brighter. We thank the actors for their flexibility in shifting their incursion online, to ensure we wouldn’t miss out! It certainly gave us a new perspective with which to examine the shortlisted books!

Thank you to all families who made the effort to think creatively this year when making and putting together Book Week costumes! The children looked amazing and had lots of fun sharing their costumes with their friends and teachers.

More photos and videos will be uploaded to the parent portal for you to view.

Olivia Quinlan

Literacy Leader