LITERACY - reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing.
Spelling - Spelling in the English language can be confusing, but there some features, rules and conventions that can make it easier for your child. Remember, there are exceptions to rules. These strategies will have a great deal more positive effect than a weekly spelling list.
- Our alphabet has vowels (a,e,i,o,u and sometimes y), and consonants (all other letters)
- Words have one or more syllables - help your child to hear, break words into their smaller parts and say them aloud. This often helps them to demystify big words and they can spell them on their own.
- If your child repeatedly has difficulty with common words, they need some help. Chart the ones of concern and display them in a highly visible place. We call this building a 'sight vocabulary' and is effective for both reading and writing.
- Correct pronunciation is essential to correct spelling. If your child is saying a word incorrectly, this means that they are also hearing it incorrectly and visualizing it incorrectly. They will not be able to spell it! This is very common. Listen to their speech, correct inaccuracies, get them to repeat back to you. The habit won't be corrected immediately, so over time, be prepared to repeat, repeat, repeat.
- Suffixes and prefixes are added to words to clarify and refine words. Examine any words that your child may have difficulty with, and identify these to help them to break down the word.
- Compound words are words where two smaller words are joined together (foot + ball = football). This creates a larger word and the children are sometimes daunted, simply by the size. If your child is having difficulty with one of these, help them to break it down and get them to spell each component. They will be amazed at how much easier it becomes.
Paragraphs - if they begin writing about a new topic or a new idea, a new setting or a new situation, they need to begin a new paragraph. It is helpful to leave an empty line between paragraphs (even if it does use a little more paper) as this helps them to visualise each chunk as a separate idea.
Direct speech - if someone new begins to speak in a story, it MUST begin on a new line. We call this rule 'new speaker/new line' with the children. In this way, we can help them to isolate each element of a conversation (including who said it and how it was said), and avoid that string of speaking that is confusing to a reader. Again, they can visualise where one finishes and another begins. Also remember that they need to include appropriate punctuation INSIDE the speech marks (treat it as a sentence inside a sentence.) eg...
"Hello!" said Bob in an excited voice.
"Hi." replied Harry quietly, not recognizing him.
"Remember me, we met at the conference last week. We were going to talk about activities for the school." Bob continued, his voice unsure and much quieter.
"Of course," exclaimed Harry, finally putting the pieces together, "I remember you. How are you, nice to see you again."
Punctuation - The correct selection and placement of punctuation marks is essential in written work. At this stage of development, our main focus is on exclamation marks (!), question marks (?), full stops (.), commas (,) and speech marks (" "). We also develop the use of apostrophe of ownership (the boy's dog), apostrophe to indicate contractions (can't), parentheses (We drove all day (and all night) to get there.).
Get your child to write or read sentences using final punctuation as the indication of HOW to read the sentence. eg;
Sentence structure - the children need to be able to identify and use a combination of simple, compound and complex sentences in their reading and writing.
Parts of Speech - Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, pronouns, articles, prepositions and interjections are all essential parts of speech and need to be understood, recognised and used effectively when reading and writing. These parts of speech give a writer tools to convey meaningful information, and a reader access to the authors intent.
** It is important to note that words can be many of these 'parts', depending on how they are used in a sentence.
Comprehension - understanding what you have read has many layers. It goes beyond breaking down and decoding the actual words and into many layers of understanding. Levels of comprehension are also applied to visual texts such as films, documentaries, posters, photos and websites. The three main levels of comprehension, focused upon in the classroom are;
1. Literal - what is actually stated within the text. Common questions used to illicit this type of thinking are who, what, when, and where questions. The features of this level are facts and details, rote learning and memorization, and are limited to surface understanding only.
2. Interpretive - what is implied or meant, rather than what is actually stated. The types of questions asked are open-ended, thought-provoking questions like why, what if, and how. The features of this level are; drawing inferences, tapping into prior knowledge/experiences, attaching new learning to old information, making logical leaps and educated guesses, and reading between the lines to determine what is meant by what is stated.
3. Applied - taking what was said (literal) and then what was meant by what was said (interpretive) and then extend (apply) the concepts or ideas beyond the situation. The features of this level are analysing, synthesizing and applying understandings to the reader's own life and experiences.
Direct speech - if someone new begins to speak in a story, it MUST begin on a new line. We call this rule 'new speaker/new line' with the children. In this way, we can help them to isolate each element of a conversation (including who said it and how it was said), and avoid that string of speaking that is confusing to a reader. Again, they can visualise where one finishes and another begins. Also remember that they need to include appropriate punctuation INSIDE the speech marks (treat it as a sentence inside a sentence.) eg...
"Hello!" said Bob in an excited voice.
"Hi." replied Harry quietly, not recognizing him.
"Remember me, we met at the conference last week. We were going to talk about activities for the school." Bob continued, his voice unsure and much quieter.
"Of course," exclaimed Harry, finally putting the pieces together, "I remember you. How are you, nice to see you again."
