Literacy

Parents and Literacy Writing Night 

Last night (Thursday) we held our annual Parents and Literacy Night on Writing. It was an engaging night with lots of interesting information presented by the teachers and plenty of audience participation (we have some very good parent spellers in our school). The main topics covered were:

• Read Write Inc ​
• The Development of children’s writing​
• How we teach Writing at VPS
• The different types of texts we write​
• Our Spelling program ​
• What you can do at home​
• Writing formation​

A big thank you to ​John Hoskin, Bec Mealings, Paul Souter, Lauren Strachan, Kate Yates, Cyara Pittas, George Samothrakitis and Jacci Strachan who presented on the night. 

Parents who have English as an Additional Language Support Night

It has been a busy week for the school and some of the parents. On Tuesday the 7th of March, we held our PEAL Information Night. The main aim of the night was to discuss some of the important things that parents in the school need to know in an environment that provided language support. Thanks to Di Fuller, Jacci Strachan and Noelene Iacovangelo who presented the night. 

Library Captains

At the assembly on Monday, our 2023 Library Captains were announced.  A huge congratulations to Amity, Olive and Jiya for getting the role. They have already demonstrated that they are excellent at the job, and have been busy helping out in the Library with Mrs Stroud and completing special jobs around the school. Below is a small profile of each of the Library captains. 

Amity

Hello my name is Amity and I am one of your library Leaders for 2023. One of my favourite book series is the Once series. My interests are reading, soccer, helping others and cooking. Some of my favourite things to do in the Library are helping students reserve books, putting away books and reading peacefully.

Jiya 

Hi my name is Jiya and I am pleased to say that I am one of your Library leaders. One of my favourite books is Maybe from the Once series. I have lots of interests including drawing, reading and gymnastics. Some of my favourite things to do in the library are helping people out and reading different types of books.

Olive

 My favorite series is Magisterium. I enjoy netball, drawing, gymnastics, running, reading and baking and I like finding new fantasy books to read when in the library.

What you can do at home to help your child write...

This information was presented at the Parents and Literacy Night and is relevant to all parents of Primary School aged children. The information is sourced from the Primary English Teaching Association Australia. 

 Encourage children to write, write, write! Provide many opportunities such as writing the shopping list, sending letters and cards to friends and relations, writing emails, keeping a diary, publishing personal stories, and leaving notes. Locating writing aps such as Book Creator. Writing should be relevant and meaningful rather than writing for the sake of writing.​

Give children opportunities to read their stories aloud (while you sit back and listen). Listen with a focus on the message they express. Comment on what they have done well, for example: ‘I enjoyed how you used interesting words such as X, Y, Z.’ ‘The character you created seems so real. I can imagine how he looks.’ Leave comments about spelling, punctuation, and grammar to another time — they are important if and when it is to be published.​

Draw children’s attention to how writing is presented, for example, on brochures, billboards, books, and electronic media — these are models of writing for real purposes.​

Create a community of writers. Provide a quiet place for writing with lots of writing materials. Leave notes for each other, write poems for your children, and send messages in lunch containers. Play writing games, for example, one person writes the beginning, another the middle and the other the end of a family story. Write together.

Fortnightly Segments 

Comprehension Question 

A common question during Parent Teacher Interviews, is ‘How can I help improve my child’s comprehension?’ Each fortnight we will include a couple of simple questions that you could ask your child that may help improve their comprehension or open up a conversation about the book they are reading. 

This fortnight’s questions are:

How would you have reacted to a specific situation in this book? 

Why did you decide to read this book? 

At what point did this book 'hook' you?  

Writing Challenge

If your child enjoys their writing and is keen to write for enjoyment at home, below is a prompt that you could ask your child to write about. 

You discover a trapdoor in your house. What lies beneath?