Archive for 2015

Oral Language: Pictorial

Tuesday, 11 August 2015 at 11:58 am

At Holy Name Primary School, Prep teacher, Michelle Chester, embeds structured oral language instruction throughout her literacy program, which is central to all learning across the day. Michelle also provides opportunities for children to participate in unstructured speaking and listening episodes to apply and practice what they have learned. Frequent mini chats with a partner are common and provide Michelle with opportunities to make …

Oral Language: planning for explicit instruction using relevant and authentic experiences

Wednesday, 15 July 2015 at 11:50 am

Oral language teaching opportunities are abundant in the classroom.

Education should develop children’s capacities to become effective communicators, to understand the ideas of others and to communicate ideas in a meaningful way. Developing proficiency across speaking, listening, reading and writing is central to every child’s educational journey and begins with a child’s earliest school experiences.

All children arrive at Prep with different experiences and understandings about language …

Reading Stamina in Prep

Monday, 23 March 2015 at 9:25 am

What a treat it has been to visit Coomera Springs State School over the last fortnight. I had the pleasure of working for two days across the five prep classrooms to introduce reading stamina lessons to each class and then take teacher requests for writing, guided reading and whole class reading lessons. It was an exciting and dynamic two days, working with committed, passionate …

The Daily Chat

Sunday, 8 March 2015 at 7:57 pm

‘The Daily Chat’ – A book of weekly homework tasks for Prep & Kindy.

The Daily Chat is the latest publication by Literacy Solutions to support busy teachers. The Daily Chat is a 48 page publication containing nightly conversation prompts to promote and encourage oral language at home.

Frequent conversations support children to become effective communicators. The prompts in this book are designed to engage children …

The Kids’ Book Club

Tuesday, 17 February 2015 at 9:29 am

As a Rotarian, I have become aware of a wonderful initiative that is making it possible for disadvantaged children to be exposed to good quality literature. It is called ‘The Kids’ Book Club’. This initiative is responsible for children under eight years old receiving a good quality picture book each month.

We all know how important it is for children to be exposed to good quality …