From the Leader of Learning
Dear Nativity Community
The Writing Revolution
Last week, we continued our work with literacy consultant Elena Lanzilli. Elena shared her knowledge of The Writing Revolution with staff and students. She led lessons in the 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6 classes. Teachers were released to observe Elena lead a Writing Revolution session and then spend time planning with her after the lesson.
It was wonderful to see our students share their learning and ask Elena to return to work with them again. Elena thoroughly enjoyed working with our students and was very impressed with the respect and kindness that she was shown by our students.
Our students were engaged in a variety of learning experiences.
Year 1/2 scrambled sentence activities, where students learnt how to apply correct structure of a sentence. Students learnt the difference between fragments and sentences using the text ‘Giraffes can’t dance’.
“I thought it was really good, I liked unjumbling the sentences.” – Charlie, Year 2
“We unscrambled sentences 4 times. We had to make sure that they made sense. It is important that when we write sentences that they make sense.” Harrison, Year 2
“We got to make up sentences. Then we cut them up and had to put them together, so they made sense. It was fun.” Scarlett, Year 1
Year 3/4 identified the 4 sentence types, Declarative (statement), Interrogative (question), Imperative (command) and Exclamatory (exclamation).
“I learnt how to make a short sentence into a long sentence. I learnt the difference between a sentence and a fragment. I really enjoyed working with Mrs Lanzilli.” – Kenji, Year 3
“I was reminded about how important it is to use punctuation and capital letters.” Sienna, Year 3
Year 5/6 students learnt about Single paragraph Outlines (SPO), where the students identified the difference between topic sentences and supporting details when planning a paragraph.
“It was fun working with Mrs Lanzilli. I learnt how to write interesting sentences instead of fragments.” Sakura, Year 6
“I think it was pretty good, as I learnt how to start writing a paragraph and what a paragraph beginning should look like. Mrs Lanzilli helped us to write complex sentences and paragraphs.” Matthew – Year 6
“Mrs Lanzilli made it so easy to understand the differences between a fragment and a sentence. I learnt how to start writing a paragraph. It has helped me a lot.” Indi – Year 6
Music Performance
Playing an instrument has many benefits, some of which are learning self-discipline, strengthening mental capacity and spreading the joy of music. This joy of music was shared last week, with many of our students who engage in instrumental lessons sharing their talents with the Campus. The students need to be congratulated for sharing their talents in front many families in our Performing arts Centre. Special thanks to Ally Cunningham and her team for their hard work in preparing the students to perform in from of a full house.
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
–Benjamin Franklin
Kind regards
Melinda James
