Book Week Treasure

Find Your Treasure

Book Week 2018

The best gift a parent can give is the TREASURE of reading a book.

Books are splendid places that you can visit to find the greatest riches of the world, and the newest and most fantastic ideas that exist today.

J.K. Rowling says: “If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.”

Come and visit our Treasure Trove Learning Hub and let us help you find the right book.

See you there this Book Week!

Book Club Term 3

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Term 3 Book Club.  The newest brochure has been sent home, or is on its way.  With Book Week approaching in Week 5 we have some fantastic books to purchase online, or at our upcoming Book Fair.  We'll tell you more about the Book Fair as details are finalised.

Closing date for this edition of Book Club is Sunday 12 August.  Use our easily accessible online LOOP for your purchases. 

Happy Shopping and Happy Reading.

Darine Groch

Assessment

I have spent the last two weeks assessing all the Kinders and most of the Years 1 and 2.  

This is what we will do with the information:

Analyse individual strengths and needs

Strategically plan for each learner to improve and excel

Set new objectives

Explore abilities

Supply assistance and appropriate materials

Stress growth

Monitor for intervention

Empower with self-directed assessment strategies

Nurture and support efforts

Translate needs and strengths into active learning

Book Club

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Book Club for Term 2.

Thank you for all the support you have given the children and the school with Book Club in Term 1.

The LOOP purchase process is working well and deliveries seem efficient.  Thanks also to the behind-the-scenes Mums who happily assist with distribution. 

Book orders close Sunday 13 May.

Happy browsing.

Darine Groch

What do we need to know about the Thrass chart?

Over the next few weeks I am running a 'Thrass Catch-up Workshop' for students who are new to the school. 
Some points for parents to understand regarding the Thrass tool are:

English words are produced using 44 sounds.
The THRASSCHART has 44 boxes. The function of these boxes is to give a physical reference for each sound in English.

English is made up of two distinct groups of sounds.
The THRASSCHART has two distinct parts. One part groups the sounds that are the consonant phonemes of English, the other groups the sounds that are the vowel phonemes of English.

English words are written using letters, Capitals and Lower-Case. 
The Alphabet is placed at the top of the THRASSCHART showing both the Capitals and Lower-Case versions of each letter. Letters are used to represent sounds in written words. Learners need to be able to name and identify them. Alphabetic knowledge is important as this code is used as an indexing reference system in books, electronically etc.

Pictures can be named and described using words. We use words to write a story. 
The THRASSCHART has a picture (120) for each word on the chart. Learners learn to read by associating with a picture. Oral and written language skills can be developed by using the pictures on the chart for identification, classification and story telling.

WHY HAVE A THRASSCHART?
Sounds in English words can be represented with different letter combinations. 
Each of the 44 boxes on the chart contains the most common spelling choices for that sound. It also has a word for each spelling choice. The THRASSCHART allows the learner to quickly identify a group of letters as depicting an associated sound in a word. When we read we have to identify grapheme groups and associate them with a sound. The sounds are then blended together to make words. When we write we have to identify sounds we can hear and choose a spelling choice for that sound.

Sounds have common written patterns. 
Each word on the THRASSCHART contains only spelling choices that are on the chart. This analogous cross-reference allows the learner to start to visualise common spelling patterns thereby building an understanding of spelling. Each word on the THRASSCHART can be spelt using patterns from other chart words. e.g. bird is made up of bird, shirt, dog.

What Do We See In Sight Words?

Early in a child’s schooling parents will encounter a large group of words called Hotwords or sight words.  What are these words?  Why are there so many?  And why are they so important?

Keep reading and you’ll find an answer to these questions.

All languages have a group of common words which are constantly used. These words make up the framework of the language, which in turn, helps you to read the contextual words like jargon or topic-based words.

It’s amazing, but 50% of our written material is made of 100 of these most frequently used words.  They are considered ‘service’ words which hold ideas together.  These words have no picture attachment.  Learning these words by sight, automatically, helps readers to maintain speed and fluency.   Mastery of these 100 words contributes considerably to a student’s progress in Literacy. 

The next 100 words, together with the first 100, combine to make up approximately 2/3 of all words encountered in general reading.

Yes, that’s right, 200 words make up 2/3 of your reading!

Studies worldwide consistently highlight the link between a continuously increasing bank of automatic sight words and improved comprehension. So practise those words nightly with your children and help them on the road to being literate.

The Benefits of Music

Music enriches a child’s life. Research has found that music enhances other areas by facilitating learning. It’s more than the voice singing or the fingers playing an instrument. Music taps into multiple skills sets, often simultaneously eg. using eyes and ears as well as large and small muscles. Musical training physically develops the part of the left side of the brain involved with processing language. Linking familiar songs to new information can also help imprint information on young minds. As teachers we often sing times tables, or the Thrass rap, to enhance learning. Research indicates the brain of music students works differently to that of non-music students. Apparently children involved in music have larger growth of neural activity because more of the brain is used when playing an instrument or singing. Research has also found a causal link between music and spatial intelligence. This means understanding music can help children visualise various elements which should go together, like they would do when solving a maths problem. These skills are used when solving multistep problems in engineering, maths, art, gaming, IT and architecture. It doesn’t end there: along with better performance results on concentration-based tasks, music training can help with basic memory recall. Music is also associated with other cognitive strengths such as verbal recall proficiency. People who have had formal musical training tend to be better at remembering verbal information stored in memory. So, get very excited when your child tells you they enjoy music! The benefits are greater than you imagine!