Educational Achievement
Reading
Why use shared book reading?
Shared reading describes the interaction that occurs between an adult and a child when reading or looking at a book. Although one of the most obvious and engaging features of storybooks is their illustrations, they also provide children with access to a world of sights, sounds, and words that may be quite different from what they experience in their homes, communities, and schools.
Reading aloud with your child builds language development so that by the time children have mastered letter-sound correspondences and can read increasingly complex texts themselves, they will have the language skills to understand what they read. Having strong oral language skills sets the foundations for children to build strong literacy skills.
Reading authentic texts aloud to your child allows them to continue to hear stories, information and written language they may not yet be able to read themselves.
What does shared reading look like?
An important aspect of shared reading is the conversation that occurs between the adult and child during the reading. Pausing while reading and taking the time to discuss details in the story can support your child’s oral language development. The conversation might focus on the storyline, such as characters or where the story takes place; it may focus on similar experiences the child has had to those that happened in the book; it may focus on specific words; aspects of print; or concepts that are new to the child. When you read aloud to your child, they hear and learn lots of new and sophisticated words and sentences they may not hear or use in everyday talk.
What books should be used for shared reading?
In the early years of reading instruction, children engage with different books for different purposes. They need to read decodable texts to develop their word reading skills and they need to read and hear authentic texts to develop strong oral language skills. Authentic texts include picture books, storybooks, information texts and any reading material the child enjoys.
When children are first learning to read, the books they will read independently are designed to improve their ability to decode (decodable texts). For most children, the language used in these books will be far simpler than the language they already understand and use.
Virtually all children’s books are appropriate for shared reading, but the best books will have rich, detailed pictures, and are interesting to the child. Remember, the purpose of shared reading is to stimulate rich talk between the adult and child, not for the child to be able to read the text themselves.
Curriculum
Students and classes have been very busy writing information reports across the school.
Did you know...
The Netherlands share borders with Germany and Belgium (Chloe, 4O)
There are 11 official languages in South Africa (Alfie, 4S)
Brazil has won the Football World Cup 5 times (Jasmin, 4S)
Children have lost on average, 5 years of schooling due to the Syrian War (Max, 6DB)
A lot of children survived the Holocaust during World War 2 by going into hiding (Parker, 6DB)
Canada's capital city is Ottawa (Ocean, 5J)
The Eiffel Tower is one of the most popular tourist attractions in France and was created after a competition to mark 100 years since the French Revolution (Taalie, 5J)
Kangaroos live in woodlands and deserts (Hunter, 2H)
Crocodiles swallow stones to rip up their food in their bellies (Jack, 2H)
Komodo dragons are the largest lizards in the world (Eligh, 3S)
Giraffes have the same number of bones in their necks as humans, they are just longer (Danika, 3S)
Zebras stripes keep them cool (Frankie, 2/3B)
Cheetahs are mammals and hide in all grass while they stalk their prey (Bree, 2/3B)
Instrumental Music
Goondiwindi Apex Eisteddfod
All instrumental music students are preparing pieces to perform at the Goondiwindi Apex Eisteddfod on Monday 5 August. ALL instrumental students will be performing at least once on this day, even our beginning students who will form the Beginner Concert Band or the Beginner String Orchestra. Students in their second or more year of learning will also be performing small ensemble pieces in addition to the Concert Band and String Orchestra. Please make sure your student is practicing at home regularly and attending all rehearsals. More information will be provided to families closer to the date.
Creative Generations Excursion
I am excited to announce that GSPS and GSHS instrumental music students will again be invited to attend the Creative Generations (C Gen) performance at the Convention Centre, Brisbane on Friday 19 July! This is always an inspiring and moving performance, which showcases the talents of over 1800 state school students, involved in instrumental music, choirs, dance, backstage crew from grade prep to year 12! Permission notes will go home this term.
Yours in music,
Samantha Brown