With our youngest students we attempt to harness that wonderful thirst for learning, nurturing each child in their journey towards knowledge and success. Specifically, we teach Kindergarten aged children to hold their pencils, colour between the lines, readying them for letter formation, as well as recognition of the letters and their sounds. We encourage children to speak clearly and encourage the use of a wide and varied vocabulary. We help them grow in the ability to follow a series of instructions and take on behaviour that will enable them to flourish in a school environment. As teachers we guide them in exploring the connection between speech and written text and help them make a meaningful connection with reading and writing.
We teach our Preps their letters and sounds; how to use these initial, final and medial sounds to sound out 3 letter words. We work through the first 100 sight words (and beyond) to give the children a group of instantly recognised words to enable them to progress in their reading while acquiring further phonetic awareness. We give the children strategies to decode unknown words and spell them. But most importantly we foster a love of reading and writing stories.