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Term 1 2014
Greetings everyone – herewith the 1st Newsletter for 2014 – we hope the year has started well for
you.
This year we are offering a host of good speakers and opportunities for those who are passionate
about literacy – teaching and learning.
Term 1.
On the 19th March, we had our Annual
interesting and informative.
General Meeting which was, as usual, very
The Meeting opened with the usual business of the Annual General Meeting, specifically the
introduction of the remits which had been circulated to you in the magazine at the end of last year.
They were all passed so now –
 Our name is Auckland Literacy Association to be in line with the national body – New
Zealand Literacy Association
 Our President’s term has been extended to a 2 year tenure
 The term ‘koha’ is being used instead of ‘honararium’.

The committee were elected as follows
President
– Barbara Strong
Immediate Past President
– Emily Shepperson
Secretary
– Heather Bell
Treasurer – unfilled – volunteers needed
Programme Convenor
– Maura O’Shea
Publications Convenor
– Diane O’Sullivan
Membership Secretary
– Pene Burridge
Committee Members
– Rob Southam, Carole Abraham, Sharon Pond, Paula Were,
Bronwyn Wilkinson, Sandra Gilmore
Again we are able to sponsor teachers to attend the Conference – this year in Tauranga.
There are 2 categories – and they were introduced to the meeting
 4 Early Career Teachers i.e. less than 6 years teachers - Hannah Phipps, Jennifer Grey and
Louise Mann. Emma Holmes was sponsored by the Marie Clay Literacy Trust
 2 Experienced Teachers – Cheryl Hartnell and Bronwyn Wilkinson
We congratulate these teachers and are sure that they will come back from the conference full of
ideas, enthusiasm and knowledge.
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The Executive is also pleased to announce that Barbara Strong was successful in her application to
be sponsored to attend the International Reading Association conference in New Orleans later this
year.
To reiterate, attendance at conferences gives so much advantage to those who attend and also to
those to whom they bring back the experiences that they’ve had.
Always try to get to conferences whenever you can.
You were informed by fax of the presenters for the evening –
Liz Whitehouse and Claire Hobson from Colwill School who introduced us to the ‘Leap Pads’
which had been supplied to their school by the distributors as a trial to be used by Years 1 and 2 for
use to increase literacy skills.
There are many ‘apps’ which can be inserted into the pad to give a variety of applications
 Letter Factory – letter names and sounds to encourage early writing
 Maths games in the whole range
 Books – read to children and also interactive
The Leap Pads are not hard to use and are user friendly. The children were able to explore them on
their own. There are also New Zealand apps available.
Findings.
Letter knowledge improved
Anecdotal – good for sharing
– games are good
– children stay at them for a long time
– good introduction to ICT
Some Limitations
The headphones – storage and use when sharing
The Americanisms and accents
At this point they don’t have enough data to make a decision as to
their effectiveness, but they have noted a considerable
improvement in ‘on task’ behaviour.
The attendees were then able to have a ‘play’ with them and
explore their boundaries.
Nathalie Irvine From Everglade School.
Nathalie presented a fascinating look at ICT across the curriculum by means of showing the items
she had retrieved from Google and put on her ipad which can be used at any time for a variety of
uses. Once downloaded they take little time to bring up for a particular lesson/activity.
Some of the categories she mentioned:
First for oral language
 ‘magnifier photos’
 Optical illusions
 Funny photos
 Vocab brain storm
 Household things
For Reading
 Inference riddles
 ‘Type of pig’
 Family tree
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For Writing
 Use Youtube
 Photos
 Use the digital camera – exploring – group activity – writing about it – use the plhotos taken
on the interactive white board
 Easispeak – sitech – retelling a story
 For computers – learning to copy and paste
Some checks – look at the website before opening it for the children, production of templates.
Nathalie is willing to discuss things with you – NathalieI@everglade.co.nz
Rob Southam then gave another dynamic presentation of information about a new initiative from
Scholastic.
This is called ‘Literacy Pro’
Literacy Pro – Assess for Independent Reading Success.
Literacy Pro provides real time researched-based and nom-referenced data to be used to inform
teaching practice, develop students’ reading comprehension and evaluate reading progress.
Literacy Pro ASSESSes and tracks your students’ reading growth throughout the year and provides
you with formative assessment data so you make immediate changes to teaching practice.
It INFORMS teachers and parents about students’ progress, compared to norm referenced data, and
at the same time …
It DEVELOPS your student engagement and reading skills by using the assessment data to align
them to appropriately challenging books (both physical and ebooks), quizzes and gives them
immediate feedback.
www.scholastic.co.nz/literacypro
Want to know more? Call on 0800 724 652 or email on enquiries@scholastic.co.nz
President’s Report – Emily Shepperson
Auckland Reading Association
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
YEAR ENDED MARCH 2014
Welcome all,
What an amazing year 2013 was! I had no idea what I was in for when
I took on the Presidency.
On a local level we started the year with our AGM and our fabulous
guest speaker Rob Southam. I always enjoy listening to Rob, and my
class has benefitted greatly from the titles I have purchased thanks to
her recommendations.
