Setting up for success

Welcome back to school for 2024!

We have been busy establishing new literacy routines at school, ensuring students and staff have the appropriate literacy resources to enable an engaging start to the school year.

This has involved comprehension texts for Years 2, 3 and 4, online reading platforms for Year 2, online literacy memberships for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 and discussions with staff regarding support for those students who need a little extra assistance.

Establishing regular reading routines can also be helpful at home. 

Here are some suggestions to help establish a regular reading routine. 

1. Find your reading space. Spaces to read in your home can be as simple as a cozy chair, the kitchen table, or a rug on the floor.
2. Make book bins. Keep books in bins or boxes in each of these reading places around your house so that something to read is always nearby. 
3. Read the same book over a few days. If you don’t have time to read an entire book in one sitting, break it up and read it over the course of several days. Use that as an opportunity to practice reading skills like summarizing to review what happened the last time you read together.
4. Have a reading schedule. Build routines into your day so that reading becomes part of your daily schedule. Reading a book before bed is a classic tradition but why not read during breakfast, while giving kids a bath, or right after school too? 
5. Take a trip to the library. You don’t have to make a big financial investment to increase the number of books to read together. Local libraries are an excellent way to refresh the books available to read in your home. 
6. Re-read family favorite titles. There’s no need to constantly replenish your book collection with new titles. Re-reading books is beneficial for children, as it allows them to deeply understand the characters and plot of a story while also setting them up to be able to read the book on their own.  Source: Reading Partners (blog post)

Please contact us if you have any questions about the literacy programs at St Cecilia’s

Marnie Chapman mchapman@scgleniris.catholic.edu.au

Tracey Toner ttoner@scgleniris.catholic.edu.au

A Literacy invitation…

In the next few weeks, we will run the first Literacy Helpers Training Course for 2024. This course will explore how helpers can assist students with their literacy activities in the Foundation and Year 1 classrooms, and outline requirements for becoming a volunteer at school.

All helpers need to have attended this session prior to working in the classroom with students.  

Further details about registering for this course will be published shortly.  We hope you can join us!