Comprehension Packs: let's have fun with books

"Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to (1) decode what they read; (2) make connections between what they read and what they already know; and (3) think deeply about what they have read".

It all starts in the early years...

Dear PPH Parents,

A note went home in your child’s bag today regarding our Comprehension packs. The packs contain a clear zip lock bag with a story book and a set of questions.Each child will receive a new book every Tuesday to take home for a shared reading experience.

Why:  

Learning to read involves much more than just recognising and sounding out words on a page. Children can learn to memorise and repeat words all day long but if they don’t have the necessary comprehension skills they won’t be able to continue being successful independent readers. When children understand whats been read to them, they can make predictions of what may happen next, follow the story structure easier, make connections with the text and have ago at decoding unfamiliar words more sucessfully. 

 

What to do:

Talk to your child about the cover page of the book first. Read the title. Then you might ask, What do you think the story might be about? Where is it? Who may be in the story?  

Then read each page out aloud to your child. Have the question sheet close by ready to ask the question related to each page. This will allow your child to listen as a parent monitors their understanding of the text and illustrations.  

You may choose to read or talk about the story first then go back for a second reading and ask the questions. The child has the book for a week so it’s important to share the book more than once and see what your child can remember about the story. 

 

Below is a picture of what is in the zip lock bag that will be sent home. A new book will be given out every Tuesday on library day. Your child will get a book out for library in their green bag and be given their comprehension pack in their clear zip lock bag.

To make it easier both book bags can be brought back to school every Monday ready  for Tuesday. This means, each book can be kept for a week.

If a comprehension bag is not brought back, your child won’t receive a new one and it muddles up the whole numbering system ready for the next child to have a different book. 

 

 

     

Happy sharing and taking!

Thank you for your support,

Miss Horrocks

Reading Aloud to Build Comprehension

Reading Aloud to Build Comprehension By: Judith Gold,Akimi Gibson

In the last few years, an alarm has sounded throughout the nation's middle and high schools: too many students cannot read well. It isn't that they don't know their ABC's or how to read words. It's that they cannot understand or explain what they're reading".

This article discusses the power of reading aloud. 

Once upon a time, there was a grownup, a child, and a very good book.

Goodnight room
Goodnight moon
Goodnight cow jumping over the moon

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is a beloved children's bedtime story. Young children instantly relate to the struggle of the little bunny trying to get to sleep. Such stories are memorable because they move children and allow them to make personal connections that inspire them to think more deeply, to feel more wholeheartedly, and to become more curious listeners.

Many of us can remember from our own experience the precious time spent sharing and talking about stories. We remember relating to the friendship between a little girl and a teddy bear named Corduroy in the book of the same name by Don Freeman. We also related to the friendship between a spider and her pig friend, Wilbur, in E.B. White's Charlotte's Web.

We connected to the characters, their situations, or the settings in which the stories took place. Little did we know that when we were making such connections we were learning to think and act like good readers. Because reading aloud provides children with a model of confident and expert reading, many parents and teachers make it a vital part of their teaching practice.

The benefits of reading aloud: 

Reading aloud is the foundation for literacy development. It is the single most important activity for reading success (Bredekamp, Copple, & Neuman, 2000). It provides children with a demonstration of phrased, fluent reading (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996). It reveals the rewards of reading, and develops the listener's interest in books and desire to be a reader (Mooney, 1990).

Listening to others read develops key understanding and skills, such as an appreciation for how a story is written and familiarity with book conventions, such as "once upon a time" and "happily ever after" (Bredekamp et al., 2000). Reading aloud demonstrates the relationship between the printed word and meaning – children understand that print tells a story or conveys information – and invites the listener into a conversation with the author.

Children can listen on a higher language level than they can read, so reading aloud makes complex ideas more accessible and exposes children to vocabulary and language patterns that are not part of everyday speech. This, in turn, helps them understand the structure of books when they read independently (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996). It exposes less able readers to the same rich and engaging books that fluent readers read on their own, and entices them to become better readers. Students of any age benefit from hearing an experienced reading of a wonderful book.

See full article http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-aloud-build-comprehension

For these many reasons discussed in part of this article, the Pre-Primaries will have the opportunity to take home a new story every week to be read out aloud to them by a parent/guardian. 

Please read the next blog to learn about the comprehension packs. 

From Miss horrocks. 

MOTHER'S DAY

A morning of pampering in PPH...

Thank you to all the Mother's and Nanna's who made it to our mini day spa on Friday. We hoped you all enjoyed it. The children had a great time pampering their mums and spending some special time with them in PPH. 

Have a look at our clever beauticians...

More photos to come... 

:) Miss Horrocks 

Mother's Day

Mother's Day in Green Room

Why need to go to Bali, when Bali is coming to you right here in PPH. 

