Thank you so much to all the parents that came. 19/46 parents attended either our morning or afternoon session- thank you for staying for the duration despite it being a Friday!! The children were impeccably behaved during the meetings as well so thank you again!
To those who could not make it, please read the previous blog post (27th April) for ideas of how to support your child through videos, games etc. We are just a phone call, an email or a chat away so please let us know how we can help you more!! (Mrs Tom’s email is kgill@elmparkprimary.co.uk & Miss Munro’s email is amunro@elmparkprimary.co.uk).
All the links discussed in the meeting are available on the blog. Just remember not to teach your child the words already covered in the past test papers as they will not appear in the 2017 checks 🙂
Click to download the powerpoint now! If you have any problems downloading the presentation, please see us for a paper copy or a direct email.
Have a wonderful bank holiday. Year 1 are marvellous!
Following the phonics meeting on Friday 28th April, here are some links to games that you may want to play and more information about the screening test, as well as the video shown during the meetings. Mrs Toms will be discussing this information during the meeting. This is designed for you to have all the information you need in one place.
These are the sounds the children are taught in school. Please don’t be discouraged if you do not know any of the sounds! Lots of adults need to practise saying the sounds themselves before teaching a child. A quick Google search or look onto Youtube videos listed below will have you knowing the sounds in no time, ready to support your child.
Although this video is for teachers to ensure they administer the test correctly, it is useful for you to see how the children are to break down the words into sounds and put them back together to read the word. As you can see, if the children do not use the correct sounds or blend them back together correctly, they will be incorrect for that word.
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rbMOQTjdgY
We LOVE Mr Thorne videos in Year 1! Check out some of Geraldine the Giraffe’s videos where she finds items around the house with each sound.
Singing is the best way to help your child remember ANYTHING! These short songs are perfect for daily listening.
Although we do not use the term ‘Magic E’ to describe a split digraph e.g. a-e as in ape or i-e as in kite, this video is excellent for demonstrating how the ‘e’ at the end is silent but gives the vowel in the middle of the word a different sound.
There is a free section on the website, or you can pay a small fee (roughly £10) for a yearly subscription. Any games here are excellent. Please ensure you are clicking on phase 2 and 3 if your children are beginning to learn their sounds and click phases 4 and 5 for children who are more confident with their sounds and just need a little extra reading boost. Phase 6 focuses on plurals and spellings rules and is perfect for teaching alternative pronunciations.
This website is free to use throughout (it also has some excellent maths games!). There are great sentence building games and sound games. Have a look!
ABCYA offers free to use games on a computer but will require a subscription on a tablet. Check Grade 1 for emerging readers, Grade 2 for more confident and Grade 3 and beyond for secure readers. The e-books on this website are easy for children to sound out independently.
The TES iboard is great but is a subscription website used by many teachers and schools around the UK. However, you can get a 1 month subscription trial for free. Just be sure to cancel any subscriptions after this time to avoid being charged if you are asked for payment.
Apps (Charged & Free)
If you wish to purchase any apps, please please please do your research. They can be very costly but can tend to have American or Australian pronunciations and the words are sometimes not as difficult as they need to be for the English curriculum.
Mr Thorne has a vast range of phonics apps available so have a browse!
What you can do:
Don’t forget that reading everything and anything and discussing words with your child is the most effective way for them to learn! You do not need to do anything special or out of the ordinary- point out words wherever you go, have competitions to find as many sounds as you can or have a race to spell as many words as possible with particular sounds.
We hope you find the meetings informative. If you are unable to attend the meeting, please speak to Mrs Toms & Miss Munro after school any day. The powerpoint from the meetings will also be posted after the meetings have taken place so you have all the information in one place.
Thank you again for your continued support, whether you could attend the meetings or not. If you are interested, your children will be interested too! We couldn’t do it without you!
Just a few photos to show you what Chestnut Class have been getting up to in their Guided Reading sessions! A group always reads with the teacher and the other groups access some different activities.
As you are aware, the children received a visit from Sidra Naaem from the Romford Islamic Centre. She came for one hour and taught us lots of interesting information about the Muslim faith and what it means to be a Muslim. We listened to a ‘call to prayer’, touched lots of objects (Quran, compass, prayer mat etc) and some children were able to dress up in beautiful clothes from around the world. One child recognised the Turkish costume straight away! Sidra was very impressed with our knowledge and questioning and we would like to say a big thank you to Sidra for volunteering her personal time to see us.
On Tuesday, shortly after the first chick hatched, Reverend Keeley from St Nicholas’ Church in Elm Park came to visit us and answer our many questions about what it means to be a Christian.
The children were very polite and waited their turn to ask some very sensible and greater depth questions!
We asked questions such as “Do you have to love God to be a Christian?” and “Why are there so many candles in a church?”
Reverend Keeley was so happy to see us all again as she had remembered our wonderful behaviour from the last time we went.
During the week of 12th June 2017, all children in Year 1 will take the ‘Phonics Screening’ test.
The government introduced this test in 2012 to ensure that children are making sufficient progress in their phonic and reading skills. The test is comprised of 40 real and non-words (children know these as ‘alien’ words) and takes between 5-10 minutes to complete. The children will be tested individually with a teacher.
Information meetings will be held on Friday 28th April 2017. The first meeting will take place in the small hall at 9am and will last approximately 15 minutes. The second meeting will take place in Chestnut Class at 3:30pm. You only need to attend one meeting. During this meeting, you will find out more about the test and ways to support your child at home.
If you are unable to attend either of these meetings, please speak to your child’s class teacher at the end of the school day.
We have had a fabulous first week back at school! It has been extra busy and the children have enjoyed many activities.
This week in Literacy, we have been learning about the book ‘Tadpole’s Promise’. So far, the tadpole and the caterpillar have fallen in love. The caterpillar asked the tadpole to never change but he could not help it and has grown two legs and arms and lost his tail! We have written our own promises, speech bubbles and predicted what might happen next in the story. We will also be writing letters from the caterpillar to the tadpole and then finish by retelling the story ourselves.
In maths, we have been consolidating our knowledge of tens and units. We know that numbers such as 76 are made of 7 tens and 6 units. We used this knowledge to add 2 digit numbers together e.g. 33+ 21= 54 by using tens and units equipment. We also found 1 more than numbers up to 200. Help us by asking us to quickly tell you one more than any number between 100-200!
In phonics, we have been learning about the ‘or’, ‘ar’ and ‘oi’ sounds in real and alien words.
In Geography, we have been making maps of the classroom and linking our fieldwork skills to Science by hunting for different types of trees and flowers around our school. We mostly have bluebells, dandelions and daisies on our field!
In PE, we have been learning to kick a football using the inside of our foot towards a target and deciding when to sprint during a chasing game. In Dance, we have been transforming our body movements into insect shapes and thinking about the ways they move to a beat using musical instruments.
Don’t forget that all children need to read 3 times per week in order to attend the treat at the end of the term!!
We also welcome Miss Challis who will be volunteering with us until the summer for three days each week in Chestnut and Birch Class.
