Support for Learning

I mentioned last newsletter that teachers spend some time in the first two weeks getting students to complete diagnostic tests to help inform them of the English and Maths support their students will be needing. This support ranges from small adjustments made all throughout the day for all students, which we call differentiation, to heavily modifying the work and the support to do this work for individual students.

To break it down, we have the following supports:

Tier 1 support – every day differentiation for all students.

Tier 2 support – more targeted instruction given in groups focussing on regular class work (Maths / English) that is broken down into more hands on, specific tasks.

Tier 3 support - more intensive instruction in very small or individual groups focussing on more heavily modified learning and basic concepts of maths and English.

Your teachers are in the process of setting these supports up for their students and will communicate the supports your child will be receiving at the relevant time.

Any questions, please feel free to e-mail me: dmath9@eq.edu.au

Reading

A question I have been asked a lot over the years from parents is ‘How can I help my child at home with their school work’. My first response has always been ‘Read TO them’ or ‘Read WITH them’.

For younger students, take every opportunity to read simple things in their environment that have a low reading load e.g. road signs, food labels, board games. Discuss with your child the beginning sounds of these words you see, state other words that have the same beginning sounds, state other words that rhyme, make fun little games that have your child searching for other words that rhyme or have the same sound etc. And read picture books, websites  and magazines to your child as much as you can. Asking questions about characters or content or the feelings that were evoked from texts helps your child to connect deeply with the text and understand it further.

As our children get older, we tend to stop reading to them which makes sense as they become more fluent and capable readers who don’t need your help to access texts. However, creating regular opportunities to read for pleasure with your child has so many benefits. Firstly, it creates a special time between you both with no ‘learning pressures’ other than to enjoy the text together. Secondly, it shows your child you value reading. Thirdly, if your child is hearing you read at all when reading together, they are learning from your intonation, how you read the punctuation, how you read large or tricky words and this all helps in the improvement of their own reading. And fourthly, it opens up the opportunity to have meaningful discussions about what was read whether it be about the feelings that were evoked, or making connections with something that happened in the text to their own lives or simply why they enjoyed reading that text.

Dee Mathiesen

Head of Curriculum