August/September - it's Magic Month in Prep and Year 1

Sometimes I feel so sorry for my Prep and Year 1 teachers... sometimes I see them with their heads in their hands in the Staff Room at their wit's end. They are convinced they have done everything possible to teach little Johnnie his letters, and little Susie her numbers. They usually have done everything we can all think of - except wait...

August and September is Magic Month in Prep and Year 1 classrooms. Suddenly eight to nine months of learning seems to sink in, and Susie and Johnnie are reading and counting away like there's no tomorrow.

Children need time and some children need lots of time. Children are learning all along - even if it doesn't seem like it, and then suddenly it seems like the penny drops.

Of course, time isn't all they need. We can't just sit there waiting... and hey presto, there's some learning. 

Children also need committed dedicated, organised, innovative teachers (luckily we have an oversupply of those at Peregian Springs). And children also need someone who partners with their teacher - someone at home who listens to them read every day, who reads to them every day, who models writing by making notes and shopping lists every day, someone who demonstrates the power of regular sustained practice every day - the Preps and Year 1s who have this person at home make the greatest gains and have even a more magic month come August and September.