English

We follow a structured, synthetic phonics approach to teach reading and spelling that focuses on developing the learner's understanding of the relationship between letters and sounds.

Learning to read involves recognising individual sounds in words (phonemes) and linking them to the letters or group of letters (graphemes) that represent those sounds. By explicitly teaching the relationships between letters and sounds, learners develop the foundational skills necessary for reading fluently and accurately. 

In our Prep and Junior Learning Communities, a heavy emphasis is put on developing these letter / sound relationships and learners develop their reading skills. Once learners have mastered the code we move onto understanding the relationship between words and spelling patterns.

Reading of rich texts is also a part of our reading regime. We read fiction and non-fiction texts that may be beyond the decoding ability of your children, but they are engaged in talking about these texts and answering comprehension questions; as well as investigating how texts are structured.

Learners engage in handwriting experiences so that the process of writing becomes automatic and their writing is legible. Writing is often linked to texts that are being shared, which helps comprehension of deeper concepts - both fictional and non-fictional concepts.

Learning to read is complex. We have 26 letters in the English alphabet, but we have 44 spoken sounds. In addition, there are over 200 different ways to represent these sounds in letters.

Here is a cheat sheet for terms that you may hear your child using:

Phoneme: The smallest unit of speech sound in a word. The word shark has three phonemes (sounds): /sh/ • /ar/ • /k/
When recording phonemes (sounds) in writing, we use forward slashes (/) to organise each sound. 

Grapheme: The letter/s that spell the sounds in words. The word dog has three graphemes: [d] • [o] • [g]

Digraph: Two letters that represent one single sound, for example [sh] says /sh/ in shark, [ed] says /d/ in played

Trigraph: Three letters that represent one single sound, for example [igh] says /Ī/ in light, and [our] says /or/ in four

Phonology: The study of the sound structure in language.

Phonics: A method of teaching people to read by matching sounds (phonemes) with symbols (graphemes). Phonics has the strongest evidence base when it comes to teaching reading and spelling.

Morphology: The study of meaningful word parts.

Morpheme: The smallest unit of meaning in a word. The word sharks has two morphemes: shark • s. The base word is shark and the suffix -s indicates plurality.

Decoding: Sounding out - saying the phonemes out loud to get an accurate pronunciation (and recognition) of an unknown word.

Blending: Saying the sounds quickly or stretching the sounds to put it back together and hear the word in its entirety.

Segmenting: Hearing a word and breaking it into its separate phonemes to spell it.

Encoding: Using the segmented sounds to link to letters to write words.

Sight word / Heart Word / High Frequency Word: These are common usage words that may follow an unfamiliar or unknown pattern. They only stay unknown until the spelling / grapheme-phoneme correspondence is taught. There are very few truly undecodable words. Taking home lists of words to memorise contradicts the brain processes involved in reading. 

Take home books - decodable books

We send home decodable books for your child to practise with. These books may appear simple, but that is their purpose. They are meant to support learners to practise skills that they have learnt, rather than be books that are too complex for your child. Often these books have cheat sheets in them that support you to have conversations about the story or highlight words that you can discuss. Your child has access to Decodable Readers Australia online portal for you to access other books. Conversely the Wyndham Library also has a great collection of decodable books that you can borrow. Remember - take-home books are not meant to be a battle for you at home; they are meant to be an opportunity for your child to practise previously learnt skills.

Take-home books only form one part of your child’s reading diet. You can share special books or library books together, sharing the reading load if appropriate. These rich texts will support vocabulary development.

You can support your child on their reading journey in the following ways:

• Encourage sounding out - often children need multiple exposures to the same word before they can read it fluently.

• Help them practise their phonics - "What sound is at the beginning of jump?"

• Encourage your child to speak in full sentences.

• Read with your child, reading books they enjoy.

• Read decodable books multiple times.

• Use regular words for objects and processes. Remember, many children can say and explain what a Tyrannosaurus Rex is - there is no need to simplify language. Maybe provide a definition when using unknown words.

• Avoid telling your child how to spell a word. Ask them to have a go at segmenting (isolating the sounds in the word) and write one letter or letters for each sound. Support your child by filling in the unknown gaps or tricky sounds/letters in these words.

• Ask your child to help with writing for a purpose, such as a shopping list or a thank you letter

Free resources available to you:

• Decodable Readers Australia Online Portal - your child has an account set up for them (see your child’s teacher if you need access)

• Wyndham Library decodable books

• Phonics & Stuff website

Resources that you may opt to pay for independently to give your child a boost:

• reading.com

• Nessy

• Teach Your Monster to Read

• Sounder & Friends

• Reading Eggs