Learning to support beginner readers

DISCOVER how Mount Blowhard Primary School implements an evidence-based reading program for young learners, this Sunday, 8 September.

From 11am to 12pm, a free information session for parents, teachers and university students will cover explicit instruction, a systematic synthetic phonics program and the ‘Big Five’ of reading.

Teacher, Zoe Bilton said the school hopes to educate the broader community about how reading instruction should look and how beginner readers learn best, aligned with research and evidence.

“We teach reading using a systematic synthetic phonics program, meaning students are explicitly taught all speech sounds and the letter combinations used to represent them.

“Once students have learnt a couple of letters and sounds, they begin learning to blend and segment words containing the sounds they know,” she said.

“We also use decodable readers. This type of reader includes words that only contain the sounds that students have learnt so that they are not presented with words they are unfamiliar with, and prevents students from not using the sound out strategy.”

The school strongly focuses on fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, phonemic awareness and phonics, known as the ‘Big Five’ of reading.

Although she had finished her degree, when she became a graduate teacher, Ms Bilton said she still didn’t fully understand how children learnt to read, or the most effective teaching methods.

“When beginning my role, my mentor and previous Prep/1 teacher, Kelsie George, explained this evidence-based approach that they were using to teach reading, and I felt like it finally made sense,” she said.

All families from outside the Mount Blowhard community are encouraged to attend. To register visit facebook.com/events/2768373286530041 or email [email protected].

Refreshments will be available afterwards, people can ask questions, speak to staff or tour the school. Find Mount Blowhard Primary School at 527 Millers Rd, Blowhard.