English
Our Literacy program follows the Victorian Curriculum which is broken up into 3 areas; Reading, Writing and Speaking & Listening.
Reading
To enhance our student learning we use the CAFÉ approach to the teaching of Reading. The CAFE acronym represents what we see as the four main sub sets of skills that students need to acquire proficiency in to become confident and independent readers. The acronym CAFÉ stands for: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanding Vocabulary.
The reading approach taught to students in the Foundation and Grade 1/2 classrooms, is based upon the Little Learners Love Literacy (LLLL) approach, as well as CAFÉ Reading. Literacy sessions in Foundation - Year 2, underpin the development of each of the 5 pillars of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension) and support all children to learn the skills to become successful readers and spellers.
Our school-wide Literacy program is personalised to address the needs and interests of all students within the classroom through a range of individual, small group and whole class activities. It is integrated into all areas of the curriculum. Students complete approximately 1 hour of writing as part of each Literacy session and they collaborate with their peers to discuss ideas to write about, as well as to complete components of the writing process. This process is also involves the use of technology, particularly to publish writing pieces. Ongoing monitoring of student achievement assists teachers to identify student needs and to set goals for future learning, in collaboration with each individual student.
Speaking and Listening is intertwined through all aspects of the curriculum, where appropriate. Students use oral language for particular audiences and occasions, including body language and voice. In Literacy sessions students often ‘Turn and Talk’ to enable all students to participate in a meaningful and purposeful discussion with their peers. Students are given opportunities to express ideas and opinions; interact with others and present formal oral presentations or engage in reader’s theatre activities to help further develop their level of fluency.
Writing
Our school-wide Writing approach is aligned with the Victorian Curriculum and is based on the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing. All good writing pieces include 6 key qualities including ideas, organisation, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions, plus presentation. Students are taught that these key qualities are influenced by the audience and purpose of the written text.
Students are provided with opportunities to write a range of genres such as narrative, persuasive, informative, procedural and poetry. Good quality literature known as mentor texts, are used to support the teaching of writing in all genres. Students are provided with a range of experiences and oral language activities to articulate their ideas and help build their vocabulary, which is a fundamental to creating good writing.
English
Our Literacy program follows the Victorian Curriculum which is broken up into 3 areas; Reading, Writing and Speaking & Listening.
Reading
To enhance our student learning we use the CAFÉ approach to the teaching of Reading. The CAFE acronym represents what we see as the four main sub sets of skills that students need to acquire proficiency in to become confident and independent readers. The acronym CAFÉ stands for: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanding Vocabulary.
The reading approach taught to students in the Foundation and Grade 1/2 classrooms, is based upon the Little Learners Love Literacy (LLLL) approach, as well as CAFÉ Reading. Literacy sessions in Foundation - Year 2, underpin the development of each of the 5 pillars of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension) and support all children to learn the skills to become successful readers and spellers.
Our school-wide Literacy program is personalised to address the needs and interests of all students within the classroom through a range of individual, small group and whole class activities. It is integrated into all areas of the curriculum. Students complete approximately 1 hour of writing as part of each Literacy session and they collaborate with their peers to discuss ideas to write about, as well as to complete components of the writing process. This process is also involves the use of technology, particularly to publish writing pieces. Ongoing monitoring of student achievement assists teachers to identify student needs and to set goals for future learning, in collaboration with each individual student.
Speaking and Listening is intertwined through all aspects of the curriculum, where appropriate. Students use oral language for particular audiences and occasions, including body language and voice. In Literacy sessions students often ‘Turn and Talk’ to enable all students to participate in a meaningful and purposeful discussion with their peers. Students are given opportunities to express ideas and opinions; interact with others and present formal oral presentations or engage in reader’s theatre activities to help further develop their level of fluency.
Writing
Our school-wide Writing approach is aligned with the Victorian Curriculum and is based on the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing. All good writing pieces include 6 key qualities including ideas, organisation, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions, plus presentation. Students are taught that these key qualities are influenced by the audience and purpose of the written text.
