Literacy

At St. Augustine's a daily two-hour uninterrupted Literacy session is essential in developing skills for reading, writing and oral language. Students are engaged in constructing and reading various text types while engaging in discussion to develop oral language and comprehension skills.

We aim to use high expectations for all learners to become confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed citizens. It is through the study of English that individuals learn to analyse, understand, communicate and build relationships with others and with the world around them. 
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The English curriculum aims to ensure that students:

• learn to listen to, read, view, speak, write, create and reflect on increasingly complex and sophisticated spoken, written and multimodal texts across a growing range of contexts with accuracy, fluency and purpose
• appreciate, enjoy and use the English language in all its variations and develop a sense of its richness and power to evoke feelings, convey information, form ideas, facilitate interaction with others, entertain, persuade and argue
• understand how Standard Australian English works in its spoken and written forms and in combination with non-linguistic forms of communication to create meaning
• develop interest and skills in inquiring into the aesthetic aspects of texts, and develop an informed appreciation of literature.

Some ideas for reading at home
Reading is not just looking at the words and saying them... it is about understanding what you are reading - Comprehension.

​We believe that there are some key things that make reading and understanding what is read easier for children.
Frequency and Duration, Fluency and Vocabulary are three of these.

Frequency and Duration

Reading at home has so many benefits. Make your time reading at home enjoyable and successful.
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Time spent reading at home has a huge impact on developing reading and comprehension skills. 

​Children can read alone or to you, or you can read to them as long as there is time set aside to READ EVERYDAY.

Fluency

Reading fluently, as smoothly as you speak in conversation, helps to unpack what you are reading.

Model good reading to children.
Show them how you group words together in short phrases.

One way to improve fluency is to encourage your child to read the same book, or page again.

So it's really important that you believe that bringing home the SAME book again and again is OK! After a while they will become fluent with this book.

Vocabulary

Increasing the number of words you know and can talk about helps to understand what is read.

Talking and talking lots with your child will help. Talk about the things that are happening. Ask them and have them ask you questions.

Encourage children to respond in complete sentences. EG
Not just "Hi" - Hi Mrs Neighbour How are you"
Not just "ok" - "I'm feeling good today thank you for asking"

Encourage the use of other words that are of a higher level. E.G: happy - enthusiastic, joyous
sad - disappointed, miserable

Some ideas for writing at home

Writing can be a part of everyday life and there are plenty of ways to encourage writing at home with your child:

• Shopping lists 
• Letters
• Birthday cards
• Events on calendars
• Diaries or journalling of exciting family events 
• Making posters 
• Sharing and recording silly stories