At the heart of English learning and teaching is understanding, using and creating written, visual and oral texts. Here at Essential Resources, we understand this. We provide practical, evidence-based primary school resources to develop students’ language and literacy skills.
Our experienced authors have created titles aligned with the Australian English syllabus. The resources include English worksheets for students to practice language conventions. Exploring Multicultural Poetry, by Vaughan Rapatahana, to make poetry accessible and meaningful to all students. And a range of primary school reading books, Story Seekers, to support struggling readers.
Essential Resources wants to help teachers arm their students with language and literacy skills to become confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed citizens.
The Primary English Teaching Association Australia says, “The relationship between oral language and broader literacy development has been well established. It is through interaction that communication with others begins, and oral language is fundamental to developing reading and writing skills.”
This is why oral language has been called the bedrock of literacy.
In children’s early years, oral language development is more advanced than in written forms. Therefore, young writers draw upon their oral language knowledge to develop their writing skills.
For example, the number of words is higher in oral language than in written language in children. As the number of spoken words increases, so will the number in writing.
Additionally, effective writing is dependent on verbal working memory. If this aspect of oral language is underdeveloped, then primary students have difficulty writing well-formed compositions.
Essential Resources has a range of resources to help with reading comprehension:
Literacy: Guided Reading Rotation Programme by Janet Bruce
This series helps teachers set up a Guided Reading Book Club within their primary classroom. Each book provides Literacy Rotation Activities in the form of task cards to improve student comprehension and reading fluency.
Reading Comprehension with Attitude by Megan Roulston
Roulston designed these books to empower young readers with literacy skills to use in everyday life. She has created English worksheets with meaningful activities to stimulate higher-order thinking skills. Activities relate to well-known primary school reading books, including a unit plan for Charlotte’s Web.
“Same texts, different focus – real learning!”
Comprehension Smart by Caroline Mulholland
This teaching resource is aimed towards the “productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)” within the Australian Curriculum. It focuses on comprehension through word knowledge, dictionary and thesaurus skills. Year 3 to Year 6 English worksheets and activity cards can be done independently or as part of a classroom-based programme.
Motivation is particularly important to support children’s literacy development. Evidence shows that students who enjoy reading outside of school substantially improve their vocabulary and reading skills. Using engaging approaches to develop reading will help motivate students. This can be through different media, genres of texts, or content topics.
Primary students should be given the tools to monitor their reading and writing skills. Primary educators should teach strategies for:
Unfortunately, there will likely be a small number of children within a class who require further literacy support to make the expected progression. Primary teachers should use high-quality structured literacy interventions to help these students. Consistent evidence shows the benefit of one-on-one or small-group tutoring for students struggling with literacy.
Story Seekers is Essential Resources tool to fill the gaps for struggling readers. The books are for older primary students whose reading level is 7 to 8 years.