Middle Leader News
Dear Parents,
As you would be aware, we are working with our teachers to familiarise staff with Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum. One of the big changes this year will be in the lower years, where we are shifting to a synthetic phonics approach which includes decodable readers. Last week staff in Prep – Grade 2 attended a workshop run by Decodable Readers Australia. Decodable Readers Australia will support our staff in the teaching of phonics which aligns directly to the implementation of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum and our new diocesan approach to reading. This workshop was extremely practical and well received by teachers, who gained a greater insight into how a synthetic phonics approach works.
Some of the key messages of the day include:
- Children must master the alphabetic code to be able to successfully blend and segment words together.
- Decodable books encourage children to sound out words using decodingstrategies rather than guessing from pictures or predicting from other cues.
- Decodable books start simple (at a child’s level) and as children masters more of the alphabetic code and progress through a series of decodable books, the vocabulary and story structurebecome more sophisticated, which builds on a child’s language and comprehension skills.
- Decodable texts are not the only texts a child should read. Teachers and parents should read high quality children’s literature that contains more complex vocabularyand sentence structures with students every day.
For parents of early years children, this means encouraging your child to have a go at using their alphabetic knowledge when attempting unknown words and reading with your child to model great reading and a love of reading.
Happy reading,
Bec Thomas