Literacy News
Tracey James (P-2), Elizabeth Whiting (3-6) - Literacy Leaders
Term 4 Literacy Assessments: Measuring Growth and Guiding Learning
Term 4 is an exciting time of the school year as our students apply, consolidate, and celebrate all the fantastic learning that has taken place throughout the year.
Throughout Term 4, our students will be completing a range of assessments. These tasks allow teachers to review student growth, identify key areas for future focus, and carefully plan for ongoing learning in reading, spelling, and writing during our daily literacy blocks.
Using this assessment data, teachers design daily reviews and whole-class explicit teaching sessions. This ensures every student receives targeted instruction to consolidate learning and extend their skills at their individual learning level.
What Testing Includes This Term
- 📖 Reading: Ongoing monitoring of student reading, with a strong focus on reading fluency (reading accurately, smoothly, and with expression) and comprehension (understanding and discussing texts).
- 🔤 Spelling: Students will complete Term 3 spelling post-assessments to measure what they have mastered, alongside Term 4 pre-assessments to guide upcoming instruction.
- ✍️ Writing: Teachers will analyse student writing samples against key skill areas, including:
- 💡 Ideas & Content: Generating clear, engaging thoughts
- 🏗️ Structure & Cohesion: Organising writing that flows and makes sense
- 🔗 Sentences & Grammar: Building clear, varied, and grammatically correct sentences
- 🗣️ Vocabulary & Language: Choosing vocabulary suitable to the text they are writing
- 🔤 Spelling & ❗️ Punctuation: Applying accurate spelling and punctuation
- 📝 Revising: Improving written texts by adding, removing, moving, or substituting words and details
📝 Editing: Carefully checking written work for capital letters, punctuation, and correct spelling
Thank you to families for your ongoing support as we work together to nurture confident, capable readers and writers! If you have any questions about how literacy assessment works in your child's classroom, please feel free to reach out to their classroom teacher.