The Pre-Primaries are getting very excited to spend a morning looking after their Mums and Nanna's.The morning Day Spa is after PPH'S mini assembly at 9.30am this Friday the 8th of May. 

All you need to bring is your hair brush and some hair accessories so your child can treat you to the delux special one time offer pamper pack. Our professional beauticians will offer you a; 

Manicure and pedicure if you like

Hair treatment

Relaxing massage 

Some light refreshments and a glass of...sparkling water at the end of your appointment. 

Come to our classroom reception door after a cup of tea at the hall and your beautician will collect you and take you to your first booking. 

See you all there! 

Miss Horrocks 

This week, the children have been very busy little artists and have painted a picture inspired by a famous artist for Mother's Day. 

Attached to the painting is a recording of a special message from your child. To receive this spoken message you need to scan the QR code on the bottom of your child's artwork. 

To scan... Download the free app " QR barcode reader" onto your iPhone or iPad. Open the app and place your phone or iPad over the QR code. It will automatically scan and bring up the secret message. We hope this is a gift you can keep forever. 

Happy Mother's Day to all our wonderful mums! 

Enjoy and relax on Friday and Sunday. 

Dunsborough ANZAC Service

Hope everyone had a lovely long weekend. 

It was amazing being at the Dunsborough ANZAC service on Saturday the 25th,down at the foreshore. It was truly wonderful to see so many OLC families there. What a wonderful and supportive community we live in. 

THE largest crowd to date gathered at Lions Park in Dunsborough to pay their respects to the servicemen who lost their lives at Gallipoli 100 years ago.  

Almost 2000 Dunsborough residents and visitors attended the memorial service after watching the parade march down Dunn Bay Road towards the foreshore. ( Dunsborough Busselton times) 

:) Katie Horrocks 

It's not easy as ABC anymore!

Pronouncing the alphabet sounds

Published by Diana Rigg on April 10, 2015

Students require alphabet knowledge in order to embark on the process of learning to read and spell. However, rather than letter naming ability, letter sound knowledge is the more important skill for entry into formalized literacy learning.

For example:

• In order to spell the basic word ‘dog’ a child must first “sound-out” (or phonemically segment) “d”, “oh”, “g” and then the child must recall and apply in correct order the alphabet letter sounds.
• In order to read the word ‘dog’ a child must recognize each letter symbol and convert each symbol into the correct sound “d”, “oh”, “g” and then the child must blend the sounds together (phonemic blending ability).

In neither of the above early spelling and reading processes did alphabet letter naming come into the equation.

Many years of experience working with students has revealed a pattern. It is alphabet letter sound ability that is the more difficult of the two areas for students to acquire and it is alphabet letter sound ability that parents have difficulty pronouncing.

This video clip provides a model of the pronunciation of each of the alphabet sounds with an Australian accent. The viewing of the clip aims to assist those working with children to articulate the best model of the common sound linked to each alphabetic symbol and thereby assist the transition to early reading, spelling and writing.

Welcome back to Term Two!

 "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Albert Einstein

Once upon a time in a nursery rhyme...Welcome to Term Two full of Fairytales, magical stories and classic children's literature. 

It was wonderful seeing the children settle in back from the holidays with their friends again. 

This week we are reading the story " Goldilocks and the Three Bears". Learning with Fairytales help young children develop a sense of story structure,  understand concepts about print, boost their imagination and wonder and many more important literacy skills. When sharing stories as a class, wonderful discussions evolve from taking about the settings, the different characters and the plot. Most of all, fairytales make listening to and responding to stories enjoyable and exciting!  

A few important reminders: 

Firstly, Parent Teacher Interviews will be held next week, beginning Tuesday the 28th. If you haven't put your name down in a time slot that suits you, please find the timetable on the parent notice board in PPH. Interviews will be approximately ten minutes. If more time is required, another meeting can be rescheduled at another time. 

The parent roster is up on the board. Again we encourage at least one parent to come in and join in our morning program. This term we only require your wonderful help Monday through to Wednesday due to speciality classes. If the only day you can come in is a Thursday or Friday, just let me know and we can arrange it. 

Your child's show and tell roster remains the same until second Semester. Library day is still on Tuesdays. 

In literacy we have covered the first two sets of sounds s a t p i n  and m r e c k d h. I expect by this stage of the year the children can recognise the symbols and give the sounds. 

Our next set of sounds are f l o u g b. 

Mother's Day is approaching and PPH would like to invite all our Mums to a Green Room day spa on the 8th of May. An invitation was sent home in your child's bag. Please let me know if your available to come. The children would love to treat you to a day of pampering! You all deserve it! 

Thank you for your continued support,

Katie Horrocks and the PPH team.