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Dear Parents and Carers,
This year we have a continued focus on reading, in particular fluency and comprehension. The research shows that the more fluent our children are as readers, the higher chance of success they will have in other areas of their studies. Recently in a newsletter from the Learning Difficulties Coalition they published some ideas to help increase reading fluency for struggling readers. I thought that these tips could also be helpful for you at home when you are listening to your children read.
Reading Fluency for Struggling Readers
“Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy and proper
expression” (Reading Rockets).
With fluent reading comes confidence and comprehension. If students take a long time to read a passage, lack expression and have trouble decoding too many words, they lose motivation, become frustrated and struggle to keep up with their peers as the reading expectations continue to rise. The following are tips for parents and teachers to improve reading for struggling readers:
- The student follows the passage as the parent/teacher reads it, then the student reads it.
- Read together, take turns on sentences.
- Read aloud so the student hears fluent reading being modelled.
- Practice different emotions when reading, eg. excitement, sadness, etc.
- Listen to the parent/teacher say a sentence with expression and have the student copy it.
- Read favourite books again and again to practice expression.
- Use audio books and allow the student to follow the print as they listen.
- Provide books that the student can read easily and without too much decoding.
- Re-read passages and let the student map their fluency progress with each reading.
- Check if issues with sight words and decoding need to be addressed.
- Allow plenty of time for the student to practice reading daily (without distractions).
- Select reading material that is interesting to the student.
- Encourage the student to re-read sentences if they have had trouble decoding a number of words.
- Encourage re-reading in general and explain the benefits (better comprehension, check for answers, reminder of what just happened, etc).
References:“ Fluency” (www.readingrockets.org) “Modeling and Teaching Fluent Reading” & “Struggling Readers need to Learn to Read with Fluency” (www.thisreadingmama.com).
School Photos
School photos are on this Friday. Please make sure you have ordered online as per the instructions below.
We're excited to capture new memories for St Joseph's Primary School - Wingham on your upcoming photo date(s):
St Joseph's Primary School Wingham: Friday, 26 May 2023
2023 school photos are ready to order through the Compass Portal.
To place your order, make sure you have your login details handy!
If you're unsure of your login details, please contact the school for assistance.
Click here to get started!
Once you've logged in, you'll need to follow a few easy steps!
Click here for our simple, online ordering guide.
Once you have placed your Individual Photo order you can place your Sibling photo order, these MUST be ordered before 24 hours prior to photo day.
Please remind your child that they are having their photos taken. If they are having a sibling photo, all siblings will need to be ready for their photo at the allocated time set by the school.
The school will advise about the photo schedule in the coming weeks.
It's our job to ensure that Life Is Easier with MSP, and we're here to help.
If you have any questions regarding the photography service or packages available for purchase, please contact our friendly team on 02 6583 1968 or by email northcoast@msp.com.au
Get your smiles ready!
Missionaries of God’s Love (MGL) Visit
As part of our Mother’s Day celebrations, we were joined by the MGL Sisters from Canberra. You may have seen two of these sisters on The Amazing Race. The sisters spent some time with our students talking about Jesus and how we are all loved for who we are. They took some time to talk to us about their stories and then put on a fantastic play for our students with a guest appearance from Father Kevin. The sisters then joined our school community for the Mother’s Day liturgy and morning tea. It was a truly inspirational visit.
Congratulations Evie
A huge congratulations to Evie who won the Primary Division of the Aspire Songwriters Competition.
Evie wrote her own song about Pirates and then workshopped it as part of the competition.
Recently Evie performed her song in front of a large crowd in Newcastle and was simply amazing.
Well done, Evie.
Mother’s Day
Our Mother’s Day celebrations were a wonderful way to celebrate all the special women in our lives. Year 4 led a beautiful liturgy and then our students were able to spend some time in their classrooms showing some of their learning. It was so lovely seeing many of our families sharing lunch together and enjoying a delicious scone as part of this day. Thank you to the parents who helped on the Mother’s Day Stall this year, and to Mrs Lapi-an who coordinated some beautiful little presents that the children could choose from.
Mothers Day - Raffle Ticket winners
1st prize - Jenny Kesby; 2nd prize - Elke Axisa; 3rd prize - Jeanette Lucas
Diocesan Cross Country
On the 10th of May, our school cross country team headed down to Maitland for the Diocesan Cross Country. Our students had a great day and enjoyed the experience. Congratulations to Eleanor who came second in her age group. She is now off to Sydney to represent the Diocese at the Polding carnival. Good luck Eleanor!
