Learning and Teaching
In 2022, Corpus Christi will be introducing Jolly Phonics in our Year Prep, 1 and 2 Communities. Phonics is already an important part of our Literacy program as the children progress through the stages of learning to read and write.
Jolly Phonics is a multi-sensory synthetic phonics program that incorporates actions, jingles and stories for each of the 42 sounds which makes learning fun for both the child and teacher. Jolly Phonics teaches children the five essential skills needed for reading and writing. These skills are:
- Learning the letter sounds
- Learning letter formation
- Blending
- Identifying sounds in words
- Tricky words
Jolly Grammar is the next stage of the Jolly Phonics program. Jolly Grammar is a program that involves the systematic teaching of spelling, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary. Jolly Grammar enables children to develop accuracy in spelling and writing through the use of colours and actions. The Jolly Grammar program explores:
- Spelling rules
- Punctuation
- Parts of speech
- Dictionary use
- The tenses: past, present and future
More information about Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar will be shared with parents in 2022.
Effective Spelling
This term in the Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 Communities, we have introduced the Effective Spelling program. Effective Spelling involves creating a classroom culture where learners are curious about words and engaged in the process of becoming effective spellers. This again is a program that is easily integrated into our current practice in Literacy from Years 3 - 6.
From the early years of schooling, it is essential that young learners see themselves as readers and writers. Students should be immersed in an environment where they are encouraged to take risks and use everything they know about sound, visual and meaning patterns to write words. Effective Spelling asks students to notice things in words and to explicitly name the things they have noticed. Children then start to notice patterns in words and can start to group these words together to name spelling rules. Some of the big ideas explored in Effective Spelling at Year 3 and 4 are:
- Letter patterns
- Homophones
- R-influenced vowels
- Plurals
- Suffixes
- Word families
- Prefixes
- Apostrophes
More information about Effective Spelling will be shared in 2022.
Deborah Courtney
Director of Learning and Teaching