English

English 

Our focus in Term 1:

Reading - We will focus on developing independent reading strategies that help students to better understand texts and to interact with others and the world around them about what they read. We will focus on a range of text types requiring students to integrate their phonic, morphemic and vocabulary knowledge to read with accuracy and fluency. Lessons will also focus on developing literal, inferential and evaluative comprehension so that students can explain and evaluate different texts and their meaning. Our reading comprehension tasks will also connect to inquiry, where possible. We will also be using the novel ‘Wonder’ to teach curriculum content (and life lessons!). 

Writing - We will be exploring persuasive writing and narrative writing text and analysing features such as structure, language and literary devices. In spelling, we will be explicitly teaching phonograms through our sound pack along with phonological knowledge (sounds), morphological knowledge (parts of words), etymological knowledge (origins of words) and orthographical knowledge (spelling conventions). In grammar, we will focus on identifying parts of speech and the correct use of a variety of punctuation. 

Speaking and Listening - We start our public speaking workshops in week 4. We learn that our spoken words contribute to 10% of a message understood by an audience. The remainder of the message comes from facial expressions (30%) and body language (60%). We are learning how to structure a spoken text to connect with the audience’s head and heart. We are also learning how to ‘ready, aim, fire’ and ‘fake it ‘til you make it’. These public speaking strategies will be further used and developed throughout the year.