Literacy
Term 3 Literacy News
What have our students been learning in Literacy?
PREP - During the last fortnight, the Preps have been reading two books by Andrea Rowe: Castle Crashing and Sunday Skating. These stories focus on different emotions felt by the main characters, and the students have been making personal connections to these feelings. In writing, the children have been learning that sentences must contain nouns and verbs.
YEAR 1/2 - Like the Prep students, our 1/2s have also been reading books by Andrea Rowe, the author who is visiting us on Monday next week. After listening to Castle Crashing, the junior students designed their own sand castles and also talked about a time they felt frustrated when something didn't go their way. There was a focus on being brave in the book, Jetty Jumping, and then on encouraging others to give things a go in the book Sunday Skating.
YEAR 3 - Our Year 3 students have continued their journey around Australia with the book Off We Go Around Australia by Roland Harvey. This fortnight they have read the chapter called 'To the Top End' and, in writing, they could choose to research either the Daintree Rainforest, Kakadu National Park or the Great Barrier Reef.
YEAR 4 - After completing their read of Storm Boy, the Year 4 students have rotated through activities related to books written by Andrea Rowe, just like our junior school students. While reading Jetty Jumping, students have created bravery bracelets by plaiting wool and threading beads. Using alliteration and creative word play, students have designed word maps that describe their likes and personalities. This idea was taken from Andrea Rowe's website (see image below), where she tells her audience a bit about herself.
YEAR 5 and YEAR 6 - Our senior students have enjoyed reading another of Andrea Rowe's books called Audrey Skips. This picture book focuses on the vinegar skipping girl sign (Little Audrey), which can be seen above the streets of Richmond, Melbourne. The children have learnt about its history as Australia's first animated neon advertising sign, first built in 1936. The story is quite poetic and uses alliteration, onomatopoeia and very descriptive language to tell Audrey's story. The students are looking forward to hearing Andrea talk about this book when she visits on Monday.
Book Week 2026
Book Week begins on Monday 24th August at OLSC. The Book Fair will arrive at school on that day and will open for sales on Tuesday 25th August. The main event of the week is the annual Book Week Dress-up Parade, where students are invited to dress up as a favourite book character or to wear colourful clothes to celebrate their love of reading.
Families are welcome to join us for this celebratory event as the students parade in their costumes, which will be held on Friday 28th August at 9 am in the school hall.
Victorian Premiers' Reading Challenge
There are only a few weeks left to complete the 2026 Victorian Premiers' Reading Challenge, and many students at OLSC have maintained their reading efforts at the start of Term 3. At this stage, the students have read 6154 books, and 65 students have already completed the Challenge.
The Challenge finishes in September, so there is plenty of time for everyone to join in and reach their target. Keep up the wonderful effort with reading for fun! 22 days left.
Kristina Morrissey
kmorrissey@olscwyn.catholic.edu.au
Literacy Leader