This week in Miss Schon and Miss Rodger’s phonics groups we have been remembering the /air/ grapheme. The children have been really impressing us with the improvement in their speed and accuracy when reading words and sentences. This week we have also seen lots more progress in children’s sentence writing. The children are working very hard and putting lots of effort into their learning! Keep it up Y1 we are so proud of you!
Can you read the words on your homework sheet? For an extra challenge can you sound out and write the words without looking?
Here are some interactive phonics games and fun songs for you to use at home to consolidate the work done by the children in class. Most of the children in Y1 are just beginning phase 4 phonics but practising any of the previous phases would be beneficial to aid fluency. If you have any questions or if any of the links don’t work, please let us know.
We just wanted to say a huge thank you to all the families who joined us for our phonics drop-in tonight. It was so lovely to speak to you all about the children’s learning and the progress we are seeing in school. We hope it was both beneficial and fun for you all!
As always if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us – we are here to help!
We are also excited to be hearing about all the progress you are seeing in your own children’s learning at home. Please do share these proud moments with us via email as we love to hear when the children are making your proud at home!
We are looking forward to our next phonics session which will take place next half term. We will share more details soon!
Tonight is our Y1 Phonics drop in. Please come to the school hall after collecting your child if you would like to take part. We will have lots of phonics games, reading books etc for you to share with your child. Miss Schon and Miss Rodgers will be attending to help you with any questions or concerns you have regarding your child’s phonics learning.
All of year 1 and 2 parents will be receiving an email about a visit that we have arranged for the children next half term, which will enhance their current expeditionary learning. Please read and respond to the letter by going onto your child’s parent pay account. We thank you for your support with providing the children with these exciting opportunities.
In Year 1 we have been practising spelling red words. Red words are words which cannot be sounded out easily. It is important that children recognise that these words are red words and remember how to spell them in their writing.
In school we have been practising the words – the, to, I, no, go, he, she, we, me, be, his, into, is, of, has, ask, put
Each week we will send home a list of spellings for children to practise. The children will have the opportunity to show off their super spelling in class on Fridays. The date at the top of the spellings list is the date we will be checking spellings in school. Our first spellings check will be on Friday 27th September. Children will have the opportunity to learn these spellings in school but we would appreciate support and encouragement at home too – the children always love to show off their learning at home.
This week your child will be introduced to ‘Numbots’. Once we have introduced this in school your child will bring home their log-in details. Numbots is an app that will help your child to develop their mathematical skills. NumBots is all about every child achieving the “triple win” of understanding, recall and fluency in mental addition and subtraction, so that they move from counting to calculating.Â
Last year we saw some amazing progress from the children who regularly played on the Numbots app. Children play games to move through levels and collect parts for their robots.
We thoroughly recommend this app to all children regardless of their current skill level. Although the first few levels appear to be easy for some children the levels will get increasingly harder. We would recommend using this app little and often. We would suggest around 3-4 minutes per day for as many days as is manageable for you as a family.
Teachers will be able to track your child’s progress as they access the app. Although your child may need you close by to explain the activity, please do not be temped to tell your child the answer. The levels are designed to build your child’s knowledge and quick recall skills and if they do not do this themselves they will find their learning difficult later. Please do not allow siblings to log in and play as your child. If your child shares a device then please ensure they are logged out when they have finished playing.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact your child’s class teacher.
This year, we are working hard to raise money to develop our reading for pleasure library so firstly, we would like to say a huge thank you for all your sponsors from the colour run which will go along way to helping us!
Secondly, we still need your help! We would love for you to help us design the library based on the space we have to use which is the foyer area near the hall.
Please design your ideal library and share your plans with Miss Knowles in person or at [email protected] This is for everyone across school to get involved in! Please send your plans by 7th October.
We can’t wait to see your fantastic ideas which will help us design the perfect library!
In Year 1 the children take part in our KS1 reading challenge. You will notice that your child has a 100 square in the front of their reading diary. Every time your child reads at home please place a comment in their reading diary. The staff in school will then mark off the number of reads your child has completed on the 100 square. Your child will receive rewards in assembly when they complete 30, 70 and 100 reads!
We understand that reading at home can be a challenge and some children may find it hard to engage. We will help to encourage children in school to feel confident in their own abilities and to be motivated towards reaching their next reward. Every classroom will have a reading challenge display that the children will move along to show their progress.
We encourage children to find the joy in reading. If your child finds it difficult to engage at home then please keep reading sessions little and often until they build up their stamina and enjoyment. Your child does not have to read the whole book in one go to be rewarded – even just a few pages will do!
Your child will also receive a phonics homework sheet each week. Reading the words on their phonics homework sheet will also count as one read so please write this in your child’s reading diary each time they practise reading the words. Your child can practise the same sheet several times over the week to build up their number of reads.
Please ensure your child brings their reading books back to school on a weekly basis so that we can help to keep children motivated and engaged. Reading books will be changed on Tuesdays and Fridays only. If your child’s books are handed in on any other day they will be changed on the next changing day. Your child will need to place their books in the changing box in order for the books to be changed. The class teacher will always remind children to place their books in the box on book changing days.
If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s reading please contact your child’s teacher asap. This way we can work together to help your child to reach their goals.
