Ruth Thompson

Mark Ramsay, Principal

In the face of what seems to be an unrelenting cultural assault on our young people, what can we do?

This was the question that a room full of parents and community members were confronted with on Monday night as renowned speaker Melinda Tankard Reist (founder of Collective Shout) presented parents with a disturbingly long list of examples of the sexualisation of contemporary youth culture. I am sure I was not alone in feeling shocked at what our children and young people see in advertising, music, movies, gaming and social media. 

At Kuyper, we desire for our students to grow up confident in the knowledge that God knows and loves them and that their value does not lie in a particular form of ‘attractiveness’ to another. We also want them to be other-centred, understanding how to act with integrity and treat others with respect. 

So, the question is confronting: In the face of what seems to be an unrelenting cultural assault on our young people, what can parents and educators do? Is it a hopeless situation?

Awareness is crucial, and there are many practical things that parents can do to help their children navigate the particular dangers of the digital world. The Australian Government eSafetyparents site is a great place to start, and many other excellent resources are available for parents. I’ve included a list of recommended readings below.

There is no doubt that the task is daunting. However, as Christians, we have good reason for hope. We know that we are not alone in navigating this world. Jesus promised to be with his followers at all times (Matthew 28:20) and that the Holy Spirit would be a helper for them (John 14:16). 

Even more, we know that Jesus is the victor over all the challenges confronting us in this world. He encourages us to “take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). Whatever evil and sinfulness we see around us, we can have great confidence that Jesus’ death and resurrection have achieved victory over all things, including this sexualised culture.

So, let me encourage you to do three things:

1. Be aware – know what your children are viewing and doing.
   
2. Talk to one another and to us – we are stronger together.
   
3. Pray for all young people, particularly those in our community.
   Pray that they will know that their value is not determined by their external appearance; pray that they will not be tempted to focus entirely on the online world; and pray that they will know that God’s love for them is greater than any other force or experience in this world.

Recommended Reading

Raising Resilient Kids
From Collective Wisdom Publications
With contributions from Michelle Mitchell, Michael Carr-Gregg, Melinda Tankard Reist, Danielle Miller, Wendy Mason, Hugh Van Cuylenburg, Susan McLean, Sharon Witt and Micheal Gross. 
Available from Koorong.

How to Talk to Your Kids About Pornography, Second Edition
From Educate and Empower Kids, Dina Alexander and Jera Mehrdad (Illus)
Available from Booktopia.

Good Pictures. Bad Pictures, Second Edition
By Kristen Jensen and Debbie Fox (Illus)
Available from Koorong.

Raising Tech Healthy Humans
By Daniel Sih
Available at a special price through Christian Education National.

Kaelene McCaull, Head of P-6 and Director of Teacher Development

Last week, I discussed the science of reading and its five fundamental elements: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension.

Reading is a complex skill, and our reading programs at Kuyper teach these essential elements explicitly and systematically, progressively building students’ literacy competency.

Practice is fundamental to building reading skills. Students in K-2 at Kuyper use books called ‘Decodables’ to practise their reading. First, students learn the code for various sounds and then practise blending them into words. Then they tackle reading a ‘decodable’, which contains words comprised of the sounds for which they have learnt the code. Early readers start with short CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words like ‘cat’. The length of the words increases as students learn more of the sound combinations and the letters that represent them. 

This approach puts the student in the driver’s seat by equipping them with skills to decode unfamiliar words in the text. Working out unfamiliar words independently gives students a greater chance of remembering them the next time they see them.   

The two short videos below are produced by SPELDNSW and provide some great tips for reading decodable text with your child at home. The first video deals with reading regular words, i.e. words the student knows all the sounds for. The second deals with reading irregular words, i.e. words with unfamiliar spelling the student doesn’t recognise yet or less common sound combinations like ‘the’ and ‘says’.

Helping your child read regular words

Helping your child read irregular words

Once your child can confidently decode words, they need to keep practising reading these words to build their Fluency. In our lessons at school, we describe this as making our reading ‘smooth like talking’. You should expect your child to be able to read all the words in some of the readers they bring home. This practice will develop fluency. Fluent reading enables students to use their focus and cognitive energies to understand what they are reading rather than working out what each word says.  

