31 July 2014

Dear Parent
I am pleased to let you know that our Accelerated Literacy Learning programme begun this
week. My apologies that unfortunately due to a family bereavement we were unable to start
at the beginning of term as planned. This has meant the students have had to work at a
faster pace this week and they tell me their brains started hurting which they know equates
to learning!
Your child will bring home their writing book to share with you from time to time. It is
important that they remember to bring their book back daily. Please encourage your child to
share their learning with you. A good question to perhaps to check in with their effort could
be to ask, Did Mrs Joe manage to create brain strain today?. You could initiate
discussions by looking at teacher comments made, then affirm praise given or help promote
ideas where feedback is offered and share what strategies or ideas you would use yourself
or better still, what strategies you use yourself in writing tasks.
Please find attached an outline of my goals for your child. We will refer to this list weekly to
ensure the lessons are focused to reach projected successes. Under each objective, I have
included (in blue text) what your child will be learning and will hopefully adopt, that is, the
knowledge, strategies and skills to support future writing demands. Your feedback and
engagement is welcome. Please feel free to email me with your comments or queries
lisa@sfds.school.nz.

Yours faithfully

Lisa Joe
Deputy Principal
MRS JOES GOALS:

Students will:
related to developing the elements of writing (in black)

1. Know and use a process for writing
5 steps to support writing tasks to completion
Planning, drafting, re-crafting, editing, publishing
Strategies to use within each part of the process.


2. Use a range of graphic organisers to plan and structure their ideas - Organisation
Lists, fish bone, mind map
Supports building ideas; selecting ideas that are relevant and interesting;
Promotes grouping of ideas into paragraphs which are sequenced logically.


3. Select ideas to write that are of interest to the reader - Ideas
Developing knowledge of writing forms and their purpose
(to entertain, inform, promote, persuade, instruct) will help students to form ideas
that are relevant and meaningful to the text type


4. Expand student vocabulary - Vocabulary
Develop a broad vocabulary through reading and discussions
Apply rich and varied vocabulary to express their ideas accurately and expressively;
Select words to portray ideas specifically and sincerely.


5. Use the correct structure of the text type and language features related
Structure and Language features
Knowledge of the structural formation of different text types
e.g. Explanations begin with an introduction, middle, and end with a conclusion.
Apply language features to suit the text type
e.g. Explanations have cause and effect language to explain how or why things
happen therefore, so,


6. Write with improved accuracy by using a range of strategies to spell words -
Spelling
Apply strategies through self-monitoring strategies
e.g. does the word look right; is there a small word inside the word; is there a
prefix and/or suffix; imaging- where have I seen this word?