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Reading

Reading begins at home. A child’s ability to read is influenced greatly by their exposure and experiences of texts they enjoy at home before commencing school. Some children will be able to read when they start school, others will need more than a year at school before they begin to read fluently. Whatever their stage, share the joy and enjoy the experience as you read stories together.  

Reading is the process of making meaning from print. Encourage your child to make sense of print by:

• Drawing on personal experiences to connect to the text
• Looking at the pictures
• Looking at print eg: known letters or words
• Listening to the ‘flow’ of language to help predict what would sound right
• Applying their knowledge of letter sounds.

In Reading, the following scaffolds are used to teach comprehension skills, grammar, text structures and Fluency (how reading should sound)

• Modelled Reading – Teacher reads aloud to students
• Shared Reading – Teacher reads and students join in
• Guided Reading – Teacher supports a group of students of similar competency to read an appropriate levelled text
• Independent Reading – Students practice the skills of reading by themselves

Read Write Inc program

The Read Write Inc program is a ‘dynamic, whole- school approach to teaching systematic synthetic phonics’. 

Students at Werribee Primary School are engaged in a phonics approach that helps support their understanding of letter sounds as a component of our literacy program. For more information,click on the link below: https://www.oup.com.au/primary/phonics/read-write-inc 

Writing

Most children come to school wanting to write. Children can only learn to write by attempting to hold a pen correctly and  attempting to write.  Your child is encouraged to draw and to then  compose little statements or stories even before they can write words. You can help them by asking them what they want to say and scribing it for them. You could then ask them to trace over your writing. 

Children often commence writing by drawing, scribbling or placing random letters on the page. They then move on to using initial sounds and then conventional words.

Handwriting

The students will aim to develop:

• Fine motor control
• Correct pencil grip and posture
• Correct letter formation

All students will be exposed to a variety of text types throughout their first year of schooling. These include:

• Recount
• Narrative
• Exposition
• Explanation
• Procedure
• Report writing

Spelling

Spelling at Werribee Primary School is taught by looking at sound blends and in context of the sentences they are used in. Strategies are taught and practiced through the Read, Write, Inc. program which offers a systematic approach to spelling. Students are prompted through a step by step process that breaks down words into syllables and sound blends. They then practice saying the word before writing, which allows students to hear the sounds before they begin writing. Students will then check their spelling where they any fix any errors and are celebrated for correcting their errors as a part of the process.