01/11/2019

Phonics

This week the children have been blending and segmenting with the sounds ‘h’ and ‘d’. We have also introduced the tricky words ‘I’, ‘the’, ‘go’ and ‘to’. We tell the children that tricky words (common exception words) are words that the children do not yet know the phonics for to be able to read or write. So we have to learn these by sight. Being able to quickly recognise these words in a text aids fluency of reading. Next week we will look at the tricky word ‘no’ and blend and segment with the sounds ‘e’ and ‘f’.

Literacy

This week, the children have explored the book ‘The Cave.’ On Monday, the children will bring home their own copy of the book, given to us by BookTrust. This book is for you to keep and enjoy at home. Next week we will read ‘The Gruffalo’ and a recipe for making Gruffalo crumble!

Maths

The children have worked hard to create their own repeating patterns this week. We have also explored representations of the number 3. Next week, we will explore representations of the number 4 and the concept of finding one more.

Activities

The children had their first guided reading sessions this week in small groups. They also worked on their scissor skills to cut out shapes and create repeating patterns with them. Next week, the children will be completing a guided write about where they would hide from a Gruffalo and learning how to program beebots. We will also work with the children on finding one more through their play (objective-led).

Other

Thank you to those of you who attended the phonics workshop on Tuesday. The PowerPoint presentation will be put on the school website for your reference. We have also attached to this email the link to the sound articulation video on the school website. We had lots of great questions about letter formation. We are currently trying to find a way of sharing with you the rhymes that we teach the children when practicing letter formation. Confusion between ‘b’ and ‘d’ is a common one and so we will put a helpful visual to use with the children on the FS noticeboard.

Please remember to tick next to the title of the reading book in your child’s reading journal so that we know you are ready for a new one on book changing days (Tuesdays and Fridays).