Junior School P-2

LITERACY

Language Experience
At Croydon Primary School we believe that “Reading and Writing float on a sea of talk!”
Research tells us that vocabulary development is the greatest indicator of Reading and Writing success. To support this P -2 students follow a Language Experience approach. Each week classes have an “experience” on Monday morning. This can be a science experiment, cooking or literature based. The students talk animatedly about what they are doing which then translates in detailed writing and supports the book that is the focus that week.

Phonics

Phonics plays an important role in helping students become confident, fluent readers.

Phonics is taught in a systematic way at Croydon P S.

The key elements of phonics are:

  1. Phonemes: the smallest unites of sound in speech ( e.g the sound /m/ in ‘mat’.)
  2. Graphemes: the letters or groups of letters, that represent these sounds ( e.g the letter ‘c’ in ‘cat’.)
  3. Blending: combining individual sounds together to read a word ( e.g /c/ /a/ /t/ = cat)
  4. Segmenting; breaking down words into their individual sounds to spell them ( e.g /ch//a//t/ = chat)

Phonics is taught in a structured, sequential approach where children learn the simplest sounds and gradually move to more complex sound – letter patterns. This is known as teaching using a systematic, synthetic phonics approach. In simple terms children learn different sounds, then practice blending sounds together to read words.

Cued Articulation

All teachers use cued articulation hand signals to help their students differentiate between different sounds.

Finger Gym / Handwriting
All students take part in fun strengthening finger gym activities to support their writing skills. This program has extended the amount students can write with concern of a “sore hand or wrist”.

Handwriting is taught at all year levels. Brain theory tells us that words that are written by hand are retained better than those that are typed, and at all levels we ensure a balance of handwriting and use of ICT tools.

 

MATHEMATICS

Croydon Primary School has an emphasis on the Mathematics program being linked to real life experiences. Students study the ‘big ideas” in Mathematics to ensure a solid foundation. In the Junior school this is particularly , Trusting the Count and Place Value.

Hands on activities ensure engagement and greater understanding of all Mathematic concepts.

 

INTEGRATED STUDIES

Areas of the curriculum such as Science, Geography, History, Health and Design Technologies are taught each term within an inquiry unit that puts the work into a real life context. We believe these concepts are understood better within a term unit rather than “one off” lessons.

Within these units intercultural, personal and social capabilities and critical and creative thinking are woven into the explicit teaching, inquiry and tasks the students complete.

 

 

ICT

All students have access to class sets of iPads and Notebook computers. Students use these when they are the best tool for the activity and to learn specific ICT skills.

“Bee Bots” are used to teach coding and 3D printers have been recently implemented.

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