ELC News 

Welcome back to a new school year. We hope you’ve all had a restful and relaxing holiday with your families. The students have settled into their new classrooms in an enthusiastic and calm manner. The staff deserve a special mention- teachers, administration staff and integration aides, for their magnificent efforts in setting up the learning environments and preparing for the start of the new school year.

A warm welcome also to all the new families that are joining the WPS community for the first time. We have 21 Prep students starting school and have additional new students joining the F-2 building in Year 1&2. We hope you all enjoy learning and making new friends at Windsor PS. I know our friendly school community will welcome all our new students and families.

Take-Home Reading Program

The Take-Home Reading Program will begin next week for year 1 and 2 students. Please ensure your child has a school 'book bag' to use for taking books and reading logs to and from school each day in their school backpack. These can be purchased at the school office if you don't have one already. 

Prep students will begin daily home reading later this term. 

The books that children bring home to read, should be at a slightly lower level than what they are reading in the classroom. It is meant to be an enjoyable experience for both parents and their children. 

Find a quiet, comfortable spot that is the go-to reading spot with your child. If you have other children, this can be tricky, I know! It’s about finding the right time for you and your child. Whether it be just before they go to bed, or first thing in the morning. Do what works for you.

Get your child thinking about what the book might be about by asking some questions before you start reading. Here are some examples of what you could ask:

• What do you think this book is about? Why?
• Do you think this is a story or a fact book? Why?
• Can you read the title? Does this give you some more clues?
• What can you notice about the picture on the front of the book?

Here are some basic reading strategies your child may have been taught in the classroom:

• Can they use the picture to help?
• Stretch out the word – so for the word shouted – ‘sh-ou-ted’.
• Can they see for chunks in the word, or smaller words in a larger word – so for shouted – they could see ‘shout’, or ‘out’.
• Can they sound out the word?
• Get them to read to the end of the sentence for further clues. What would make sense?
• Get them to work out the first sound of the word and get their mouth ready for the word.

Home Reading - A Guide for Parents | Teach Starter

Please speak with your child's Classroom Teacher or Kathrine if you or your child are experience any difficulties with Take-Home Readers.