English News

Empowering Students with Multilit's Five from Five Keys to Reading

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Five from Five is an evidence-based approach developed by Multilit (Making Up Lost Time In Literacy) to ensure all students achieve literacy success. It focuses on five key areas proven to be essential for effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

We are excited to update you on our continued efforts to enhance literacy instruction at St. Francis Xavier School. As part of our ongoing commitment to fostering strong reading skills among our students.

What is Five from Five?

Five from Five is an evidence-based approach developed by Multilit (Making Up Lost Time In Literacy) to ensure all students achieve literacy success. It focuses on five key areas proven to be essential for effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

The five key areas for effective reading instruction:

Our Implementation of Five from Five:

• Phonemic Awareness: Students engage in activities that develop their ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in words. These activities include rhyming games, phoneme segmentation, and sound blending exercises.
• Phonics: Our curriculum emphasizes systematic and explicit phonics instruction, teaching students the relationship between letters and sounds. We use structured phonics programs to support students in decoding words accurately and fluently.
• Fluency: We encourage regular independent reading and provide opportunities for students to practice reading aloud with expression and accuracy. Timed reading exercises and repeated readings help students improve their reading rate and prosody.
• Vocabulary: Vocabulary development is integrated into all areas of the curriculum, with a focus on explicitly teaching keywords and concepts. We provide opportunities for students to encounter new words in context and explore their meanings through discussions and activities.
• Comprehension: We teach students strategies for understanding and interpreting texts, including predicting, summarising, questioning, and making connections. Guided reading sessions and comprehension activities help students develop their comprehension skills across different genres.

Benefits of Five from Five:

• Improved reading skills: By focusing on the five essential components of reading, students develop a strong foundation in literacy that supports their overall reading proficiency.
• Increased confidence: With targeted instruction and practice, students gain confidence in their reading abilities and are more willing to engage with challenging texts.
• Enhanced academic performance: Strong reading skills are linked to academic success across all subject areas, empowering students to excel in learning.

What can be done at home?

We encourage parents to support their child's literacy development at home by:

• Reading with their child regularly and discussing the text.
• Practising phonemic awareness and phonics skills through games and activities.
• Encouraging independent reading and providing access to a variety of reading materials.

Attached is a link to the official MultiLit website which includes further information for parents and resources to be used at home. 

Click the link here to access Parent Resources- https://fivefromfive.com.au/parent-resources/  

Warm regards,

Nick Criniti

Coordinator