At Pascoe Vale South Primary School, we believe that strong literacy skills are crucial for our students to experience success in all areas of the curriculum, and for students to become lifelong learners. PVSPS uses the Victorian Curriculum to plan, develop and teach literacy through research and evidence-based approaches.

We follow a Literacy Workshop Model approach for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening from Foundation through to Year 6. Each day our students have a 2 hour literacy block, where children are exposed to rich, high quality literature. The literacy block includes:

• Explicit teaching of strategies and skills in reading, writing, oral language, vocabulary and spelling and grammar, and including phonemic and phonological awareness skills
• Small group teaching instruction - students are supported by the teacher to apply the skills and strategies they are learning. These groups are differentiated and targeted to each student’s learning needs
• Teachers regularly conferring with students about progress in reading and writing, and areas for improvement through co-constructed learning goals
• Collaborative learning experiences, which encourage students to develop their speaking and listening skills, as they discuss books, complete group tasks and provide feedback to each other about their learning
• Opportunities for students to independently read and write, practising the skills they have been taught

Students are encouraged to be active participants in their learning through goal setting, peer and self-assessment and reflection on their learning regularly. They have access to a wide range of reading rich material in our school and classroom libraries, as well as access to range of online resources which support their literacy learning and love of reading.

Reading

Within the whole school Literacy Workshop Model approach, we implement the Reader’s Workshop model from Foundation to Year 6. All students participate in a one hour reading lesson daily that includes:

• Mini-lesson whole class focus (developing accuracy and comprehension skills),
• Independent reading (where teachers confer with individual students), whilst practising a skill or concept introduced from the mini lesson whole class focus
• Purposeful learning – teachers conduct small targeted teaching groups, while children practise skills learnt in the mini-lesson
• Reflection time – students reflect on what they have learnt during the lesson by referring back to their Learning Intention and Success Criteria

Writing

Students are also involved in a Writing Workshop. It follows a similar structure to the Reading Workshop. Students are taught how to plan, draft, revise, edit and publish pieces of writing. They are also explicitly taught spelling, grammar and punctuation skills.

The Writing Workshop:

• Mini-lesson whole class focus (developing writing, spelling and grammar skills),
• Independent writing - teachers confer with individual students while students work on pieces of writing they have commenced
• Purposeful learning – teachers conduct small-targeted teaching groups, while students practise skills learnt in the mini-lesson and continue working on pieces of writing
• Reflection time – students reflect on what they have learnt during the lesson by referring back to their Learning Intention and Success Criteria

READING EGGS

PVSPS subscribes to ABC Reading Eggs and ABC Reading Eggspress online literacy resource. This program is an online program, which supports students to learn the core reading and literacy skills they need for success at school. The one-on-one learning activities are designed to motivate students to learn in a fun and engaging way. Children are assigned to complete targeted learning tasks in the classroom or at home which supports the classroom program.