Talk 4 Writing
Talk 4 Writing is a whole school program [K – Year 6] at Sutherland Dianella PS.
Talk 4 Writing was developed by Pie Corbett and is powerful because it is based on the principles of how children learn. Talk for Writing enables children to imitate the key language they need for a particular topic orally before reading and analysing it and then writing. Through fun activities that help them rehearse the tune of the language they need, followed by shared writing to show them how to craft their writing, children are supported to write in the same style.
Tips to support writing at home
Be a word ‘Magpie’
Encourage your child to notice, discuss and collect interesting words, phrases and ideas that other writers have used that they really like. They can use them in their own writing. You might even start to write them in a notebook.
Story retelling
Once you have read a book with your child encourage them retell the story. You can use toys and puppets to act the story out. You can record your child retelling the story on an iPad. Another strategy is to draw the story or take photos of the book and your child can retell the story in their own words. This helps your child create stories, build their imagination and adds a variety of stories that they can use at school during writing lessons.
5 sentence story
Orally make up your own 5 sentence stories with your child.
Start each part of a narrative with one of the following statements.
Once upon a time / One sunny day / Late one stormy night
One day
Unfortunately
Fortunately / Luckily
In the end
Reading
At Sutherland Dianella PS, Reading is an important part of the teaching and learning program. Students participate in Shared and Guided Reading programs and provide many opportunities for independent reading. Guided reading is an instructional practice where teachers work with a small group of students to read and make meaning from a range of texts including fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
We are committed to building a love of reading through reading to students, engaging literary activities and providing high quality literature for students in the classroom and library.
Tips for home
Reading Aloud
Reading aloud to your children is one of the most important things parents can do. Reading aloud builds many important reading skills. It introduces vocabulary, provides a model of fluent, expressive reading, and helps children recognize what reading for pleasure is all about.
Asking questions
Good readers ask themselves questions while reading. We can assist children do this by asking questions or sharing our ideas while reading. Asking questions and discussions assists with comprehension or understanding what is being read.
Students can ask questions for a variety of reasons including:
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to clarify meaning (e.g. what does that word mean? Why is the happening?)
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to understand the characters and events better (e.g. Why did the character do that? Why did that happen?)
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to understand the author’s intent (e.g. Why did the author write that?)
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to make predictions (e.g. I wonder if __________ will happen?)
Spelling
Sound Waves is a whole school spelling program (Year 1-6). It is the only whole-school program that explicitly teaches synthetic phonics based on the 43 sounds of Australian English. We teach the students how sounds (phonemes) in words are represented by letter/s (graphemes) to form written words.
Tips for home
Sound Waves online is a helpful tool for students to practice their focus sound of the week. It has a variety of interactive games and activities for students to complete. Another tool we use is the segmenting tool. Segmenting requires students to split words up into their separate speech sounds. This helps to decode unfamiliar words and improves their phonological awareness.
Please ask your child’s classroom teacher for their Sound Waves online code.
Events
Sutherland Dianella celebrates Book Week with a range of activities including a parade, classroom and playground activities and an incursion or excursion.
The 2021 theme was "Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds.” Staff and students participated by dressing up and walking in the parade.
SDPS Spelling Bee & Prime Ministers Spelling Bee
The Sutherland Dianella Spelling Bee was held on Friday 11 September 2021. Students completed a written test in their classroom. The top 4 students from each class competed in an oral spell off in their cohort. The top 2 students from each cohort competed in the Grand Final. Congratulations to all students who competed.
Sutherland Dianella PS also participated in the Prime Ministers Spelling Bee in 2021. With two of our students competing in the National Final.
Links
SCSA Teaching Curriculum - English