From the Foundation Classrooms

Writing with Ms. Lowe

During the term, Foundation students have been so fortunate to experience a 50 minute writing lesson with Ms. Lowe each week. Ms. Lowe has been working with both Foundation classes to develop their writing abilities. 

At the beginning of the writing lesson Ms. Lowe reads a picture story book that has rhyming words within the text. Books such as: 'Edward the Emu' by Sheena Knowles and 'Hairy Maclary' by Lynley Dodd, are read to the students. After listening to the book, the children talk about the story and share what they remember. 

Ms. Lowe encourages the children to use vocabulary that was used in the book when they have this whole class discussion. Once the children orally share their memories of the book, Ms. Lowe writes a sentence, in front of the class, that recounts part of the story. This part of the writing lesson is called modelled writing. While Ms. Lowe models this piece of writing to the class, she verbally shares what she is doing and thinking. After this stage of the lesson the children then go back to their tables and draw a picture from the story. Once they draw an image from the story the children then attempt to write about what they have drawn. 

Ms. Lowe encourages the children to be "BRAVE" writers and to have a go at writing, even though they may not know how to write a word. She encourages them to listen carefully to the sounds of each word and, using their Letter/Sound knowledge, attempt to have a go at writing a sentence that matches their picture. After they have a go at writing their own sentence, the students will have a one-on-one sharing session with Ms. Lowe. Each child will read their writing out to Ms. Lowe and as they share, she gives the student verbal and written feedback on what they have written.

It has been wonderful to see how the Foundation students' writing ability has grown in just a few short weeks. We look forward to seeing this growth continue throughout the rest of the year. Thank you Ms. Lowe for supporting us to be "BRAVE" writers!