Walk into any classroom at the SMUS Junior School and you will notice something right away: the students are not just learning — they are lit up by learning. Heads are bent over books, pencils move with purpose, and conversations hum with energy. The atmosphere is one of curiosity and joy — the perfect foundation for all that follows.
Nowhere is this more evident than in literacy, where students are nurtured to see themselves as readers and writers from the earliest grades, developing skills that deepen year by year and open doors to every other subject.
Storytellers from the Start
For Grade 1 teacher Heather Goode, it begins with foundations — helping children think of themselves as storytellers.
“This stage is about building blocks,” explained Goode, who emphasized the early importance of helping children think of themselves as storytellers.
“Students might begin by sketching a beginning, middle and end, or telling a story aloud before writing. We encourage them to stretch words to represent all the sounds they hear, even if they are not yet consistently using standard spelling. It’s about making meaning and seeing themselves as capable.”
Through phonics lessons, group and partner reading, and plenty of oral storytelling, young learners can develop the confidence to decode and encode words, and then connect ideas to the written page.
Finding Their Voice
Once students enter Grade 4, those foundations are ready to be stretched further. They continue to hone their skills as readers and writers through a workshop approach that emphasizes choice, independence, and active engagement.
In a class segment known as Reading Workshop, students are guided to select readings that interest and challenge them, while receiving targeted instruction in comprehension strategies, fluency, and vocabulary development. Then, in Writing Workshop, students can explore various genres and purposes for writing, from personal narratives to persuasive essays, as they move through the stages of the writing process—planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Regular conferences with teachers and peer feedback provide personalized support, helping students build confidence and develop their unique voice as readers and writers.
Both Goode and Newsome emphasize that this approach is not about following a rigid program, but about being responsive to students while keeping clear goals in mind.
“We are lucky at SMUS that we have freedom to bring in resources from anywhere to find what works for us, and more importantly, what works for our students,” Newsome reflected.
That responsive approach is something she has shared beyond the school. In November 2024, Newsome had the opportunity to present her work on literacy innovation at the National Council of Teachers of English conference in Boston. She presented alongside a long-time mentor, Matt Glover, and together they inspired educators from across North America with the practices she uses every day at SMUS.
The literacy journey is supported not only by classroom teachers but also by learning support specialists, educational assistants, and Teacher-Librarian Thea Wilson-Scorgie. Together, they provide individualized guidance and encouragement, with Wilson-Scorgie playing a vital role in connecting students to ‘just-right’ books that match their interests, abilities and needs. This collective support helps students see reading not as a task, but as an adventure.
In the Junior School, that sense of adventure is visible everywhere: a student hurrying to their favourite corner of the library, another working one-on-one with a teacher in a quiet space, and classmates leaning over books or writing with genuine excitement. These moments, repeated day after day, show how literacy becomes more than a subject — it’s a spark that builds confidence, independence, and a love of learning that carries into every part of school life.
SMUS Junior School students working together in a classroom
JS - SMUS Grade 1 teacher Heather Goode
JS Grade 4 teacher Nicky Newsome