Students are provided with opportunities to write a range of genres such as narrative, persuasive, informative, procedural and poetry. Good quality literature known as mentor texts, are used to support the teaching of writing in all genres. Students are provided with a range of experiences and oral language activities to articulate their ideas and help build their vocabulary, which is a fundamental to creating good writing.
Numeracy
At Koo Wee Rup Primary School we regard everyone as a mathematician. It is our vision that all teachers and students will confidently approach and enjoy maths, using their numeracy skills to solve real-world problems at school and beyond.
Our culture invokes a spirit of enthusiasm for maths, where maths is not easy, but the challenge and productive struggle is exciting! Our confident and enthusiastic teachers facilitate a growth mindset approach to learning. We recognise time and effort given to learning mathematics leads to high levels of student achievement, with deep and transferrable understanding of concepts. We firmly believe in our students, not in ‘maths brains’.
Our Numeracy program follows the Victorian Curriculum and is broken up into 3 areas; Number, Measurement & Geometry and Statistics & Probability. Our approach to teaching Mathematics is influenced by the Top 10 pedagogy, which aims to incorporate hands-on teaching whenever possible. Our classrooms use a common and consistent approach to mathematical vocabulary, for problem solving strategies and explicit instruction. Teachers are creative in their development and use of units, lesson hooks, rich tasks and visual or concrete aides - planning for the integration of subject areas and links to real world problems. Students work in collaborative partnerships to Understand, Reason, Problem Solve and become Fluent mathematicians.
To support student learning teachers use a range of data from Common Formative Assessment Tasks (CFATs), the Department's Digital Assessment Library, formative assessment tasks and Scaffolding Numeracy in the Middle Years (SNMY). Assessment practices enable intervention to be provided to students who need additional time and support in developing their mathematical learning.
All teachers willingly and enthusiastically undertake professional development, engage in coaching, collaboration and reflection to ensure they use the best research-based practices in their mathematics. Collaborative discussions about students ensure that learning is targeted to the specific learning needs of each student occurs through weekly PLC meetings facilitated by our Learning Specialist.
At Koo Wee Rup Primary School we regard everyone as a mathematician. It is our vision that all teachers and students will confidently approach and enjoy maths, using their numeracy skills to solve real-world problems at school and beyond.
Our culture invokes a spirit of enthusiasm for maths, where maths is not easy, but the challenge and productive struggle is exciting! Our confident and enthusiastic teachers facilitate a growth mindset approach to learning. We recognise time and effort given to learning mathematics leads to high levels of student achievement, with deep and transferrable understanding of concepts. We firmly believe in our students, not in ‘maths brains’.
Our Numeracy program follows the Victorian Curriculum and is broken up into 3 areas; Number, Measurement & Geometry and Statistics & Probability. Our approach to teaching Mathematics is influenced by the Top 10 pedagogy, which aims to incorporate hands-on teaching whenever possible. Our classrooms use a common and consistent approach to mathematical vocabulary, for problem solving strategies and explicit instruction. Teachers are creative in their development and use of units, lesson hooks, rich tasks and visual or concrete aides - planning for the integration of subject areas and links to real world problems. Students work in collaborative partnerships to Understand, Reason, Problem Solve and become Fluent mathematicians.
To support student learning teachers use a range of data from Common Formative Assessment Tasks (CFATs), the Department's Digital Assessment Library, formative assessment tasks and Scaffolding Numeracy in the Middle Years (SNMY). Assessment practices enable intervention to be provided to students who need additional time and support in developing their mathematical learning.
All teachers willingly and enthusiastically undertake professional development, engage in coaching, collaboration and reflection to ensure they use the best research-based practices in their mathematics. Collaborative discussions about students ensure that learning is targeted to the specific learning needs of each student occurs through weekly PLC meetings facilitated by our Learning Specialist.