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Literacy Practices
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When children start school at 5, they are very excited about learning to read and write. At Douglas Park school we get the basics right and our focus in the New Entrant room is to build on the literacy knowledge our students bring to us. We find out what they can do now…. Can they…. • Identify the letters of the alphabet. • Recognise/Write their name. • Find where to start reading in a book, do they know which way to go with reading etc… We take each child from where they are at and from Day 1, each child will be part of a literacy programme directed at taking them to their next learning step. Children are read to and with each day. Children write each day. The teaching programme in the New Entrant room is focused on developing the skills necessary to be readers and writers. Each child’s progress is tracked with ongoing assessment so we can identify early those children who need extra help or those who need to be further challenged. We have very high expectations of all our learners and the first year at school is an exciting time for our students. When children are 6, we do the observation survey, which is a standardised nation wide check to see how their learning is going. This survey identifies those who are falling behind and if needed, the reading recovery programme is available at our school. Literacy programmes are a major part of each day in all classrooms at Douglas Park. Students and teachers work hard to ensure children are reading at or above the expected level for their age. Reading is a complex business and it is important that we constantly monitor not only the student’s ability to read the words but also their understanding of what is read. Writing is a developmental process and students need explicit, direct instruction that makes visible what writers need to know and do. Conveying meaning must be paramount in writing. Writing floats on a sea of talk so students need to be able to talk about many experiences in their lives. Our literacy programmes are directed at making children competent lifelong learners. |
| 1: | ICT |
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| 3: | Numeracy Project |