Lower Primary ( Prep – Year 3)

 3 year journey across the lower years (each child will develop at different rates)  The most important goal is to build foundations and to see progress  Partnership between child and parent  Works hand in had with the classroom Literacy program in Prep – Year 3  It is not just about being able to read the word, but also about understanding what they are reading (comprehension). Sometimes it will take longer to go up levels as we make sure that the comprehension skills are strong enough to understand what is happening in the story.  A love for reading will last a lifetime! Encourage it no matter what age your child is...the benefits for them are many.

 Like learning to read code....so many letters that make different sounds that do different things when you put them together!  Starts with your child reading to you, when they are blending and the teacher feels that their foundation is strong they will progress to reading to you and commence on levels.  How can you help? Practice sight words, letter names and letter sounds.  Understand the little numbers above the letters in the books to help them to use the keys they have already learnt (what sound does number 3 make in the letter a?)

The journey continues:  Sight word bank continues to build, consolidate letter names and sounds and introduce married phonograms.  What is a married phonogram?? It is the different (and sometimes multiple sounds) two letters make when you put them together.  These foundational skills continue to help the children decode and sound out harder words as their reading progresses.  Encourage independence and confidence to tackle new and harder words...remind your child to use the keys that they know as they sound out and decode.  Ask questions about the meaning of words, predict the ending, what just happened, who was the story about etc

 Children will continue to be at vast and varied reading levels in Year 2. What one child achieves may be very different to his/her sibling. This is neither good or bad, but is this child’s individual pathway..again the most important question is can you see progress?  In Year 2, children’s knowledge of sight words and sounds will continue to build and as their knowledge of these increase, they will learn to apply the knowledge to bigger and harder words.  Strong focus on ensuring comprehension skills are matching with their reading ability.  Encourage your child to still read aloud to you and have a Q & A time at the end together.  As the books get longer, you will switch from reading a book per night to a 10 min session.

 This is the consolidation year, some new married phonograms will be introduced in the early terms and then the switch is to apply and revise all that they have learnt on their journey.  Continue to encourage them to use what they know as they read and tackle new words with confidence.  Encourage them to read aloud to you..this will help with things such as their understanding and fluency.  Comprehension is the key as they read harder books. Ask questions and encourage them to check things they don’t understand.

In the Middle and Upper School

 Shared Reading or Read Aloud  Guided Reading  Literature Circles (Book Club)  Independent Reading- at home and at school

 Is conducted whole class  Teacher reads out loud to the students – usually they have copies of the text which is often a novel  Text will be more difficult than the students would read independently  Includes focussed questioning

Includes questioning and modelling around:  Text and language features- how the text works- including literary themes, characterisations & the author’s viewpoint  Vocabulary extension & grammar in context  Comprehension- literal, Inferential & critical  Listening Skills  Christian worldview integration

 Is conducted in a small group of 5-6 students  Students read out loud to the teacher from a given short text  Students should be able to read the text to about 80% accuracy  Includes a mini-lesson related to the text type and reading techniques

Includes questioning and modelling around:  A variety of text types- exploring how they work  Comprehension strategies- such as predicting, confirming, re-reading & self- correcting while reading  Vocabulary extension & the coaching of fluency & expression  Is diagnostic and feedback focussed

 Is conducted in a small group of 5-6 students, in Years 4-6  Students select a novel of their choice  Students independently read set chapters in class  Students meet to discuss their book on Friday in a Book Club environment  The focus is on reading for pleasure with purpose and increasing the volume of reading

Students take assigned roles in the Book Club learning to analyse a text for themselves. These include:  Summarising the chapters  Investigating new vocabulary  Raising questions about the text  Investigating links to their own experience, other books or movies  Clarifying the meaning of passages  Directing the Book Club discussion

 Means reading silently on your own.  10 minutes a day occurs in class, this may be reading for Book Club participation (fiction)  Minimum of 10 minutes a day is included as part of homework where students choose their own reading materials (fiction or non- fiction)

The Reading Program aims to develop 4 roles:  Code breaker- decodes sound/symbol relationships, grammar & genre structures  Meaning Maker- comprehends text- literal, inferential & critical, utilises prior knowledge in reading

 Text User- understands how texts are used in different contexts, with different audiences and for different purposes  Text Analyst- understands and identifies different points of view in different texts, including comprehending the views which lie behind texts