Literacy

Planning for the Literacy Program is based on the Victorian Curriculum. We use our whole school assessment overview which directs the planning to meet individual student’s needs.

Reading
Our approach to teaching reading is evidence-based on research that tells us that students learn to read by reading. A key element of a successful reading program is choice. Every student at Marlborough has their own reading box of ‘just right’ books that they have chosen to read during Independent Reading.

Modelled and shared reading is also used by teachers to explicitly target whole class needs focusing on the CAFE menu. CAFE stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanding Vocabulary. These are the four key areas of reading instruction and learning. Individual and whole class strategies are selected from the CAFE menu each week. Independent Reading time allows for students to put into practice skills which have been explicitly taught during whole class or small group sessions. During Independent Reading teachers work one on one with students at their point of need.

Writing
At Marlborough, we acknowledge that writing is a complex process. As a result, we explicitly teach the different components of quality writing using the 6 traits plus 1 of writing with the acronym VOICES: Voice, Organisation, Ideas, Conventions, Expanding Vocabulary, Sentence Fluency and Presentation.

This provides a common language throughout the school when teaching and learning about writing, and helps students break down the task and understand it better.

All teachers use a workshop approach to Writing where students are also exposed to writing for specific purposes by developing a clear understanding of the structures of various text types during writing sessions. Whole class needs are explicitly taught through Modelled and Shared Writing.

Students use a Writer’s Notebook to record and expand their ideas for writing. They spend time practicing writing for their own purposes and audiences as well as using the strategies modelled by the teacher.

Daily 5
Students select from five authentic reading and writing choices, working independently toward personalized goals, while the teacher meets individual needs through whole-group and small-group instruction, as well as one-on-one conferring.

These choices include:
• Read to Self
• Work on Writing
• Read to Someone
• Listen to Reading
• Word Work

Numeracy

At Marlborough Primary School we are committed to providing all students access to high quality and consistent teaching of Mathematics. Our teaching and learning teams plan collaboratively using student data and feedback. In doing so, we are able to better target our learner’s areas of need, clarify mathematical misconceptions and stimulate curiosity in maths.

Our Mathematics program is differentiated to suit the needs of each student. We ensure all students are challenged by providing open-ended tasks. These tasks have multiple points of entry and therefore, allow all students a means of achieving success and building upon their prior knowledge.

At Marlborough, we support students to develop life-long maths skills by teaching concepts in familiar and tangible ways.

Our Mathematics approach:

– We provide concrete experiences that allow students to explore and engage with maths concepts using hands-on materials

– We encourage visual thinking, use of pictures and modelling to bridge the connection between solving a problem with hands-on materials and writing the solution in an abstract manner

– We explicitly teach maths content and skills and provide students with multiple exposures to this content to help it retain in long term memory

– We provide authentic learning tasks with a ‘real world’ focus to promote problem-solving

– We develop fluency and understanding of basic facts through fun maths games

– We promote reasoning through rich class discussions and collaborative work

– We enrich students learning using our natural environment, including our frog bog, school grounds, STEAM lab and veggie garden