Literacy                          

Reading:

This term in Reading, we will be starting the term focusing on non-fiction texts. Our unit will cross over with our Inquiry focus on Aboriginal and Indigenous history, cultures and stories. We will also work to develop their understanding of the text features used in non-fiction and informative writing. Towards the end of the term we will look at setting and figurative language. Students will practice a range of literacy skills relating to:

• Developing topic specific vocabulary for informative writing.
• Being able to identify key details and the main idea.
• Developing an understanding of metaphoric meaning through Aboriginal symbolism and stories.
• Identifying meaning and symbolism in thematic or moral texts through the Dreamtime stories.
• Understanding and developing settings for detailed writing and reading comprehension.

Writing:

This term in Writing, we will be focusing on the structure and tools used in information report writing. Students will research, plan and develop their own information reports over the course of the term and be exposed to a range of literary tools used in effective informational writing. Examples of these tools will include:

• Use of topic sentences to introduce and orient the reader to each paragraph in their piece.
• Use of present tense and third person in writing to give an impersonal and objective tone to their writing.
• Use of topic-specific vocabulary in their writing for precision.
• Use of linking words and phrases to connect ideas, e.g. however, therefore, on the other hand.
• Use of generalisers to compare and contrast ideas in a paragraph. 

Other literacy foci:

• Continuing to build understanding of sentence structure and beginning to use simple conjunctions to create compound sentences.
• Beginning to understand how to use paragraphs to convey main ideas or arguments.
• Explicit instruction in phonics with a particular focus on new representations of long vowel sounds and consonants.
• Explicit instruction in morphology with a focus on suffixes.
• Instruction in handwriting to support the formation of legible, correctly-spaced letters with correct entry and exit points.
• Instruction on a range of Memory Words (high-frequency words).