Our Area Spotlight this week is on our whole school.

 

This term all students will be developing their writing skills through a genre study. What this means is that every team is focused on a particular genre that the children will be reading, learning and writing about. Some teams are exploring fiction and some are exploring non-fiction. All teams are linking this study to the broader classroom curriculum.

 

This whole school approach is introducing the children to some common terms. One is the authorial voice which refers to the specific characteristics of a genre. The second term is called the secretarial voice which refers to the skills particular to a genre. For example, in a fiction narrative genre, the authorial voice commonly includes an orientation, complication, resolution. Audience and purpose is an essential element in the authorial voice for any genre. The secretarial voice of the fictional narrative commonly includes paragraphing, sentence structure and dialogue. Language, word choice, dialogue, structure or organisation rests on the choice of genre and pertains to the secretarial voice.

 

Each team has determined the elements of authorial and secretarial voice that is essential for the students to learn in their chosen genre at this particular time, and within the given context.

 

Students will become immersed in the genres, making links to their reading and identifying characteristics that are relevant to that group of texts. Following this they will be writing, developing their skills and craft.

 

Year Level

Genre Overview
Foundation

Recounts

 Students have been busily reflecting on their experiences both in and out of school through supported discussions and written communication. They are learning how to recount experiences. Recounts are one of the first genres we explore as part of the writing process.

 

Drawing is a key part of the writing process as it provides students with opportunities to organise their thoughts and communicate details from their experiences.

 

We develop children’s understanding of the writing process by recording their experiences from Exploration and other significant events. This term we have begun by supporting the children to reflect on their experiences from the holidays.

 

We are extending the children’s understanding of this genre by encouraging the use of past tense, adding a time frame and including a personal response to the experience. For example: On the weekend I went…, This morning I…, At Exploration I…. This writing is extended to include a personal response such as ‘At Exploration I made a house and I loved it’.

 

Learning to write is a problem solving activity that can bring joy and frustration to young children. In Foundation we describe writing as a journey we all make together, and encourage children to enjoy each step they take.
Year 1/2

Animal Fantasy Narrative

 This genre follows a typical fictional narrative style with an orientation, complication and resolution. The key difference is that the main character/s is/are animals that are behaving as humans (e.g. a pig who dresses in human clothing, acts as a human and/or speaks to other characters). As this is a fantasy style story, the rules of the real world do not always apply.

 

Examples of these texts are Paddington Bear, Charlotte’s Web, Franklin the Turtle series, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Peter Rabbit, Possum Magic

 

The basic structure:

  • Title Orientation (who, where, when)
  • Complication (what, how)
  • Events (what)
  • Resolution (how, why)

 

Students are learning how to consider audience and write for the purpose of entertaining and expressing their imagination or creativity. As part of this they are learning to read back their story to check it makes sense.

 

Key skills include:

  • Use punctuation including full stops and capital letters correctly
  • Correctly spell high frequency words e.g. the, you, went
  • Editing and revising to improve punctuation, grammar or spelling
Year 3/4

Non-Fiction Explanations

 This genre is used to describe how or why things happen. This genre includes a sequence of events (explaining how and why) and provides reasons or justification for a particular process or phenomena (explaining why). The content is factual.

 

Students will be immersed in the genre by reading and being exposed to texts over the course of unit through, Guided Reading sessions, Shared Reading and Independent Reading. Students will be encouraged to list and notice characteristics of explanation reports, and guided observations of documentaries.

 

The students will be introduced to the purpose and audience of this genre. They will broaden their genre knowledge by examining the structures and features of explanation texts and build their scientific relevant vocabulary. Our writing unit arises from our Inquiry unit about life cycles.

 

Ways to help at home:

  • Go to the library and look at books which have:
    • factual text that explains a phenomena or a process, biological processes (plant life and life cycles
    • structures and features of explanation reports which are:
      • title, general statement, description and a summary statement
      • organisational tools, captions, sub-headings, photographs, diagrams, labels.
    • Discuss with your children any new vocabulary and any new knowledge they have learnt.
Year 5

Traditional Fairy Tales

 Year 5 classes are focusing on the genre of traditional fairy tales. Traditional fairy tales allow students to develop a solid foundation to study and understand modern fantasy; a genre which they love. There has already been a lot of discussion on what makes a traditional fairy tale and what their original purpose was.

 

The main authorial features that the students will be focusing on are the elements that make up a fairy tale—villains, heroes, royalty, solutions, problems, magic, etc. Students then will identify motifs that represent them and the themes and morals that appear in these traditional tales. The secretarial focus will be writing in the past tense with present tense dialogue and paragraphing.

 

So far, we have discovered that the numbers three, seven and 12 are significant in fairy tales. For example, the evil queen attempts to kill Snow White three times, Cinderella goes to the ball three times and has three evil people working against her.

 

The students are currently immersing themselves in the world of Grimm, Anderson and Perrault as they discover many original traditional tales for the first time.

 

We would really appreciate it if you have any fairy tales at home that you would like to send in for the students to read and discuss, in particular fairy tales from different countries.
Year 6

Explanations

 This genre explains how something works and/or the process involved. The course of actions, events or behaviour may be presented, e.g. Why does an ice cube melt faster when I hold it?

 

The authorial voice in explanation texts includes definitions and a sequential body of information.

 

Students will be reading a range of explanation texts through Shared Reading and teacher guidance. This enables students to become familiar with the content and skills required for this genre. Texts we have studied include ’Solid, Liquid and Gas’. The students have identified their understanding of the different states of matter and the secretarial and authorial features of this genre.

 

As part of our science-based inquiry unit, students will create, conduct and evaluate a wide range of chemical experiments. The explanation genre will be the written representation of their understanding.

 

Key Language Skills include (Secretarial Voice):

  • Use of present tense
  • Use of pronouns for words already introduced in the text
  • Use of sentences that have a clear subject and verb agreement
  • Use of action verbs to explain cause, e.g. from, started from
  • Tell where and when actions occurred, e.g. It is to be found in North America.
  • Use of connectives to link time sequences in a cause and effect sequence, e.g. first, then, after, finally, so, as a consequence.
  • Use of time conjunctions, e.g. when, as, to sequence and link events and to keep the text flowing. Placing of these conjunctions first in the sentence in order to focus the reader’s attention.