Raising Readers

Reading at Home | “Lexile”

Our literacy focus this year is reading. While many of us read on different platforms and enjoy the different formats that reading is presented to us in, it’s important that we share our reading journeys with our learners at home too. 

This fortnight’s focus is understanding Lexile.

I want to first start by congratulating all our year 7s. In the last six weeks our year 7 students have read just over 1 million words written in over 300 books! This is a fantastic achievement that is a testament to our whole school community of students, teachers, and parents and guardians all working together, so thank-you to everyone who has supported this milestone.

One other facet that has been supporting our students to read is our Lexile program. Lexile is a resource that our school subscribes to that does three things for all of our year 7 and year 8 students:

1. Match: at the beginning of the semester, each student in year 7 and year 8 undergoes the Lexile test, which is a comprehension test to see how well students understand what they read. At the end of the test, each student is given a Lexile score that is reflective of their reading abilities, which is then matched to books in our school library that is suited to the learner.
2. Monitor: Lexile makes it easy for teachers and parents and guardians to monitor the growth of their learners. Parents and guardians can access the Lexile website at any time to see their learners’ level, as well as how their comprehension levels are expanding based on the books that the learner is reading.
3. Motivate: as students read more books, they can test their comprehension of that book independently and students can access different awards and rewards, depending on their growth.

If you have a learner that is in year 7 or year 8 and you would like to know how your child is progressing with Lexile, please click on the link: https://educator-slz04.scholasticlearningzone.com/resources/dp-int/dist/#/login3/student/AUS2YXW

Each student in year 7 and year 8 has been given a username and password; however, if your child has forgotten theirs, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Keep Reading,

Ms Ecehan 

PS: This fortnight I am reading - “Sex, Lies and Question Time” (2021) by former Labor Party Minister, Kate Ellis. This book is an autobiographical piece, specific to Ellis’ time in the Australian Commonwealth parliament and the discrimination she faced trying to represent her constituents. It’s a fantastic, easy read that is at times infuriating and other times hilarious in its honesty. A highly recommended read, especially for those that are interested in gaining a different perspective about the culture that’s culminated in the Commonwealth 

parliament over the last 15 years.

Ecehan.gulbayrak@education.vic.gov.au