Curriculum News
Hard to believe, but here we are – less than four weeks to go in the 2018 school year! This year has seen a real spotlight on the teaching of writing at CHPS. At the beginning of the year, I wrote about how in 2018, we are focusing on developing the content of students’ writing by using rich literature, combined with the explicit teaching of language features within written text. This has been such a success on so many levels. Students have shown high levels of engagement and understanding about different ways to structure sentences, teachers have enhanced their own learning about literature and language, and the enthusiasm that has been evident throughout the whole school has translated into some amazing student writing!
When choosing mentor texts, teachers look for picture books or novels that have rich language and interesting sentence structures. Below are some examples of sentences from picture books studied at different year levels:
- “Through the charred forest, over hot ash, runs Dog, with a bird clamped in his big, gentle mouth.” Fox, by Margaret Wild
- “Once upon a time, but not very long ago, deep in the Australian bush, there lived two possums.” Possum Magic, by Mem Fox
- “The city dump stretched over acres of drifting sand, a vast crescent littered with the detritus of a careless people.” The Viewer, by Gary Crew
Teachers have taken students through a process of understanding the language in the excerpts they studied, why the author used the words they did, and how to experiment with the structure to create their own sentences. This process begins quite highly structured and supported, so that students understand how to write this way and experience success. After this, when students are drafting their own original stories, we are already seeing students translate this learning into their very own writing.
Reading and Writing go hand in hand, and this year we have begun strengthening the ties between these two important elements of the literacy curriculum. Through our use of rich literature, a real love of books and examining these texts, has grown throughout the school. Students have enjoyed spending a longer time studying one text, knowing it really well, and being able to access it on a range of levels. Our focus on our ‘Big 3’ – Author’s Purpose, Figurative Language and Main Idea has formed a major part of the reading curriculum this year, along with Daily 5 and CAFÉ.
This year, we are continuing to see strong results in Mathematics, both through teacher judgements and NAPLAN results. A balanced approach, including explicit teaching, problem solving, number talks, and student self-reflection and goal setting has seen a high level of engagement and success in maths. This term, many year levels are revising previous concepts, as well as having a focus on money and financial maths, shape, and patterns.
Bec Garrow
Curriculum Leader