Learning & Teaching

Snapshot of Literacy across St. John’s

Prep Hub - IntiaLit (Reading)

The Prep educators have been using the InitiaLit resources to support our comprehensive Reading approach at St. John’s. Over the term, the children have experienced the explicit teaching of:

• rhyme (cat, mat)
• syllables (rain/bow)
• blending together onset and rimes (c/at to make ‘cat’, b/at to make ‘bat’).

The children have also been introduced to the sounds (phonemes) /m/, /s/, /a/ and /t/ and used their mini whiteboards to practise the correct letter formation of these letters, as well as distinguishing which words may begin with these sounds. The children have also listened to many stories and formed connections to texts to strengthen their reading comprehension skills.

Targeted learning experiences have reinforced these skills with children working in small groups based on their assessment data. The children practise the skill at the next step in the progression of learning, which could range from matching an onset and rime together, sorting pictures that start with the /m/ sound or reading a decodable text.

Discovery learning opportunities have provided spaces to further explore these Reading skills, particularly within our Book Nook and Mark Making contexts, where influencing educators have encouraged children to build, extend and transfer this learning into authentic contexts. E.g. through creating stories and recording simple ideas.

One and Two Hubs - Learning Review

Throughout this term, the One and Two Hubs have been exploring different ways to teach and consolidate phonics knowledge. 

In the One Hub, the children have been exploring and reviewing letter sounds to begin their Writing lessons. Children begin by practicing forming letters on dotted-thirds whiteboards. They then use daily flashcards of known letter sounds to help build quick recall. Patrick and Lien then introduce a new letter sound focus for the week, and children practice breaking the new letters and known letters into sounds (e.g., /c/ /a/ /t/) and then blending these words to read (e.g., cat). The educators then explicitly teach use sound boxes to spelling CVC words (constant, vowel, constant words - eg. dog). The children then have the opportunity to practice this skill in their independent writing during both their Writing lesson, Writing target group and Discovery.

In the Two Hub, the children have been exploring phonics before their Reading lessons. The children engage in daily flashcards, with a mixture of known and unknown letter sounds, to reinforce and expand their phonics knowledge. Children then have the opportunity to practice spelling by Molly and Charlotte explicitly teaching; different spelling rules, using sound boxes to break words into syllables and practice of spelling common words (for example: said, that, went, saw, was).  They are also expanding their vocabulary by learning the meaning of interesting words identified from text used in Reading lessons. As the year progresses, children will begin to explore suffixes, prefixes, and root words.

Every three weeks educators internationally design and create Discovery spaces to provide children the opportunity to apply their phonics learning into authentic and real-world spaces and contexts. Educators influence and support children to use these skills across all Discovery spaces, especially in the Book Nook and the Writing Table.

Three - Six Hubs

In our tri-weekly Literacy learning design, educators carefully analyse each child's reading and writing progress, allowing us to pinpoint their next learning steps. We deliver explicit instruction through targets and mini-lessons, using examples and non-examples to clarify concepts and vocabulary. To reinforce learning, we provide multiple practice opportunities through targeted activities. We also emphasise building on prior knowledge, which helps to create strong learning connections. Children apply their skills through engaging group work, independent tasks, and Discovery projects.

A reading example from the Three/Four Hub;

Book Club has begun in the Three/Four Hub! Educators began by providing targeted small group instruction, clearly explaining the goals and expectations. Children then collaborated to analyse their texts, answering curriculum-aligned questions and developing shared 'Book Club Habits.' During the initial Book Club sessions, educators actively participated, demonstrating effective discussion and providing support. This second cycle marks a shift towards child autonomy, as they practice these skills with less guidance. We're excited to see them develop into confident, self-directed Book Club participants!

A writing example from the Five/Six Hub;

As part of our Community Project, ‘A Tapestry of our World’, the children were exposed to three types of Informative Texts, biographies, news articles and procedural texts. Through mini lessons, the educators explicitly unpacked the structure and language features of each text type, making comparisons and highlighting differences. To empower their learning, children choose which text type they want to delve into further, tailoring their learning to their Discovery Projects. We then took a deeper dive, annotating and critiquing examples and giving children the chance to create their own informative texts. The following examples showcase how our children are using their newfound knowledge to enrich their Discovery Projects!

District Cross Country

In wet and miserable conditions our St John’s Cross Country team showed determination to run their best during the District event at Hansen Reserve recently.

The continued support and cheering along the fence line from our children and parents for the St John’s children and all other competitors was great to see.

The day started with the excited Year 4 children leaving the protection of the umbrellas to push themselves around the 2km course along with 40 other children.  A big race by all, some finding it very challenging and others pacing themselves well throughout the course. 

Our Year 5 students experienced the 3km run for the 1st time and some found the extra km a hard task but pushed themselves right to the end.  

The Year 6’s in their final year ran with a sense of purpose to complete the 3km race in their best possible time, pacing themselves well and finishing strong. We had amazing results in the girls race with 5 of our girls finishing in the top 12. 

Congratulations to Evie R (Yr 4), Eloise W (Yr 5), & Willow H (Yr 6) who have qualified to compete at the Cross Country Division event in Term 2. They might need to use some of their holiday time for training!

The St John’s community wish them well in their events.

Regional Swimming

Congratulations to Toby P (Yr 4) who swam in the backstroke event at the Regional Competition in Geelong on Tuesday.  He swam a great race and finished 13th out of a very strong group of swimmers. It is a wonderful achievement to reach the Regional level with schools from all of Western Melbourne and the Geelong Area.   Well done Toby.

Stay Connected with SIMON Everywhere

This year, we've introduced the SIMON Everywhere app, your convenient gateway to your PAM account. This user-friendly app enables us to directly communicate important updates and notifications with our school community.

We've been actively sharing information about upcoming events and exciting learning experiences on the group chat thread within the app. To ensure you don't miss any important announcements, please enable notifications for the app.

Starting in 2025, we will be transitioning all school communications to the SIMON Everywhere app. We strongly encourage all families to download the app and sign in using your PAM account credentials.

If you have any difficulties or require assistance with your PAM account details, please don't hesitate to contact the office (admin@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au, 9687 3150) or Amy (alittley@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au).