Book Week: 18^th August – 24^th August

This Year the theme of Book Week is Champions Read

The Junior School will be celebrating Book Week with a Prep-2 Assembly and Parade

When: Thursday 23^rd August

Time: 9am- 10:30am (approx.)

Where: The Gymnasium

Children are encouraged to dress up as their favourite book character and to bring the book to share. After the assembly and the parade the Prep and Year 2 neighbourhoods will have the opportunity to share their books with each other and the Year 1 neighbourhood will have visit from a special guest.

Getting to the Message!

FURTHER EXPLORING IN PAMELA ALLEN'S WORLD!
Click on the links in the blog post from Sunday 5th August to read more of the children's thoughts about Pamela Allen's message.  This week some children commented on "Alexander's Outing" and "Mr. McGee and the Biting Flea", depending on the book they shared with Janette.  There are some very thoughtful people in year one who really love to engage with the 'message behing the words'!

Reading; Going Beyond the Words!

What is Pamela Allen telling us...apart from a great story?

As part of our ongoing inquiry, "Why write?", we are exploring the stories of Pamela Allen, and looking for answers to the question "Why does Pamela write?"  We are learning what it means to enjoy a story, and through re-telling what has happened, wonder if the author is sending us a message.  The children in year one read "I wish I had a Pirate Suit" with Janette last week.  This week they reconsidered the story, and thought about, or inferred,  the ideas Pamela Allen put in their heads through the story.  Here are their ideas...

Exclamation Marks!
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/92418273/Exclamation%20Marks%20Why%20Does%20Pamela%20Allen%20write%20her%20books.pdf
Full STOPS.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/92418273/Full%20StopsWhy%20Does%20Pamela%20Allen%20write%20her%20books.pdf
Question Marks?
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/92418273/Question%20Marks%20Why%20Does%20Pamela%20Allen%20write%20her%20books%20%282%29.pdf

Reading...Let's Dive Deeper!

Why did the author write that?

As part of our major inquiry into "Why Write?" and it's more personal question "Why do I write?"  we are exploring the message that an author sends through their writing.  Following the excitement of the students' response to Lauren Child last term, we are enjoying exploring the works of Pamela Allen, author of well known books such as "Who Sank the Boat?" and "Alexander's Outing". 
This inquiry into Pamela Allen's world will give us opportunities to continue grappling with the idea of how we read; how do we 'get at' the message an author might have?
Readers need many strategies for unlocking texts, movies, and pictures.  All of them involve thinking skills, and these are our continued focus, and in fact are always a focus throughout life!  We all use these skills to varied degrees, with increasing sophistication...

• Prediction: this includes reading on and re-reading to confirm or reject predictions.
• Connection: relating to our own experiences, other texts, or events in the world.
• Visualisation: imagination!  Running a movie in your head as you read. Acting out!
• Summarisation: re-telling or paraphrasing what you think it means.
• Inferring: taking various clues and thoughtfully connecting them to deepen understanding

In the first three weeks, the children have all taken part in reading workshops that challenge them to develop their observation skills, leading to sharper summaries and thoughtful inferences.  We will continue these conversations with the students as we explore more Pamela Allen books and the works of other writers. 
Read at Home tip;
If your child becomes stuck on a word, suggest that they re-read the sentence, look at the picture, and sound the first letter, or letter cluster.  Then THINK...'use the clues'...what could the word be? 
Also try skipping over the word and reading on to the end of the sentence, then re-consider what the missing word could be.  Encourage them to make connections with their experience of other books/events in real life to assist in unlocking the missing word.  Say the word in letter clusters with your child eg. "br-eak-f-ast" not "b-r-e-a-k-f-a-s-t" (that doesn't help!)
It is great to be back!  Talk to me or any of the year one teachers if you have questions or observations to pass on about your child and reading!
Janette.

Meet the Author - National Bookshop Day

Saturday 11 August

at 759Nicholson Street, Little Book Room

Carlton North

Ph 9387 9837 more information on these free events go to: http://www.littlebookroom.com.au/pages/events

The Year 1 Neighbourhood will present their learning at next week's assembly (Tuesday 7th, August at 9am).

This is our current Learning Agreement

Please take the time to read and speak with your child about what learning experiences they have taken part in this week.

This Learning Agreement belongs to ……………….

From: ……………….. To: ……………………

My learning goal is

For the learning agreement I need to:

Reading With a partner explore an image and record what you infer in your Reader’s and Writer’s Notebook	Writing Continue writing your recount about the excursion to the State Library of Victoria
Investigating Conduct and record a science experiment in your Inquiry book	Creating Use the materials found on the creating table to creatively represent what you saw on the excursion
Constructing Construct a part of the State Library of Victoria you enjoyed being in	Performing Create a sketch. Choose a problem and solve it. Be ready to perform.