Grade 3/4 Bulletin
Fluency
Fluency is designed to be a short warm-up that helps students read more smoothly and automatically. For this session we did a word ladder which involves adding or taking away from the word (either a sound, a letter, or a prefix/suffix) to make a new word.
Ladder 1:
care
careful
Ladder 2:
act
action
Ladder 3:
light
flight
Whole Class Lesson (Modelled)
Learning Intention: To use known letter patterns, sounds and word parts to decode unfamiliar words while reading.
In this session we focused on the book "I'll do it!" (Taking Responsibility) by Brian Moses and Mike Gordon. As this was a modelled session, the teacher read out loud using an anchor chart bookmark which the students had in front of them as well. The teacher showed the class what goes on inside a reader's head when they come to a potentially challenging word. The questions they ask themselves, the connections they make, and how to check understanding as they go. The teacher used the bookmark to make their thinking visible, walking students through how they refer back to it as a guide. Students followed along and watched how tools like the anchor chart and a comprehension checklist support the reading process.
Small group rotations
When we work on reading tasks the students will then transfer to their small group rotations. These are broken up into four areas and this week's rotations are;
- Text
Readers' Theatre scripts that the students work in small groups to practise and perform. These scripts are provided in performance form which means they don't contain punctuation and students have to infer what the punctuation may be in their expression and tone.
- Letter
Using a dictionary to find meanings of unknown words that follow the "wh-" and "ph-" phonics pattern.
- Sentence
Combining different simple sentences using an appropriate conjunction to make a compound sentence.
- Word
Exploring synonyms and identifying words from a list (like a word sort) that have the same meaning. Students can use a Thesaurus to help them if they need.
Explicit Small Group Instruction
As students are working on their literacy rotations independently, the teacher will pull out a select group of children each session to work on a targeted reading comprehension skill. This week we are focusing on the skill of predicting. Students are provided a levelled text and asked to facilitate a discussion amongst themselves about what their prediction might be. The anchor chart used to support the children is below;
Through these small group instruction sessions, the teachers are provided a stronger insight into your child's reading and comprehension and where they are at. Students are in the process of moving towards reciprocal reading roles, which is where students are gradually shown how to discuss literature using different roles (Predictor, Clarifier, Summariser, Word Detective, Questioner).
Thank you for your ongoing support,
Richard, Brigitte and Rosanna
Year 3/4 Team
richard.cornell@education.vic.gov.au