Year 3-6 Literacy Update

It is a pleasure to write to you in my role as Senior Literacy Coordinator. It has been a fabulous start to English learning in the Senior Years. This role allows me to visit various classes and observe the wonderful teaching and learning happening in Years 3 to 6. I could not be more proud of the hard work and dedication to learning I have witnessed across these classrooms during Term 1 and 2.

One of my key goals in this role is to promote and enhance a love of literature. I know from many conversations with parents that this is no easy task for many students, particularly as they get older and take on more extracurricular activities and weekend commitments. Even as a Prep parent myself, I recognise that finding time to read in the evenings is not always possible, especially when your child is reluctant to read!

Research clearly shows that reading for pleasure is strongly linked to academic achievement. We also know that low motivation can have a negative impact on reading development. My aim is to increase motivation to read by helping students discover texts, authors, stories, and biographies they truly enjoy. We want our students to feel more motivated to read both at home and at school.

This isn’t always easy. Even for teachers, recommending books for independent reading can be challenging. We have some incredibly capable readers in the senior school who can engage with high-level texts and complex plots. However, the content in young adult fiction can escalate quickly, and finding books that are both engaging and age-appropriate is not always straightforward.

To support positive reading habits and improve engagement, I have worked alongside our teachers to introduce several new strategies.

We met with Raelene Plozza from Brighton Grammar, who wrote a paper on engaging adolescent boys in reading through a concept called Book Honouring. Her passion, expertise and insights inspired us to introduce this concept in the senior school. Book Honouring is defined as anything a teacher does to make a book feel special (Gambrell & Marinak, 2018). Each teacher has adopted this in their own way, but across the senior classrooms, you can now see how students are being given the opportunity to recommend and share books they’ve enjoyed. Many classrooms have dedicated Book Honouring displays. If you’re looking for a book to read with your child, to your child, or for your child to read independently, feel free to check out the displays or speak to your child’s teacher about some of the books that have been “honoured.”

Additionally, in Term 2, students in Years 4 to 6 have embarked on a Novel Study. Novel studies offer a range of educational benefits. Through shared reading experiences, students develop collaboration skills, gain insight into diverse perspectives and build independent learning habits. We selected the novels carefully to align with curriculum topics and to help students discover new authors and ignite their love of storytelling and reading.

As both a teacher and a reader, it brings me immense joy to walk into classrooms and see students deeply engaged with their books, participating in meaningful conversations. So this term has truly been a dream! Especially as I have the pleasure of teaching one of these novels myself. I have been blown away by the level of engagement, critical thinking, and empathy shown by my own class and others throughout this novel study. The feedback I’ve received from teachers and from Mrs Tobin, who has also visited these lessons, has been heartwarming.

Years 5 and 6 are currently immersed in the world of Tigg the Bandicoot Bushranger. Tigg, not much older than the students themselves, must survive as an orphan during the Australian Gold Rush. The story explores how the Gold Rush impacted the Wadawurrung people, as well as the challenges faced by Chinese migrants during The Long Walk from Robe to Ballarat. Students are loving this critically acclaimed novel by Jackie French and were enthusiastically discussing it during their trip to Sovereign Hill, making connections to the carriages, costumes, food, and landscape described in the book.

Meanwhile, Years 3 and 4 are reading the beautiful Storm Boy by Colin Thiele. This emotional story explores themes of family, connection to nature and resilience. It is helping students build a deeper understanding of the landscape and of human-animal relationships. The students are thoroughly enjoying the experience of sharing a novel together. As Evie M put it, “I love it! I feel very grown-up, like I’m in high school or something!”

To keep the momentum going, we will be welcoming two representatives from Avenue Bookstore in June. These book experts will provide age-appropriate reading recommendations for students in Years 3/4 and 5/6. They’ll introduce students to different authors and popular titles, and the students will then help select new books to add to our class libraries.

If you have any questions about books, reading, or English in the senior school, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Warm regards,

Claire Dusting

Year 5 Teacher/Year 3-6 English Leader

cdusting@sjelst.catholic.edu.au