Dear Parents,

The other members of the Auburn North staff and I hope you and your families are well.

AUBURN NORTH K-6 READING

A recent report was published about reading in Australian schools. The report highlights the great importance of reading to a student’s immediate and future success. It also explains that research shows many Australian students have difficulty developing reading skills.

The report explains that many of these problems are the result of the way children have been taught in their early years.

The report states clearly that schools must emphasise the importance of phonics (letters and their sounds) if students are going to become fluent readers. It states developing and implementing an explicit, systematic, and sequential phonics approach is the best way to teach children to read, write and spell.

The report says the following:

“Beginner readers need to be explicitly taught the 44 speech sounds of English, known as graphemes. Making texts decodable and supporting them with interactive learning opportunities means we can elevate the teaching of phonics. It’s how we know children best learn to read.

By continuing to look at the evidence provided by the science of reading, and using it to inform teaching practice, we can ensure that all children become successful readers, both now and in the future.”

I am very pleased to write that Auburn North for many years has adopted the explicit, systematic, and sequential phonics approach to ensure our K-6 students develop those essential fundamental reading, writing, and spelling skills. As they progress through the grades, our students develop more sophisticated reading, writing, and spelling knowledge and skills.

Please find below some information about our K-6 reading programs:

K-2

· K-2 grades have adopted a consistent science of reading approach across all classrooms and literacy groups. Students begin their literacy journey by exploring phonological awareness skills. These skills include oral language and hearing and identifying the first, middle, and ending sound in a word.

· Students then learn the relationship between letters and sounds in explicit phonics lessons and they use that knowledge to be able to decode words whilst reading.

· Students read a variety of different decodable text types including fiction, non-fiction, and extended code chapter books. Teachers assist students develop the skills of comprehension, fluency and vocabulary when learning to read through a systematic and differentiated approach.

· When students are equipped with these vital reading skills, they are then able to continue their literacy journey with confidence.

3-6

The following list outlines some of the knowledge and skills taught across 3-6 and how those skills are taught:

· Whole class reading lessons which focus on the explicit teaching of reading comprehension skills.

· Explicit teaching of the Super Six comprehension strategies.

· Fluency reads where students read quality texts and receive peer feedback.

· Vocabulary and background knowledge building using the SEEC and Frayer models.

· Exploration of question types such as literal and inferential question styles.

· The study of author's purpose and author's perspective.

These skills are taught during differentiated literacy groups every morning where students are grouped based on their skill levels and level of need.

At times, our K-6 school strategically uses targeted intervention (ie additional teachers) so class teachers can work with individual students or groups of students who may need additional support to achieve important learning outcomes.

Research shows and our school’s evidence shows our K-6 Auburn North students are participating in high-quality reading, spelling and writing programs which are enabling them to be successful now and will enable them to be successful for the rest of their lives. As we say at Auburn North, "READ TO SUCCEED."

THREE - WAY CONFERENCES - APRIL

Many schools have parent-teacher meetings twice a year. However, at Auburn North we have three-way conferences twice a year. We believe it is essential that students attend and participate in meetings when teachers and parents meet to discuss student development, student achievement, and areas for future development.

We believe it is very important for students to attend and participate in conferences for many reasons including:

1. Students see and learn that their teachers and parents have developed trusting and mutually respectful relationships.

2. Students see and learn that their teachers and parents are working together in partnership to assist students become the very best young people they can become.

3. Students have a “voice” regarding their learning and are able to reflect on their learning and on areas they would like to continue improving.

4. Students, teachers, and parents develop a shared understanding of the students as young people and not just as learners.

5. Each team of student, teacher and parent can work hand-in-hand to assist each student achieve each of their 2024 goals.

All members of the Auburn North staff hope you are able to attend your three-way conference in April. Your child should have already given you a three-way conference note to complete.

2024 PARENTS AND CITIZENS (P. & C.) ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE MEMBER ELECTIONS

The following people were selected to be the executive members of the 2024 P.& C. during our first Annual General Meeting. This meeting was held on Thursday 7th March 2024, a meeting that all parents were invited to attend.

For your reading pleasure, please find below class reports from 1W and 3H. I would like to thank and congratulate 1W students and 3H students and their teachers Ms Wang and Mrs Harrouk. 

Thank you

Mark Harris

Principal

Class Report: 1W

1W have soared into Term 1 by doing our best and then a little bit more! We have settled into routine and have worked together to achieve the learning goal of each lesson.

Literacy

In writing, we have been learning to use adjectives to describe and conjunctions to connect our ideas. We have written weekend recounts about all the fun we have on our exciting weekends and interesting sentences about characters in award winning picture books.

In reading, we have been working hard with our peers to sound out and blend sounds together to read words in our supported reading lessons. Our teachers have taught us what supporting each other looks like, sounds like, and feels like in reading so we offer each other tools to read rather than giving each other the answers!

Numeracy

In numeracy, we  have been developing our addition and subtraction skills including number bonds of 5, taking away objects and counting what is left. We love games of Bingo and Buzz off Hairy Legs to help us read numbers and practise counting backwards from decade numbers, which can be tricky!

We are becoming experts at making sure our numbers are written the correct way by checking number lines.

Sport

This term, we have had a blast each day during our Brain Breaks to transition between lessons by doing an active chase, run or dance in the classroom. This has helped us focus while keeping our hearts healthy.

During Thursday sport, we have completed Cosmic Yoga in the comfort of our cool classrooms on hot days and participated in relays in the grassed areas.

New adventures galore, let’s explore our potential in 2024!

3H have had a very busy and successful start to the new school year!

Literacy:

We have been enjoying our literacy groups in Year 3. During our literacy block, we focus on reading, writing, spelling and grammar.  

• Reading: We are working on fluently reading different text types, and then answering a range of inferential and literal questions to check our understanding of the text.
• Writing: We have been focusing on writing creative narratives and convincing expositions.

Numeracy:

During our numeracy block, we have been focusing on solving super tricky worded problems, some of which are multi-step problems. We have also learnt a range of strategies to add and subtract 2- and 3-digit numbers and how to multiply and divide numbers.

We have also explored fractions, two- and three-dimensional objects and time.

Technology:

We have been working hard on becoming more ‘tech savvy’ this year. We are completing some literacy and numeracy-based lessons online to help us become successful 21^st Century learners in Year 3.

Other KLAs:

Visual arts has been a highlight for all students in our classroom. We have explored the creative work of artists ‘Giuseppe Arcimboldo’ and ‘Frida Kahlo’. These two artists focus on creating self-portraits in very interesting and unique ways. One of them even uses vegetables! We have re-created some of these portraits and placed them around our learning space.

We are enjoying our time together as a 3H family and we look forward to having a fun, safe and happy year!