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    THANK YOU: St Patrick’s Primary School Stawell grade-one students, clockwise from front, Lily Sanderson, Tahlia Darker, Bailey Matthews and Jack Wadge are excited to read a new collection of books donated to the school. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

Stawell Harness Racing Club delivers books to school

Students at St Patrick's Primary School Stawell are enjoying new books thanks to a community grant from Stawell Harness Racing Club. 

The ‘decodable’ readers are specially designed to allow students to practise their decoding skills.  

School principal Chris McAloon said the books were made up of words that students could decode and a small number of high frequency, irregular words that students had been taught.  

“By allowing students to apply their letter-sound knowledge and blending skills to read words in connected text, decodable readers can greatly assist students to improve their reading accuracy and fluency,” he said.



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“The decodable readers complement the school’s adoption of the ‘InitiaLit’ literacy program.

“The program incorporates a synthetic approach to the teaching of phonics alongside a rich literature and vocabulary component.” 

The entire December 8, 2021 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!