In addition to listening to your children practice reading their decodables at home, there are many other things parents can do to encourage and support the development of reading skills: 

Read to your children
In particular, read books your child cannot yet read for themselves. This builds Vocabulary and develops interest and enjoyment in reading. As you read, predict what might happen next and discuss the sequence of events or reasons behind actions. For example,

“Why do you think they did that?” or “How do you think such and such a character will react?”

Ask questions
Check that your children have understood what they (or you) have read and encourage them to ask questions. This builds Comprehension, which is a much harder cognitive skill and will take lots of practice. If children ask a question not answered in the text, you could pretend to look for it and say something like,

“I don’t know. It doesn’t tell me in the book, but if I were the character, I would…”

Read Fiction and Non-Fiction 
This helps children understand that we can read to learn about new things or things we are interested in. Some children prefer reading and hearing non-fiction books. All reading is beneficial.

Use and explore language
Talk about what you see happening in the world around you and look for opportunities to introduce new words into your discussion. This will allow your children to hear new words in context and ask you about their meaning. Students with a greater vocabulary better understand what they are reading.

Let them see you reading in real life
For example, reading a recipe or instructions and using a Google search to learn about something.

Celebrate your cchild’ssuccesses
Whether it be reading a new book, sticking with it when it is challenging, or as small as mastering one tricky word, success breeds success. Remember, mastery of reading is a lifelong skill that supports all students’ future learning in whatever subjects they are studying.

Building literacy skills truly is a home-school partnership. Please talk with your child’s teacher if you have any concerns or questions, but also share your child’s successes with us so that we can celebrate together.

Kaelene McCaull, Head of P-6 and Director of Teacher Development

Partnership with parents is important to us at Kuyper as we work to support you in the education of your precious children. This partnership enhances all learning but is especially the case when it comes to building the essential skill of literacy.

When we use the term literacy in an educational context, we are not just talking about reading. Literacy learning involves reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, grammar, and speaking and listening. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? 

It is! That is why we dedicate a significant part of every primary school day at Kuyper to explicit literacy learning and weave literacy skills into all the subjects taught from Kindergarten to Year 12. 

Over the next two weeks, I would like to focus on the literacy skill of reading, specifically, how we teach reading at Kuyper and how parents can support their children’s learning in this vital area.

Reading is a crucial skill. It affects every area of learning and has a significant impact on our ability to engage with others and the world around us. Reading helps us learn new information and share ideas, new knowledge, and events happening around us. It helps us to function independently in society and can be a source of much enjoyment.

Importantly, reading allows us to personally interact with God’s word, the Bible, and to hear and understand Him for ourselves.

Different nations have undertaken three very extensive studies into how children learn to read. In 2000, the USA conducted ‘The National Reading Panel’; in 2005, Australia conducted the ‘National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy’; and in 2006, the UK undertook an ‘Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading’. Interestingly, all three studies arrived at the same findings about the fundamental elements of learning to read. This research, along with many other studies, now form a body of research known as the Science of Reading. 

The research behind the science of reading identifies five fundamental elements of reading that students must be explicitly taught to become competent readers.

Phonemic awareness
The ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.

Phonics
The relationship between the sounds of the spoken language (phonemes) and the letters (graphemes) or groups of letters or syllables of the written language.

Fluency
Both the pace at which we read and the smoothness with which we read. It involves skills like pausing at the correct places and using appropriate expression.

Vocabulary
The words students know, understand, and use.

Comprehension
The strategies and skills students possess to understand the words they are reading and how they connect to form ideas and messages

Our reading programs at Kuyper are designed to cover all five of these essential elements. They are taught in an explicit and systematic way, progressively building on easier skills to develop more complex skills. But, like any complex skill, practice makes perfect! Reading and writing are very complex skills, and children will need several years to develop into proficient readers and writers. In this area, parent partnership is a tremendous benefit to your children. The more reading practice we provide for our children at home and school, the more we help them develop and master reading skills. 

Reading is an incredible skill we have the privilege of teaching our children. Next week, I will discuss the specific learn-to-read program we use in our K-2 classes at Kuyper and how parents can support their children’s literacy learning at home.