Learning and Teaching

Chickens

Raffle tickets for a dozen eggs will be on sale every day in the 5/6 rooms or at the front of the school. The next draw will be on Monday 29 November at the assembly.

 

We still need a few more volunteers for the January School holidays, to feed the chickens. Are you available from 2 - 9 January or 14 - 23 January, to join our roster for 3 or 4 days. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Languages Program

St John's Primary School are proud to continue partnering with @MegGlobalEd who will deliver our Mandarin program with Ange Crowe for Grade 5 & 6 in 2022. Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world, and we want our students to have all of the amazing opportunities that come with knowing this language. Huān yíng nǐ men! Welcome! 

SMART Spelling Program

We have been teaching spelling using the SMART Spelling Program for the past two years. The program is called SMART Spelling as SMART is an acronym for the sequence in which spelling is taught: 

S - say. The teacher says the word and the students repeat it.

M - meaning. The teacher uses the word in a spoken sentence.

A - analyse. Students analyse and break up words in two steps. They firstly break words into individual sounds. Secondly, they break the words into letters, saying letter names and clustering. Clustering is a technique where you spell words aloud using letter names clustered in their spelling patterns. For example we spell the word 'snow' 

as ......./s/ /n/ /ow/  There are two important areas of knowledge students need to develop to become independent spellers: phonological knowledge and orthographic knowledge. Phonological knowledge is mainly to do with sounds. It includes the ability to break words into syllables and individual sounds. Orthographic knowledge is mainly to do with letters. It is a visual skill that involves choosing the correct letters that make a sound in a word.

R - remember. Students identify the part they need to learn by asking, "Which part do I need to remember?"

T - teach. Spell the word, saying letter names, using clustering.

 

The SMART Spelling Program is designed for spelling to be taught explicitly and systematically and includes a scope and sequence beginning in Prep through to Year Six. It is believed that spelling is taught best through pattern and regularity and so SMART Spelling aims to have 80% of spelling words that follow a consistent pattern. The program is based around learning the whole word with emphasis on meaning and vocabulary development. Spelling rules are taught in the context of words in a way that builds on learning from prior years.

 

Monica O'Shannassy

moshannassy@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au