Literacy at KTS

At Kohia Terrace School we follow a Structured Literacy approach for our teaching of reading, writing and spelling in the junior school. A Structured Literacy approach is a highly explicit and systematic way of teaching all important components of literacy. These components include both foundational skills (e.g., decoding, spelling, handwriting and letter formation) and higher-level literacy skills (e.g., reading comprehension, written expression). We have invested in the Little Learners Love Literacy (LLLL) decodable texts, a Phonological Awareness Programme and The Code. We have participated in professional development and benefited from an expert teacher working in the school to support us in our programme delivery. Check out this slideshow for more information. Structured Literacy at KTS

Spelling Programme
Our spelling programme, throughout all year levels at KTS, is based on The Code. The Code supports Structured Literacy teaching by including explicit and systematic teaching of phonological awareness, the alphabetic principle, syllable types and morphology (how words are formed). Students, as part of The Code, learn to apply their knowledge of letter sound relationships, spelling patterns and irregular spellings accurately, automatically and fluently when spelling, writing and reading.

Our home learning programme will focus on learning more about this science of words and practicing spelling based on these rules.

Research suggests that parent involvement is the number one predictor of early literacy success and future academic achievement. This section of our website aims to help you access ideas that you can use at home as you support your child in their literacy learning.

Reading

Here are some strategies for beginning and seasoned readers' literacy success:

Point to each word on the page as you read. This beginning literacy strategy will assist children with making print/story/illustration connections. This skill also helps build a child's tracking skills from one line of text to the next one.
Read the title and ask your child to make a prediction. Beginning and seasoned readers alike need to make predictions before reading a story. This will go a long way to ensure that a child incorporates previewing and prediction in his or her own reading practices both now and in the future.
Take "picture walks." Help your child use the picture clues in most early readers and picture books to tell the story before reading.
Model fluency while reading, and bring your own energy and excitement for reading to your child. Both new and seasoned readers struggle with varying pitch, intonation and proper fluctuations when they read aloud. Older readers will benefit from shared reading (taking turns).
Ask your child questions after reading every book. Reading comprehension is the reason we read – to understand. Help your child explain his or her understanding of any given story in comparison to another. Have your child share a personal experience similar to a problem or theme within a story. Higher-order thinking skills (critical thinking) are skills children are expected to use in both written and oral assessments in school. There is no way for a teacher to ask every child to use a critical thinking skill every day. Parents can.
Connect reading and writing if possible. The connection between reading, writing and discussion should be incorporated with daily literacy practice. Have a young child dictate to a parent who writes in a journal or on a sheet of paper. Modelling the formation of sentences aligned with the words of a story is crucial for a child to begin making a neural interconnectedness between reading and writing. A child's process of drawing pictures brings his or her personal creativity toward the story. Sharing these illustrations of experiences and individual interpretations related to the sentence he or she has created on the page is yet another step toward this early balanced literacy approach.

http://reading.ecb.org Into the Book – this is an excellent website that focuses on the different aspects of reading comprehension. There are stories to read and activities to complete that tap into the concept “reading to understand”.

https://www.englishclub.com/esl-games/ ESL Games – this website is full of games that promote literacy learning for people whose first language is not English.

Struggling to find books to engage your sons in reading? Here is a list of fantastic titles that might provide some inspiration:

http://happyhooligans.ca/best-books-for-boys-ages-8-16/?utm_source=redtedart.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_facebook

See the Learning at Home section for lots of literacy based links to support learning.