Term 1 continues!!!!!

I am still very busy with my work as Learning Support Co-ordinator. I teach across the school years Kindergarten to Year 8. What has been fantastic are the gains in skills in comprehension and spelling across our Junior School (Yrs 3 - 6).

To improve comprehension I introduced a very explicit and systematic comprehension programme, that breaks comprehension down into smaller steps, so the students learn what the question is actually asking and how to locate an answer.

It also looks at the grammar of questions and in texts. So far so good. Across K - 6, for decoding and spelling, we teach the 44 phonemes and their associated graphemes. This avoids the one sound one letter method, opening up the entire English language rather than parts of it. That way every word can be sounded out (no tricky words in our school!)

In Kinder, we focus on the letter names and correct handwriting, then moving on to the phoneme groups and phonemic awareness tasks, combined with reading sight words. This is supported with our literature programme and is extended into other years at the appropriate level. This also allows us to differentiate effectively.

It all sounds complicated but it works very well!
Last week I was Head of Camp for our Year 3 and 4 students. Very tiring, but we all had a great experience. The children really challenged themselves. The camp leaders were great and they were able to support the ethos of our school beautifully.