"Even though we call in the parents and tell them about the exam, sometimes the parents you really want to see are not the parents you get to see. You will send out circulars and call the parents but the ones who turn up are those whose child or children are already reading and are up to the grade level. The parents of the children who are not performing are the ones who do not turn up. For (literacy development) to be effective, the home has to be involved," she emphasised during a recent interview with JIS News, while explaining that the success of the students requires the combined effort from the teachers, students, principal and parents.
Teaching strategies
According to Thomas-Murray, the school implements a number of strategies to get children to learn as part of preparations for the test.
"Every class goes to the reading room at least once per week but the grade four has gone a bit further in that they are pulled from the regular class setting on Thursdays and they stay in the reading room for the entire day. The students who are sent to the reading room are those who are performing below the grade four levels and the reading teacher would focus on word recognition, comprehension and writing tasks," she informed.
"The parents are involved in the preparation too. At the beginning of the term we call in the parents and sensitise them about the Grade Four Literacy Test. We give them ideas on some of the things they can do to help the students, for example, to label things in the household such as the refrigerator, television and bed, so the children would become familiar with these words and be able to identify and spell them," she noted.
Other strategies used include making word cards and developing a print-rich environments.
Different methods
"Teachers at a class level also employ different methods, for example, we allow the students to make word cards and we give them a list of words they can take home; we try to have a very print-rich environment and some of the grade four teachers have extra classes on Saturdays for the students who are below the grade level," Thomas-Murray stated.
In the meantime, she disclosed that the strategies being used have been effective and that, for the most part, the students at the Mineral Heights Primary are ready for the Grade Four Literacy Test. The school attained 89 per cent mastery last year.
"We are not quite there yet but we are preparing and will be ready for the Grade Four Literacy Test. We have seen much improvement, especially in the students' writing skills. For example, when they came to grade four most of the children were unable to tell their addresses, and they are now writing letters, recognising words, so we have seen a lot of improvement and it even shows in the percentage literacy we have had over the years," she pointed out.
Mineral Heights Primary has a school population of approximately 1,600 and about 300 of those students from the six grade four classes will sit the Grade Four Literacy Test on June 16.