Thank you to TASK teacher, Bit McLean, for this week’s post about the KPS literacy support program, TASK..

The Literacy Support contingent of Targeted Additional Support at Kew (TASK) encourages children in the areas of reading and writing. Small, differentiated groups are targeted at their point of need to help to ensure that individual needs are addressed. TASK is based on appropriate testing data and assessment and involves teaching strategies to help students to improve their literacy skills in view of achieving the best that they can.

Students come for about 30 minutes a day up to three days a week. The TASK teacher liaises with the Classroom Teacher to ensure progress is tracked and monitored; aspects of interest are discussed in view of improving learning outcomes as much as possible.

Some of the TASK kids answered the following questions:

What do you do in TASK?

• Read with your group and learn how to read better
• Try sounding-out words and working out the syllables
• Write about the books and words that you need
• Practise handwriting and choose our best letters
• Make predictions about the stories we read
• Talk about whether a book is fiction or non-fiction

What does TASK stand for?

• Team Australia School of Kew
• Testing All Students Kew
• Team Achievement Spelling at Kew

What’s your favourite activity in TASK?

• Getting the smelly stickers
• Learning to write word patterns and rhyming words
• Doing plays like the 3 Little Pigs
• Getting all of the words right
• Reading and helping each-other to learn

An important part of the TASK programme is the support provided by the parents and carers of the students involved. Reading the take-home books, reading and spelling word lists, talking about the books by attending to things such as the settings, the characters , the sequence of events or the problems introduced and resolved are all ways to help motivate the students and have them come ready to discuss such things in their TASK groups.

The TASK sessions support the regular classroom programme; the TASK teacher and the Classroom Teacher collaborate with the student’s learning outcomes as the priority.

TASK kids enjoy their sessions and it is fabulous to witness the camaraderie and enthusiasm demonstrated within each TASK group.