School News, Birthdays & Awards 

The Twits

Literacy

Dear Parents,

This year as part of our ongoing Literacy approach we are continuing to support children’s learning of spelling. One approach being used in schools across Australia to teach spelling is SMART Spelling by Michelle Hutchinson. 

SMART Spelling has a clear Scope and Sequence beginning with Prep and continuing on through to Year Six. Teachers start by teaching the meaning of words to expand vocabulary and oral language skills, and then break words into syllables, sounds (phonics) and letter patterns (graphs, digraphs and trigraphs) by following a simple routine called the ‘SMART Sequence’.

In a SMART Spelling classroom, students are explicitly taught letter patterns, one at a time. Teachers choose a range of words (from simple to complex) from a suggested list. Students are then guided to choose from that list of words using this pattern; these lists have a variety of words to cater for different capabilities. Personal and common words are also a focus in SMART Spelling. Teachers use their strong professional knowledge to give meaningful feedback to students about their spelling in writing, therefore teaching at the point of need. 

St Anne’s staff has undertaken the SMART Spelling course together, so all are aware of how this approach works. This is an extensive and comprehensive course that requires many hours of professional learning.  As a school we believe in exploring evidenced-based learning that has shown to be powerful in supporting students' learning. We always work towards implementing resources, first through exploration and then secondly, towards embedding a practice that works for our students, at St Anne’s. We believe in using new resources as a way to support what we are already doing at St Anne’s, to extend our thinking and to continually grow our practice with student outcomes at the forefront of the process. 

Prep - SMART Foundations

The SMART Spelling program has a separate process to introduce spelling to students in their first year of school, this is called SMART Foundations. This program aligns with the SMART Spelling course which Years 1-6 will be using. We are adapting our SMART Foundations to tailor our students' needs by incorporating this into a SPELD scope and sequence. This also aligns with our Sunshine Decodable Books that children read during Literacy time.

How can you help at home? 

Playing spelling games such as Bananagrams at home together will improve student oral language and letter recognition skills which greatly contribute to spelling. This game can be purchased from Kmart. 

What to know more? 

If you would like to learn more about the SMART Spelling course or the founder of the course please visit https://www.smartspelling.com.au/home 

If you have any questions about the Spelling program, please feel free to contact me.

Kind regards,

Michael Sullivan

Literacy Leader

Wishing the following children a very happy birthday.

Isaac B

Oliver H

Joshua S

Keira G

Hip Hip Hooray!!

Congratulations to the following students for receiving an award this week.