Collaborative+Group+3

Hi Tim, Susan and Kristen  I have used Wiki's once before in a collaborative task. I found that if each contributor chooses a unique font/colour for their entries it makes it a little easier to sort our 'who is saying what'. Look forward to your contributions. I have read Kohn today, made some notes and will work on my responses next. Moira (5.22pm 10/3/10)

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​ 1.  The aim of our school’s literacy program is to provide opportunities for your children to learn //together// about the use of language in the real world. We believe that learning to read is more than decoding text. It’s about enjoying reading; reading with others, finding out about things around us, making sense of what we read and understanding that the purpose of reading may be for pure pleasure, as a source of information, or a means of communication. It’s not to say that decoding skills are not important; but rather than teach these skills explicitly, a Whole Language approach to reading helps children acquire these skills as they read about things that are of interest to them. With encouragement and support from the teachers they learn to become thoughtful observers of what they are reading and begin to apply appropriate structure, grammar and punctuation to their own writing. This balanced approach to helping students acquire skills in ways that are meaningful to them, creates a sense of purpose in reading and writing. As their skills develop, it becomes important for them to write, say, a letter or an interesting story, that is grammatically correct; uses descriptive vocabulary, accurate spelling and punctuation, not because of skills learned through drill and practice, but because they understand that this will communicate their ideas more effectively to others. We believe that this approach to teaching encourages children to become critical thinkers, competent writers and, most of all, cultivates in them a love of reading, writing and learning. (Moira 6.55 12/03/10)