Literacy News

Welcome to Literacy in 2020

Welcome to Literacy in 2020! It has been wonderful to see so many students borrowing books already from our library and I have loved hearing about some of the reading the students did over the holidays. 

The teachers are all excited about the year ahead helping students to grow as readers, writers and communicators. Some of our key areas of emphasis are:

Ensuring students have a strong understanding of synthetic phonics and word building strategies

Engaging students in explicit lessons about reading and writing behaviours and strategies 

Creating learning environments that reinforce literacy development and show visible evidence of co-constructed displays that support reading, writing, listening and speaking

Building students’ vocabulary and their ability to use powerful and apt words when they are writing

Teaching grammar in context using rich literature and the extensive study of published texts

At the beginning of the year, our teachers take great time to help students rebuild and continue to develop stamina in reading and writing. They focus on building a community of readers and writers who are open, engaged and purposeful. They reassess students’ current abilities across literacy and plan ways to help each student progress. They also take note of each child’s skills as listeners and speakers. 

So as a parent, what can you do to help at the beginning of a new school year?

Below are some recommendations:

Set up a regular reading time and space where you can listen to your child read or they can read independently. I came across an interesting article about deep reading in the digital age that appeared in ‘The Conversation’ during January. Whist at times alarming, the article also reaffirmed that if we set aside space and time we can become immersive readers. If you want to read the article it can be found here: https://theconversation.com/if-you-can-read-this-headline-you-can-read-a-novel-heres-how-to-ignore-your-phone-and-just-do-it-116524

Ask your child questions about the book they are reading. Here is a link to some questions you might like to ask before, during and after reading: https://www.abss.k12.nc.us/cms/lib/NC01001905/Centricity/Domain/36/Parent%20Book%20Talk%20flyer.pdf

Have conversations about what you are doing, particularly when you are out and about and there may be new words or concepts your child can be exposed to. Research shows that students with lots of background knowledge about a subject can comprehend a text better, particularly non-fiction texts. Not only that, these conversations will help build your child’s vocabulary and speaking and listening skills.

Provide materials and an area for writing and help students find a reason to write. It might be that they want to write a thank you card to a friend or a letter to their grandma. It would be as simple as they want to write a story to entertain their classmates or to a spooky story to scare you and have you on the edge of your seat!

Congratulations - Winners

At the end of 2019, some of our current Year 6 girls entered the ‘Rebel Girls - Academy for Enterprising Girls’ Ada Lovelace competition. Four of our students won a prize for their written responses to the question, ‘If you were Ada Lovelace, what problem would you solve and why?’  We would like to congratulate Matilda Kett, Chiara Bottazzi, Mischa Beibly, Audrey Browne On their success with the competition. Each winner received two fantastic books: Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code and Madam C.J. Walker Builds a Business.