BADDAGINNIE/SWANPOOL NEWS
Newsletter No: 4
24th February 2017
COMING EVENTS:
Next week we are at the Baddaginnie Campus
February:
Monday
27th
Peranbin Swimming Sports – Violet Town
March:
Mon 27th – Wed 29th Grade 3 /4 camp at Narmbool
Happy Birthday
to Wesley Shea who celebrated his
7 birthday on Tuesday, and to Jaxon McCarthy who is
having his 10th birthday next Tuesday.
th
Swimming Sports Day is on Monday.
Swanpool & District Community Development Association Inc.
Community Spirit Twilight BBQ Friday 17th March 2017
6.30pm-10pm
Albert Heaney Oval, Swanpool
All locals & friends are invited to attend this FREE community event
Live Entertainment by ‘2 Easy’ Jude and Dale Duo
BBQ meat and salads provided
BYO drinks, chairs and picnic tables
Local trade’s people, organisations & retailers are once again invited to showcase their businesses
and products
Enquires: Shirley Davidson 5768 2277 Mob 0407 682575
Mary Anne Hatters 5768 2219
Dear Parents,
As you know Peranbin College is committed to continuing to raise standards in English for all our children.
English is, of course, a subject which underpins all learning, and is of vital importance. As staff, we are
addressing this whenever we encourage the children to listen, talk, read or write, no matter what the
subject matter of the lesson may be.
“VCOP” (you may have heard your children describe this as “Vee-Cop”) and “Big Writing”. All staff,
throughout the school, use these methods to teach writing skills.
Each class in has a weekly Big Writing session. This is the culmination of daily practice of the four main
aspects of writing – Vocabulary, Connectives (joining words and phrases), Openers (interesting words and
phrases to start sentences) and Punctuation (VCOP). Children need to develop their skills in these
elements in order to increase their confidence and competence.
When children learn their own language, they begin by listening, then talking and then trying out what
they have learned in reading and writing. This is the same process by which they learn a foreign language
– listening and talking always precede reading and writing. Research shows that children need to gain
confidence in using vocabulary orally before they will use it accurately in writing. In other words, if they
can use it confidently in speech, then they will use it confidently in writing. We need to encourage the
development of listening and talking skills in order to develop children’s writing ability.
To this end, we have decided to introduce a weekly ‘Talking Homework’ task; Big Talk for Big Writing
which will be given a few days before the class Big Writing session. You will be informed of the topic
which your child will be writing about in class, and we ask that you discuss the topic with your child in
order to help them with the content of their piece of writing. We are sure that you will recognise that
talking together is one of the most important factors in developing children’s educational abilities.
Children need to understand that the way we talk is different to the way we write. To prepare for writing
they need to use what we describe in school as their “writing voice”, with no slang or incorrect grammar.
They need to hear standard English – we as adults need to be role models for this. It is a good idea to
encourage your child to give you an oral account of what they have been doing both in and out of school,
and explore together good vocabulary to enhance their account.
Big Talk for Big Writing is a chance to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Help your child to think through and discuss initial ideas in order to develop the thought process
Engage your child in purposeful talk
Ask your child for their opinions
Show that it is fine to have different views or opinions
Develop your child’s vocabulary through the use of WOW words (really good “ambitious”
vocabulary which is more sophisticated than normal)
6. Stimulate your child’s creativity by reminding them of family occasions and events
Big Talk for Big Writing:
1. Encourage as many family members as possible to be involved in the Big Talk for Big Writing
activity
2. Make it an enjoyable activity
3. Switch off the television to try to ensure that this is dedicated talking and listening time
4. Begin a conversation by modelling… “I think that… because …” · Ask other family members to give
their ideas, opinions and reasons why
These are exactly the same types of activities as your child’s teacher will be using when developing oral
literacy. As well as word games and sentence building, teachers try to develop children’s listening and
talking skills in every area of the curriculum. In short, discussion skills are vital.
To help develop your children’s skills, you may also use activities such as those below, asking your
children to:
Listen carefully to follow a story or an account and answer questions about it
Talk about their
own experiences and those in stories
1. Express preferences and likes and dislikes, giving explanations
2. Actively participate in oral storytelling
3.
non-fiction using talk
4. Describe key traits of characters
5. Retell stories in different ways e.g. roleplay/ dressingup/puppets
n and
The purpose of the VCOP pyramids is to show children how they can progress by improving the language
they use, both orally and in writing. The simplest examples are at the top of the pyramid, working down
to the more ambitious at the bottom. These are examples only – what is considered “ambitious” will vary
from child to child. Ambitious vocabulary will also vary according to the subject being discussed or written
about. We hope that you find these useful when approaching the ‘talking homework’.
Big Talk for Big Writing will provide the opportunity for parents to play a vital role in developing their
children’s English skills. One useful way to get the conversation started is by using open questions, which
lend themselves to extended answers, such as:
· What would happen if... · I wonder... · What do you think about... · In what way... · Tell me about... ·
What would you do... · How can we... · How did you...
Big Talk for Big Writing sheets containing the topic for discussion will be sent home on a Monday evening.
If you have any questions you would like to ask about Big Talk for Big Writing, please contact your child’s
class teacher.
Hope to see you at the sports,
Craig, Roz, Pauline and Barb