Road Safety Week
Last week was Road Safety Week. It is important that we all are responsible for teaching our children how to be safe around roads. It is important to teach your children the importance of pedestrian safety and how to cross the road safely. Please use the pedestrian crossing when crossing the road with your children.
Please remember that school zones are in force on school days.
Year 6 Camp
From the 8th to the 10th of May our Year 6 students headed off to the Great Aussie Bush Camp with Mrs Cleaver and Mr Buchtmann. The students were able to experience many wonderful activities including a flying fox, fencing, the giant swing, bush craft, obstacle courses and trivia. The students enjoyed stepping out of their comfort zone and having a go at the activities.
Catholic Schools Week
Last week we celebrated Catholic Schools Week as a school community. The highlight of our week was the special reading by Mrs Bridgeman of her new picture book, “The Bum Sneeze.” We welcomed our local pre-schools into the school to come and hear the story and take part in a dance led by Year 1. Then the rest of our school came in to hear Mrs Bridgeman read her book. I also took the time to ask some of our students what makes our school special, and this is what they had to say;
Sienna: Because it is always clean and there are great teachers.
Jaxon: There is a no bullying policy and we have really good equipment to play with at lunch and recess.
Monique: We get canteen every Wednesday.
Max: We get to play sport.
Oliver: We get to read every day.
Juniper: We get to learn about Jesus.
Marlee: We learn.
Christian: It’s clean and tidy.
Arlo: Everyone is nice to me and we learn a lot.
Matilda: When you feel sad you have great friends to help you.
Caitlyn: Everyone is kind.
Fynn: There are no bullies.
Sione: There are spiders.
Elke: We all follow the school rules.
Alice: Because we are Catholic
Please join me in a prayer for all students in our Catholic School. That they find a sense of belonging and community as they journey through their education.
God Bless
Making Jesus Real - Values of the Week
Week 6: I use safe hands and safe feet
Week 7: GTS - I Greet, Treat and Speak with Kindness
Prime Minister Award
'Being a steward of creation’, ‘Trying your best’, ‘Speaking with kindness’ and ‘Being a responsible learner’ are some of the qualities that teachers consider when awarding ‘Prime Minister’ at our weekly assembly. It is an acknowledgement of the student’s efforts and they have the privilege of wearing the badge with honour, of suggesting a focus the school can work on, award Gotchas to other students at lunch time as well as earning Gotchas for themselves. Congratulations to Joseph Hillenberg (Week 4) and Scarlett Falzon (Week 5).
MJR Awards
As part of our MJR system, we acknowledge that the following students, JUniper Ryan and Rydah Richards have reached 100 Gotchas; Zeke Pereira has reached 200 Gotchas and Delilah Barbour Williams has reached 300 Gotchas. Well Done!
Dio Cross Country
On Wednesday 10th May 8 x students travelled by bus to Maitland for the Diocesan Cross-Country carnival. Competition in all age categories was extremely high. Each student learnt a lot from the experience and can be proud of their effort. Congratulations to Eleanor Healy who came second in the U10's girls race and progresses to the Polding Cross Country carnival.
Mr Knoke
Sports Coordinator
What's been happening in Year 2...............
Fundraising Update
Term One Fundraising events were well supported by our school families and the wider community. These two events involved a lot of time, effort and organisation. Sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to making these a success!
The Trivia night raised $1700 and the Bunnings BBQ raised $1700.
A huge thanks to everyone for supporting our Mother's Day Stall Fundraising! With the Stall, Raffle and Scones, we were able to raise $1900!
Special thanks to the following families for their generous donations:Ben and Alice Raison and their family who donated a $50 voucher and handmade soaps to sell at our stall.
Fox Williams and Belinda Higgins who donated a Crystal pack for the raffle.
Sienna White and family who donated local Honey Products to sell at our stall.
Mark and Mary Stepowikow who donated loads of lovely pumpkins to sell at our stall as well as beautiful flower arrangements for the liturgy.
We are also grateful to our support staff and teachers who gave up their time to help in the canteen on the day.
Thank you to the following parents who helped at the stall:Anna MacmillanRebecca DawsonFiona BuchtmannSharon MullietSally Gaudron
Lucy Robinson
Thank you to Wingham Coles who donated $50 towards our canteen operating costs.
As always, we are grateful for any support or donations! Each event gets us closer to our New Playground Equipment!
| WEEK | DATE | EVENT |
| 24th May | School Athletics Carnival - Taree Rec Grounds | |
| 5 | 26th May | SCHOOL PHOTO DAY - National Sorry Day |
| 6 | 3rd June | Scottish Festival |
| 8 | 12th June | Public Holiday |
| 10 | 29th June | Last day of Term 2 |
