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Resources to support reading at home

This information is ideal for educating families about ways they can support their child's reading development at home. It includes links to a range of helpful resources.

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Steve Goes to Carnival: Unit of work

This unit of work has been written to support the book Steve Goes to Carnival. The book celebrates the festivals and culture of Rio de Janeiro as seen through the adventures of Steve the gorilla. This unit includes practical ideas for using this book in your classroom.

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The Old Frangipani Tree at Flying Fish Point: Unit of work

This unit of work has been written to support the book The Old Frangipani Tree at Flying Fish Point. The book is an encouraging tale of overcoming the social expectations that sometimes hold us back from success. Themes include the importance of courage, confidence, family and community. This unit includes practical ideas ...

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The Sweetest Egg of All: Unit of work

This unit of work has been written to support the book The Sweetest Egg of All. The book is part of a series of books about the Bush Mob, a group of animals who work together to solve problems. These stories emphasise respect, friendship, action, honesty, problem-solving and teamwork. The book provides opportunities to ...

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Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon: Unit of work

This unit of work has been written to support the book Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon. The book interweaves Aboriginal and Chinese mythology to create an adventurous story filled with local-Broome culture. This unit includes practical ideas for using this book in your classroom.

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Representations in film and text

In this activity, students will read Kim Mahood's article Country needs people, analyse the opening quotation and a painting, and explore the diverse representations of traditional ecological knowledge, culminating in a written reflection on how these elements shape their understanding of Martu burning practices.

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Staging Shakespeare: How do you stage a comedy scene?

In this lesson, students will explore the nature of comedy by informally staging the opening scenes from William Shakespeare’s play, As You Like It. Students will apply a variety of stylistic approaches to stage scenes from the play, then perform for an audience.

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Character Building

In this teaching activity, students analyse popular characters and methods of characterization used by writers. They apply these methods to create a profile and illustration of an original character. They will then write a short script.

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Sci-Fi and Fantasy Worldbuilding

In this lesson, students will explore the intersection of science fiction and fantasy from the works of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time Trilogy. Students will create an original character, thing, ability, and/or place using worldbuilding elements. Students will choose between dramatizing, making a book trailer, or ...

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Work Sample Foundation Year: Big write

This work sample demonstrates evidence of student learning in relation to aspects of the achievement standards for Foundation Year English. The primary purpose for the work sample is to demonstrate the standard, so the focus is on what is evident in the sample not how it was created. The sample is an authentic representation ...

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Character Sketches

What techniques do storytellers use to create characters? In this lesson, students will analyse how a character's personality traits, actions and motives influence the plot of a story. They will use their senses to create character sketches, then dramatize the character for an audience.

Online

Whose Country: exploring First Nations peoples languages map (7-13yrs)

Learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages can help children build their understanding of land, water and people. This activity helps to assist the identification of the language group/s on which the school, youth group or home is situated. To understand local perspectives and support these activities, ...

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The Big Six of Literacy: a guide for families

This suite of information is ideal for educating families about the six key components that contribute to successful beginning reading (known as the Big Six). It outlines how each of the six elements (oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension) contribute to reading success and ...

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Teaching irregular words

This short video (4 minutes and 3 seconds) shows two teachers discussing why and how to teach irregular words (words that contain letter-sound correspondences that students have not yet learned) as part of a systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) approach.

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Phonics lesson student worksheet: Spelling generalisation for letter-sound correspondences ai and ay

This worksheet is for independent student practice of concepts taught in the phonics lesson on the ai ay spelling pattern.

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Demonstration of a daily review

This video provides a demonstration of a phonics daily review using explicit instruction principles. It is presented by literacy specialists Elaine Stanley and Rebecca McEwan.

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How schools teach literacy

This information is ideal for educating families about their child's language development. It explains how schools teach oral language (speaking and listening), reading and writing. It provides information about literacy development in these areas including the activities children participate in at school, the skills they ...

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What is the Year 1 Phonics Check?

This information is ideal for educating families about the Year 1 Phonics Check (a free assessment that assesses students' decoding skills). It provides links to a list of words similar to the ones used in the Phonics Check, and a guide that explains how the words should be pronounced.

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Phonics: a guide for families

This information is ideal for educating families about phonics including why and how it is taught in schools, and how families can help at home. The information can also be downloaded as a PDF in English and 11 other languages.

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The Shop Train: Unit of work

This unit of work has been written to support the book The Shop Train. The book was inspired by the ‘Tea and Sugar’ train that provided supplies to people living in remote communities between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie. This unit includes practical ideas for using this book in your classroom.