literacy+09

May  Leading up to the Naplan I felt it was important to focus on comprehension, getting the students to think about what they were reading and being able to "prove " that they have understood. I have done this as a whole group but have worked a lot with smaller guided groups. Although I will be interested to see how they fared in the Naplan, the On Demand testing might be a better tool to measure if they have improved or not as I can compare the March results with a mid year test.

Comprehension relies so much on their previous knowledge about the world so a challenge is how to help the child that has limited experiences.

I still love sharing books and literature with my kids and if nothing else I feel that they all have a love books in one way or another. August My focus this semester has been more about narratives and what makes a good story. This is definitely a time where reading and writing tie in together when teaching. We have been reading great stories and looking at problems/solutions and whether the stories "reeled" in the reader. We have also looked at building characters with words, describing the setting and what the elements of a plot are. We have some great story writers in our room but others that just "don't get it". These are the children that have not had as many stories read to them and aren't that enthusiastic about reading.