At Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School, we believe Literacy is central to the learning and development of all our students. The skills associated with Reading, Writing as well as Speaking and Listening are essential to being successful in Mathematics, Science, Art, P.E. and all the other areas of learning. By teaching and supporting our students to engage with Literacy, it supports them to develop the knowledge and skills needed to become ethical, thoughtful, informed and active members of society.
Reading:
During our daily Reading lessons, students develop skills to understand, interpret, critically analyse and reflect upon a variety of print and non-print texts. The structure of the Reading lesson involves the whole class engaging in the shared reading of a variety of text types to develop their ability to think within, beyond and about a text. The texts could be linked to the writing genre they are learning, a poem, song, narrative, nonfiction text or even pictures and videos. Students will then participate in independent reading where they have the opportunity to transfer the skills they have been learning during the whole class lesson, as well as practise their own individual reading goals. Teachers also spend their time working with students one on one or in small groups to support individualised and targeted learning.
Writing:
At Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School we explore the connection between reading and writing, encouraging our students to read like writers and write like readers. During our reading lessons, students have the opportunity to engage with the types of texts they are learning to write.
Although our students learn to write a variety of genres including narratives, procedures, information reports and persuasive texts, they also have the opportunity to write texts of their own choice, to develop and support a love of writing. Understanding that students need to enjoy learning to write is essential for motivation and engagement, building a passion for writing is a priority for our teachers.
Speaking and Listening:
Oral language is essential to daily communication in formal and informal settings at school and in the community. At Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School, our students participate in many opportunities to build on their speaking and listening skills. Opportunities to ‘turn and talk’ allows students to share and clarify their thinking with others in their class. Play based learning sessions in Foundation to Year 2 encourages our students to communicate effectively with their peers in a comfortable and informal setting, whilst more formal instances occur such as school leaders running assemblies and delivering speeches to the whole school. Our students learn to understand the importance of not only sharing their voice but listening to the voice of others.