Literacy Update
What are we reading and writing this term?
Foundation
Reading: Engaging picture story books
Foundation students are enjoying shared picture story books. They are focusing on making predictions about what might happen next using pictures and story clues. They are also learning early reading skills, including how books work and that print carries meaning. Students are building understanding by talking about stories, noticing details, and exploring books together.
Writing: Weekly weekend recounts and responding to texts read
Year 1
Reading: Engaging picture story books
Year 1 students are reading a range of picture story books and focusing on adjectives. They are learning how authors use describing words to help readers picture characters, settings, and events more clearly. Students are building comprehension through predicting, making connections, and identifying adjectives in books.
Writing: Weekly weekend recounts and descriptive writing
Students are writing their own descriptions, focusing on using adjectives to add detail and make their writing more interesting.
Year 2
Reading: Persuasive texts (modelled examples)
Year 2 students are working with mentor persuasive texts to learn how authors share opinions and try to persuade readers. They are looking at how arguments are structured and the language used to convince others. Students are building comprehension through identifying key ideas, making connections, and discussing persuasive techniques. They are also sharing their own opinions and using persuasive language in discussion.
Writing: Letters and persuasive writing
Year 3
Reading: Yirra and Her Deadly Dog, Demon – Anita Heiss
Year 3 students are reading Yirra and Her Deadly Dog, Demon by Anita Heiss. The story follows a girl and her energetic dog as they navigate everyday challenges, including caring for the dog and managing its behaviour. Students are building comprehension through predicting, making inferences, and discussing key events, as well as developing vocabulary in context.
Writing: Responding to reading and reflecting, and factual recounts
Year 4
Reading: Storm Boy – Colin Thiele
Year 4 students are reading Storm Boy by Colin Thiele, set in the Coorong. The story follows a boy growing up in an isolated coastal environment and his bond with pelicans after rescuing and caring for them. Students are building comprehension through predicting, visualising, questioning, and making inferences, while developing vocabulary through descriptive language.
Writing: Information reports; editing to improve sentences, structure, and vocabulary
Years 5/6
Reading: Convict Boy – Libby Hathorn
Years 5 and 6 students are reading Convict Boy by Libby Hathorn, set in early colonial Australia. The story follows a young boy who is transported as a convict and his experiences adjusting to life in the colony. Students are building comprehension through summarising, making inferences, and analysing character perspectives, while developing vocabulary through historical language and context.
Writing: Recount, reflecting and responding to reading and information texts such as newspaper articles
Literacy Intervention
MiniLit is a structured literacy intervention program from the MultiLit (Making Up Lost Time in Literacy) suite of programs. It is designed to support students in Years 1 to 5 who have been identified through screening and assessment as benefiting from additional targeted teaching in key early reading skills.
The program focuses on explicit teaching of foundational reading skills, including phonological awareness (hearing and working with sounds in words), letter sound knowledge, blending sounds to read words, and developing accuracy and fluency when reading simple texts. These skills are taught in a clear step by step way and are regularly revisited to help students strengthen and consolidate their learning.
Students participate in 3 to 4 half hour sessions each week in small groups of 3 to 4. The sessions are highly structured and supportive and are delivered by trained educators.
I will be contacting parents this week to let them know if their child has been selected for the program. MiniLit is an additional learning opportunity provided through the school to strengthen foundational reading skills and support continued growth and success as confident readers in the classroom.
Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge | Login details
Login details, username and password, will be sent home so you can access your child’s account and log their reading at home.
Upcoming National Simultaneous Storytime
We also have the upcoming National Simultaneous Storytime next week, where students across Australia will all read the same picture book at the same time. This year’s book is Luna Roo: The Kangaroo Ballerina by Nat Amoore. It is a great opportunity for students to come together as a school community and share in a national reading event. More information will be shared with families next week.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Wishing you a great week.
Bernadette Parnis | Literacy Leader
bparnis@sfmoreland.catholic.edu.au