Grade 4 Students Receive Grammar Handbooks
The first copies of Nova Scotia's new grammar and writing handbook were delivered today, Sept. 5.
Education Minister Jane Purves delivered the handbooks along with dictionaries and thesauruses to Grade 4 students at Sir Charles Tupper School in Halifax this afternoon. By the end of the month, the books will be in the hands of every Grade 4 student in the province.
The books are part of Writers in Action/Écrivains à l'oeuvre, announced in January. The aim of the program is to improve the writing and grammar skills of Nova Scotia students.
"People who can express themselves well have always had an advantage in the job market. In today's world, solid communications skills are more important than ever," said Ms. Purves. "We've increased our focus on reading in the early years, and putting an emphasis on writing in Grade 4 is a natural progression."
The Writers in Action handbook was designed specifically for Nova Scotia's upper elementary students. The handbooks will be the students' personal property for use throughout grades 4, 5 and 6. The books will be distributed to new Grade 4 students every fall.
In addition, each Grade 4, 5 and 6 classroom is receiving six dictionaries and six thesauruses this year for students to use for in-class writing activities. Each teacher in these grades will receive a hardcover dictionary and a teaching resource designed to work with the handbook.
Each school board has a leadership team to implement Writers in Action across the province. Natalie Flinn, a teacher at Ross Road School in Dartmouth, is head of the leadership team for the Halifax Regional School Board.
"As a teacher, I'm looking forward to Writers in Action and the accompanying materials to support literacy instruction in my school," said Ms. Flinn. "I'm also looking forward to working collaboratively with our leadership team and Grade 4 to 6 teachers to use the resources as part of a balanced language arts program."
The teams prepared for implementation at a three-day workshop in May. They will be training other teachers in their boards throughout this year on how to best use the new writing resources in their classrooms.
The handbooks will be arriving in Grade 4 classrooms across the province in late September. There are 566 Grade 4 classrooms and about 11,170 Grade 4 students in Nova Scotia this year.
Including development costs for the handbook and the teaching resource, Writers in Action is costing $500,000 in its first year. The ongoing annual cost for handbooks will be about $200,000, depending on Grade 4 enrolment.