This term, in our English units, all students will have a focus on storytelling. Students will explore the structure of stories and their predictable characteristics, such as orientation, complication and resolution. While, junior year-levels will focus on retelling stories, upper grades will extend their knowledge and skills, analysing and incorporating literary features such as similes, metaphor and personification into their work. They will also investigate techniques such as foreshadowing, using language to develop characters and building tension to a climax.

The titles included in the units have come from a range of authors including Australian authors Phil Cummings, Briony Stewart, Emily Rodda and Kiah Thomas as well as some much loved and classics such as Michael Rosen’s “We’re Going on Bear Hunt”. Titles selected are hoped to bring a rich level of literary appreciation, engaging students with familiar and new texts, to expand their language and connections across texts.

All students will be engaged with reading, viewing and comprehending imaginative texts as well as,

• Prep and Yr 1 will retell familiar stories.
• Yr 2 – Write a story using a known character.
• Yr 3 – Write a story using ideas from familiar texts.
• Yr 4 – Write an adventure quest story.
• Yr 5 – Write a story with fantasy elements.
• Yr 6 – Write a story with sci-fi elements.

When reading with your child, to prompt conversations about the story, questions could include:

Before reading

• What do you think this book will be about based on the cover and title? 
• What characters do you think will be in the story? 
• What do you think the blurb (the writing on the back) is telling us? 

During reading

• What do you predict will happen next?
• Why do you think that character did that?
• What would you have done if you were the character?
• How do you think the character feels?
• What is happening in this picture? 

After reading

• What was your favourite part of the story, and why? 
• Which character did you like the best? Why? 
• Can you retell the story/chapter in your own words? 
• Does this story remind you of anything that has happened to you or another book you've read? 
• Were your predictions correct? 
• Would you like to read another book by this author or about these characters? Why?