Literacy Update

As we come to the end of the term and head into the holidays, I wanted to share what students have been working on in reading and writing, along with a few simple, optional ideas you can try at home.

Writing

This term, students have been learning about recount writing, including factual recounts, writing about real events.

A recount retells events in the order they happened and may include personal thoughts, feelings, and reflections.

A factual recount also retells events in sequence, but focuses only on accurate, objective information and does not include opinions or emotions.

They have been practising how to:

start with an orientation, who, when, where, what
write about events in the order they happened
use paragraphing, grouping sentences about the same part of an event together
expand simple sentences by adding more detail

For sentence expansion, students start with a simple sentence, e.g. The dog and build on it by adding:

an adjective, what it looks like
verb, what it is doing
where it is

For example:The dog → The big dog ran in the park.

Year 3, 5, and 6 have also been writing narrative and persuasive texts. For narratives, students wrote stories from a prompt, practising how to develop characters, events, and a clear sequence. In persuasive writing, they learned to give reasons, convince the reader, and organise their ideas clearly. These skills support both creative writing and NAPLAN preparation, helping students practise different types of writing in a structured way.

Reading

In reading, students have been building their understanding of texts. They have been learning to:

predict what a text might be about before reading, using the title or pictures and prior knowledge
retell what they have read, explaining the main events in order
respond to reading by sharing their thoughts, such as their favourite part and why
summarise chapters or texts, giving a shorter version with the most important points

The difference between retell and summary. A retell includes the main events in order, while a summary is shorter and focuses only on the key ideas.

Ideas for home

Holiday journal or story writing
Encourage your child to write about their day, a recent experience, or even make up a story. They can practise:
- starting with who, when, where and what
- writing events in order
- using paragraphs to group ideas
- adding details to make sentences more interesting

Sentence building
Give your child a simple sentence and ask them to add more detail. This can be done orally or in writing. For example: “The boy” → “The happy boy played soccer at the park.”
Reading
Reading over the holidays is still important. You could visit your local library or look for second-hand books. Let your child choose what they are interested in.
Link reading to writing
After reading, you can ask:
- What do you think will happen next?
- What happened in the story?
- What was your favourite part? Why?
- Can you tell me the main points in a few sentences?

The holidays are a time to relax, but small activities like these can help students keep practising what they have learned this term in a simple way.

Take Home Readers

All books need to be returned by Tuesday so that we can conduct a stocktake and prepare for borrowing next term. Thank you for your understanding.

Please check for any Take Home Readers that may still be at home.

Access to Sunshine Online:

Username: stfidelis (case sensitive – ensure lowercase)
Password: read123 (case sensitive – ensure lowercase)

Wishing all families a safe and enjoyable break and a Happy Easter.

Bernadette Parnis | Literacy Leader