Class News
Kindergarten
After Visiting Hunter Valley Zoo. Kindergarten were very keen to write about their experiences. Just a few experiences that we would like to share with you.
Year 2
In year 2 we have been introduced to the comprehension strategy “Finding the main idea”. We have learnt that most text are all based around one main idea, and they include details about that idea. We discussed three strategies that we can use the find the main idea of a text.
- Look at the title and any pictures.
- Read the first and last sentence of the text
- Look for any words that are repeated several times throughout the text.
We looked at a text called “Amazing Earthworms”. We looked at the title and the picture of the earthworm, then we read the first and last sentences and found out that the word “soil " was repeated several times throughout the text. We concluded that the main idea of the text is that Earthworms help to keep the soil healthy.
Stage 2
What role does background knowledge and vocabulary play in supporting reading comprehension?
Background Knowledge
This refers to what students already know about a topic before they begin reading about it. Background knowledge plays an important role in contextualising facts in nonfiction and subject matter in a fiction story. When students have background knowledge of a topic, they are better able to make connections and gain a deeper understanding.
Vocabulary
Students should have an age-appropriate bank of vocabulary knowledge in order to be able to make sense of text. The best way to increase vocabulary is to read books with some unfamiliar words. But when students come across too many words they can’t define, this can leave them feeling frustrated and sap their motivation. Therefore, it’s important to target important vocabulary words periodically.
Wide-scale reviews of multiple vocabulary instruction studies spanning the full school age range (K– 12) have concluded that high quality vocabulary instruction can have a significant effect on reading comprehension (Stahl & Fairbanks, 1986; Wright & Cervetti, 2017).
Years 3 and 4 have studied several picture books in shared reading, related to our persuasive writing focus this term. Each week, we have an explicit focus on building students’ background knowledge and ensure a rich and direct exposure to the vocabulary in each text occurs. This is achieved by unpacking the theme of each book which has included watching BTN episodes or YouTube clips related to the theme of the text i.e., learning about Iguanas when reading ‘I wanna Iguana’, which in turn has built their background knowledge.
We also purposefully select vocabulary from the text and dissect each word according to their meaning, provide visual aids of each word, examine non-examples, generate antonyms and synonyms and act out the words.
Both areas of reading instruction ensure we are building the bridge to reading comprehension!
Below are some of the texts we have been reading to assist students in their learning about persuasive writing while also building their background knowledge on Iguanas, cows and Koala Bears and unpacking words such as strike, impatient, polar regions, furious and neutral to name a few!
Stage 3
In Stage 3, we are learning about the Main Idea comprehension strategy. We can use this strategy to learn what the paragraph or text is mostly about.
Stage 3 have adopted this strategy in different areas of their learning, especially when reading informative texts about adaptations and biomes. Year 5 attempted this strategy when engaging with their class novel Song for a Whale.
Stage 3 have also lucky enough to spend some time learning how to create their own biomes using Minecraft Education. We are working towards replicating real life biomes by including plants and animals found in the program.
