Lower Primary ( Prep – Year 3)
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3 year journey across the lower years (each child will
develop at different rates)
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The most important goal is to build foundations and to see
progress
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Partnership between child and parent
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Works hand in had with the classroom Literacy program in
Prep – Year 3
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It is not just about being able to read the word, but also
about understanding what they are reading
(comprehension). Sometimes it will take longer to go up
levels as we make sure that the comprehension skills are
strong enough to understand what is happening in the
story.
A love for reading will last a lifetime! Encourage it no matter
what age your child is...the benefits for them are many.
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Like learning to read code....so many letters that
make different sounds that do different things
when you put them together!
Starts with your child reading to you, when they
are blending and the teacher feels that their
foundation is strong they will progress to reading
to you and commence on levels.
How can you help? Practice sight words, letter
names and letter sounds.
Understand the little numbers above the letters
in the books to help them to use the keys they
have already learnt (what sound does number 3
make in the letter a?)
The journey continues:
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Sight word bank continues to build, consolidate letter
names and sounds and introduce married phonograms.
What is a married phonogram?? It is the different (and
sometimes multiple sounds) two letters make when you
put them together.
These foundational skills continue to help the children
decode and sound out harder words as their reading
progresses.
Encourage independence and confidence to tackle new and
harder words...remind your child to use the keys that they
know as they sound out and decode.
Ask questions about the meaning of words, predict the
ending, what just happened, who was the story about etc
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Children will continue to be at vast and varied reading
levels in Year 2. What one child achieves may be very
different to his/her sibling. This is neither good or bad,
but is this child’s individual pathway..again the most
important question is can you see progress?
In Year 2, children’s knowledge of sight words and sounds
will continue to build and as their knowledge of these
increase, they will learn to apply the knowledge to bigger
and harder words.
Strong focus on ensuring comprehension skills are
matching with their reading ability.
Encourage your child to still read aloud to you and have a
Q & A time at the end together.
As the books get longer, you will switch from reading a
book per night to a 10 min session.
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This is the consolidation year, some new married
phonograms will be introduced in the early terms
and then the switch is to apply and revise all that
they have learnt on their journey.
Continue to encourage them to use what they
know as they read and tackle new words with
confidence.
Encourage them to read aloud to you..this will
help with things such as their understanding and
fluency.
Comprehension is the key as they read harder
books. Ask questions and encourage them to
check things they don’t understand.
In the Middle and Upper School
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Shared Reading or Read Aloud
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Guided Reading
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Literature Circles (Book Club)
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Independent Reading- at home and at school
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Is conducted whole class
Teacher reads out loud to the students –
usually they have copies of the text which is
often a novel
Text will be more difficult than the students
would read independently
Includes focussed questioning
Includes questioning and modelling around:
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Text and language features- how the text
works- including literary themes,
characterisations & the author’s viewpoint
Vocabulary extension & grammar in context
Comprehension- literal, Inferential & critical
Listening Skills
Christian worldview integration
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Is conducted in a small group of 5-6 students
Students read out loud to the teacher from a
given short text
Students should be able to read the text to
about 80% accuracy
Includes a mini-lesson related to the text
type and reading techniques
Includes questioning and modelling around:
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A variety of text types- exploring how they
work
Comprehension strategies- such as
predicting, confirming, re-reading & selfcorrecting while reading
Vocabulary extension & the coaching of
fluency & expression
Is diagnostic and feedback focussed
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Is conducted in a small group of 5-6 students, in
Years 4-6
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Students select a novel of their choice
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Students independently read set chapters in class
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Students meet to discuss their book on Friday in
a Book Club environment
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The focus is on reading for pleasure with
purpose and increasing the volume of reading
Students take assigned roles in the Book Club
learning to analyse a text for themselves.
These include:
 Summarising the chapters
 Investigating new vocabulary
 Raising questions about the text
 Investigating links to their own experience, other
books or movies
 Clarifying the meaning of passages
 Directing the Book Club discussion
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Means reading silently on your own.
10 minutes a day occurs in class, this may be
reading for Book Club participation (fiction)
Minimum of 10 minutes a day is included as
part of homework where students choose
their own reading materials (fiction or nonfiction)
The Reading Program aims to develop 4 roles:
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Code breaker- decodes sound/symbol
relationships, grammar & genre structures
Meaning Maker- comprehends text- literal,
inferential & critical, utilises prior knowledge
in reading
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Text User- understands how texts are used in
different contexts, with different audiences
and for different purposes
Text Analyst- understands and identifies
different points of view in different texts,
including comprehending the views which lie
behind texts