Reading   

We are reading the text, A Ghost in my Suitcase, by Gabrielle Wang, through both teacher and student read aloud opportunities, to develop fluency, prosody and accuracy. This novel, through the character of Celeste, demonstrates a journey of growth, and how understanding one’s family history and culture can help a person to cultivate their own sense of self. 

As background knowledge and vocabulary are crucial factors that underpin a student’s ability to comprehend what they read, we are explicitly teaching students to actively think about the ideas in the text and engaging in explicit vocabulary instruction during and after reading. To support students in their comprehension we pause during our reading of the text to explain, model and guide students, including, but not limited to, assisting them to identify key ideas, ask questions to clarify thinking, and to provide reasons or evidence, and analyse how the author has made the text interesting by using figurative language.