In Class One literacy this year, the class began in Term 1 by hearing fairy tales – lots and lots of fairy tales. As the children listened, they discovered letters hiding in the pictures. In this way they learned the vowels – a Dreamy Dragon, a Horse and a House, a napping Cat whose body forms a ‘C’, Wild Waves forming ‘ W’ shapes, or a Big Bear whose belly forms the bottom of a ‘B’.

Then in Term 2, they heard a story about an old scribe who dreamt of St. Michael. In his dreams, St. Michael whispered sounds to him: “ah” or “ooh” or “ay”. When the scribe went outside, he saw the shapes ‘A’ or ‘O’ formed by the stars. In this way, the class learned the vowels.

In Term 3 the class put on our first Class play and each day wrote a sentence about what was happening in the plot of our play. In this way, they used the letters they had just learned to begin forming sentences. This writing continues and deepens with each new main lesson, and the children are now able to read in chorus  from the main lesson books they’ve written. Thus, their first experience of reading has grown out of their own writing, out of their own words. next year in Class Two, reading will be more formally introduced.

Jill Casavecchia