Punctuation - The correct selection and placement of punctuation marks is essential in written work. At this stage of development, our main focus is on exclamation marks (!), question marks (?), full stops (.), commas (,) and speech marks (" "). We also develop the use of apostrophe of ownership (the boy's dog), apostrophe to indicate contractions (can't), parentheses (We drove all day (and all night) to get there.).
Get your child to write or read sentences using final punctuation as the indication of HOW to read the sentence. eg;
- The man had a red umbrella.
- The man had a red umbrella?
- The man had a red umbrella!
- The man had a red (and purple) umbrella.
- The man had a red, green, blue and purple umbrella.
- "The man had a red umbrella." said Bob.
- The man had Bob's red umbrella.
- The man didn't have a red umbrella.
- The man, a very old man, had a red umbrella.
Sentence structure - the children need to be able to identify and use a combination of simple, compound and complex sentences in their reading and writing.
- Simple - The man had an umbrella. It was red. It was raining. (single ideas, written in small chunks as isolate sentences)
- Compound - The man had a red umbrella because it was raining. (single ideas combined using a conjunction, or as we call them, 'word -glue', to join them together). Examples of conjunctions are; after, also, although, and, as, because, before, but, either, for, if, neither, nevertheless, nor, or, since, so, unless, when, whenever, where, while, whilst, yet, and even a comma.
- Complex - The man was carrying an umbrella, which according to the latest fashion was red, because it was raining. (Think of these as compound sentences that have extra information included - to give the reader a greater understanding. The embedded clause, or subordinate clause, gives the reader clues as to the inferred meaning within a text.)
Parts of Speech - Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, pronouns, articles, prepositions and interjections are all essential parts of speech and need to be understood, recognised and used effectively when reading and writing. These parts of speech give a writer tools to convey meaningful information, and a reader access to the authors intent.
** It is important to note that words can be many of these 'parts', depending on how they are used in a sentence.
- Nouns names a person, a place, or an idea or thing. These can be common, collective, abstract, or proper.
- Common nouns names things (bird, smile, sister, bank)
- Collective nouns name groups of things (swarm, litter, flock, herd)
- Abstract nouns name concepts (sincerity, hate, happiness, recycleable)
- Proper nouns are the names of particular nouns and always have a capital letter (Sam, Sydney, Monday, April)
- Verbs are doing, being or having words. They must 'agree' with the subject in person and number (she arrived, they arrived, he arrived, we arrived). They also need to relate to time (past - I ran, present - I run, future - I will run). Every sentence must contain at least one verb or it is not a sentence.
- Adjectives are descriptive words. They describe colour, size, feelings and qualities. They also give the reader information about characteristics. These can also be in comparative and superlative forms (big/bigger/biggest, many/more/most, good/better/best)
- Adverbs give us extra information about a verb. They tell us how, when or where the action took place. (clumsily, never, inside, early, meanly, softly, beside). They can effectively inform a reader about time, place, direction or quantity. (totally, inclusive, all, approximately).
- Conjunctions are words used to join sentences or parts of speech together. Conjunctions should not be used at the beginning or end of a sentence. (also, and, but, because, whilst, yet, if, also, as, when, where)
- Pronouns are used to take the place of nouns. They are used in place of the name of a person, place, idea or thing, after it has been introduced to the reader. (I, you, they, her, his, ours, mine, these, them, whom, itself, yourself).
- Articles are the three forms of referring to something. (the, a, an). 'the' is a definite article and is always used in this form (the hospital), 'a' is used in front of words beginning with a consonant (a boat), 'an' is used in front of words beginning with a vowel (an orange).
- Prepositions tell a reader where somebody or something is in relation to something else. They are usually used with nouns or pronouns (adjectival phrase - 'People in Australia are friendly'), or verbs (adverbial phrase - 'Someone outside the window was yelling') to show their relationship to other words in the sentence.
- Interjection is an interruption or a word used to express a reaction or a strong feeling. It is usually followed by an exclamation mark. (Hooray!, Fantastic!, Look out!, Hey!)
Comprehension - understanding what you have read has many layers. It goes beyond breaking down and decoding the actual words and into many layers of understanding. Levels of comprehension are also applied to visual texts such as films, documentaries, posters, photos and websites. The three main levels of comprehension, focused upon in the classroom are;
1. Literal - what is actually stated within the text. Common questions used to illicit this type of thinking are who, what, when, and where questions. The features of this level are facts and details, rote learning and memorization, and are limited to surface understanding only.
2. Interpretive - what is implied or meant, rather than what is actually stated. The types of questions asked are open-ended, thought-provoking questions like why, what if, and how. The features of this level are; drawing inferences, tapping into prior knowledge/experiences, attaching new learning to old information, making logical leaps and educated guesses, and reading between the lines to determine what is meant by what is stated.
3. Applied - taking what was said (literal) and then what was meant by what was said (interpretive) and then extend (apply) the concepts or ideas beyond the situation. The features of this level are analysing, synthesizing and applying understandings to the reader's own life and experiences.