English

Speaking & Listening

Students will plan, rehearse and make presentations for different purposes, including situations outside of the classroom such as speaking at assembly. They will be encouraged and guided in adjusting their speaking according to the purpose and audience.

The children will build on their ability to provide succinct accounts of personal experiences or events.

When listening in a range of situations they will continue to build on their skills of identifying the main idea  and relevant supporting detail.

The children will be involved in many activities that will provide opportunities to foster the above, such as general discussions, recounts, drama activities and presentation of work.

 

Word Study

A word study program focusing on phonics, vocabulary, and spelling strategies will be taught from Year 1 to Year 6 at Black Rock Primary School.

Word study involves active exploration of words –examining, manipulating, comparing and categorising – and offers students the opportunity to make their own discoveries about how words work. When students understand the spelling and meaning of words, they become more excited about words and are more confident to apply these correct strategies in their reading and writing. 

 

Reading

This year, at Black Rock Primary School we will be continuing the CAFÉ reading approach.  CAFÉ focuses upon Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Extending vocabulary.

In the classroom CAFÉ gives the children the opportunity to read, interpret and respond to a wide range of written and electronic material in different formats.

Activities are completed through individual, partner, small group and whole class reading. Children are encouraged to monitor their reading goals with their classroom teacher.

In Year 6, we will also be conducting Literature Circle sessions. In these sessions, students will form groups based on a text, which will be selected around students interests. These sessions will be focused on higher level thinking skills and the students will take responsibility over the discussion and facilitation of their group.   Literature Circles offer students the opportunity to voice their opinion, work with others, as well as talk to students they may never talk to outside of the classroom. 

 

Writing

At Black Rock we use the Big Write and VCOP methodology to guide our teaching of writing whilst encompassing the Writer's Workshop Model.  The Writer's Workshop model encourages engagement through free choice writing sessions and personalised learning goals. VCOP (vocabulary, connectives, openers and punctuation) is based on the premise that ‘if they can’t say it, they can’t write it’. Learning is scaffolded in the classroom to allow children to become articulate thinkers and speakers, who in turn become articulate writers. It is a differentiated approach, allowing teachers to cater for varying needs. After completing a ‘Big Write’ children mark their own work using a criterion scale. This empowers the children by allowing them to analyse where their skill set lies, and specifically what steps they need to take in order to further their writing.