Our Young Authors and Illustrators Workshop, held to celebrate World
Literacy Day, was yet again a roaring success. Donovan Bixley and
Des Hunt entertained and educated the students on the topics of
illustrating and writing respectively. The students from my school
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certainly had celebrity fever and discussion was lively during the return
trip to school.
Our highlight of the year was the NZLA Conference, which was hosted
by Auckland Reading Association in Parnell. Many enthusiastic
educators from around New Zealand, and even the odd international
visitor attended this conference. Sharon Pond and her team put in a
lot of hard work and hours to ensure that the conference ran smoothly.
A personal highlight for me had to be the plenary speakers, in
particular, Dr Steven Layne and Maureen McLaughlin.
As this conference was held locally ARA was pleased to be able to
sponsor 4 Early Careers teachers to attend. Another Early Career
teacher was sponsored by NZLA through the Marie Clay Literacy Trust.
Conference was not only a chance for plenaries and workshops but
also a great opportunity for several important celebrations. We were
able to commemorate the official launch of NZLA and the new logo at
a gala evening, sponsored by Pearson. We also marked 30 years of
Reading Recovery at a birthday celebration shared with the 50th
birthday of Auckland Reading Association. This event is of timely
importance with the discussions currently underway regarding the
change of our association’s name to fit in with NZLA and other
councils. It is important to think about where you have come from
before thinking about where you are going.
I was given the great honour at this event of introducing our newest life
member – Pene Burridge. I have been in the association only for three
years and can already recognize the countless hours that Pene has
dedicated to ARA in many roles. We are truly lucky to have such
committed people on our executive committee.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of the
executive committee for their help and support this year.
After a busy but exciting year I am pleased to pass on the Presidency
to Barbara Strong and I wish her all the best.
Emily Shepperson
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Calendar 2014
Term 2.
Annette Stock – 28th May – 4.30 at Kohia
Last time Annette presented it was sold out – so get your application in early.
Cheaper if you’re a member – join now!!!
Term 3.
Interesting ideas in the pipeline – dates and presenters to be determined.
Do you have any suggestions of what you would like to see as part of the
programme?
A Rosebank story…
One of my ESOL children read a story about a frog who thought he was the boss, the child was a bit
unsure how to say ‘boss’ and what this meant. After reading the book we had a chat about being the boss.
I asked ‘Who is the boss of his class?’
‘The teacher’ he said.
I asked ‘Who is the boss of the school?’
‘Mike! ‘ he said with great confidence. (Mike is the caretaker)
We then had another chat to clarify the school hierarchy and he wrote this story:
Mike is the boss of the playground and Mrs Bell is the boss of the school.
Bronwyn Wilkinson, Reading Recovery Teacher
Eating Biko
A small crowd gathered in the dining hall. Delicious cultural food neatly decorated the
bare oak table, its delectable aroma lingering amidst the guests. Soon, my stomach
thundered a rumbling sound. Lechon: a roasted pig that crunches with every bite,
Pansit: noodles with a generous amount of pork and numerous vegetables, crispy fried
chicken fresh from the sizzling saucepan, and a VERY important side dish- rice, all
beckoned from the table. Filipinos always rejoice with many dishes, and today was no
exception, for the celebration was a house blessing- a time when we throw a party to
congratulate the owners for starting a new home. Joining our hands and our heads
hung down, my dad started grace.
“Bless us, O Lord …” My dad started and soon finished his prayer.
“Let’s eat!” I cheered after a while, taking a spoonful of jewel-like rice. Then, a
certain dish caught my eye.
“Biko!” I gasped and rushed to the other side to the room, clutching my plate.
Sparkling eyes, I inched closer… closer to the dessert... I suddenly felt a shadow
dawn over me. Regretting my decision, I hesitantly turned around.
“Later!!” Mum stood in front of me, arms crossed, giving me the ‘raised brow don’tdisobey-me’ look.
“Awwww…” I groaned in despair. “Just a little?” I begged desperately, trying to make
my tone of voice sound adorable. Mum sighed as she cut out a piece, and I watched it
slowly slide down on to my plate.
“Alright.” She handed me the silver dessert bowl.
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“Yay!” I scuttled swiftly away with a triumphant grin and took a bite. Chewy rice, the
colour of brown sugar, rolled in my mouth as its sweet, tangy goodness tingled my
tongue. The sugary topping blended well with the sticky rice, I thought, as I munched
slowly to savour the taste spreading through my taste buds.
“Mmm… Delicious!” I giggled, licking my lips.
Biko is a traditional Filipino dessert that is prepared for special occasions- and is an
enjoyable treat for everyone!
By Klyzeah Castanares Colwill School
The Islands of the Philippines
The Philippines Flag
Conference 2014.
This is to be held in Tauranga this year. See details below.
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Well, folks I guess this is all for now. If you missed the AGM you really missed a treat so make
sure you come next year and be a real part of your organization.
We hope you enjoy the holiday reading of the newsletter, that you have a good break over Easter
and the holidays, and return to school recharged and energised.
Regards,
Auckland Literacy Association Committee