Measuring!
This week Reception have been busy measuring everything in the classroom!
This week’s phonemes
This week, the new phonemes are g, o, c and k. The children will be taught that c and k together make the same sound. They will look at words with ck and identify that this usually occurs at the end of a word.
When learning a digraph (two letters making one sound), the children will be encouraged to join-up the two letters when they write.
This week, the high frequency word to learn is ‘and‘.
Super Sculptures!
It is not only children who are involved in learning. On Tuesday, all of the teaching staff were involved in a Art workshop and some super sculptures were produced.
Check out the new member of our school community, Sebastian.
Mrs Burke, Mrs Weekes, Mrs Maver and Miss Hewson worked together to sculpt using newspaper and modrock and this is the result.
Look out for him in the middle building.
Our class photo will be in the Evening Post on Tuesday!
Photos of the class will be in a special supplement in the Yorkshire Evening Post on Tuesday 08 November.
This week’s phonemes
This week, your child will be learning the letters s, a, t, p, i, n and the sounds they make.
The children will be taught some of the terminology we use. So that you don’t feel left out, here are a few definitions:
- A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word.
- A grapheme is the letter, or letters, representing a phoneme, such as t, ai, igh, ch.
- A digraph is two letters, making one sound; a consonant digraph contains two consonants (sh, ck, th), whilst a vowel digraph contains at least one vowel (ai, ee, ar, oy).
- A trigraph is three letters making one sound, like igh, dge.
- Blending is recognising the letter sounds in a written word (for example c-u-p), and merging or synthesising them in the order in which they are written to pronounce the word ‘cup’ (this is essential during the reading process).
- Segmenting is the opposite of blending; it involves identifying the individual sounds in a spoken word (eg ‘him’ = h – i – m) and writing down letters for each sound to form the word (segmenting supports the writing process).
- A c-v-c word is a consonant, vowel, consonant word such as c-a-t and also sh-o-p.
Encourage your child to read and write cvc words, especially using letters and sounds that you know we’ve covered in school – this week, lots of words can be blended and segmented using s, a, t, p, i, n.
Phonics – How to say the different phonemes
It is very important when children are beginning to read and spell that the phonemes (sounds) are said correctly.
This is a list of the phonemes in the order that they are taught.
(Don’t forget to avoid saying an ‘uh’ sound after some letter sounds – this might be how you remember the sounds, but it’s not helpful to spell a word like ‘dog’ with each letter pronounced ‘duh-o-guh’ – instead, try to just say the very initial, pure sound: ‘d-o-g’.)
- s Weave your hand in an s shape, like a snake, and say ssssss
- a Wiggle fingers above elbow as if ants are crawling on you and say a, a, a
- t Turn your head from side to side as if watching tennis and say t, t, t
- i Pretend to be a mouse by wriggling your fingers at the end of your nose and squeak i, i, i
- p Pretend to puff out candles on a cake and say p, p, p
- n Make a noise as if you are a plane. Hold your arms out and say nnnnnn
- e Pretend to tap an egg on the side of a pan and crack it into the pan, saying eh, eh, eh
- h Hold your hand in front of your mouth and pant as if you are out of breath and say h, h, h
- r Pretend to be a puppy holding a piece of rag. Shake your head from side to side and say rrrrrr
- m Rub your tummy as if seeing tasty food and say mmmmmm
- d Beat your hands up and down as if playing a drum and say d, d, d
- g Spiral your hand down as if water is going down the drain and say g, g, g
- o Pretend to turn a light switch on and off and say o, o, o
- c k Raise your hands and snap your fingers as if playing castanets and say ck, ck, ck
- u Pretend you are putting up an umbrella and say u, u, u
- l Pretend to lick a lollipop and say lllllll
- f Let hands gently come together as if toy fish deflating, and say fffff
- b Pretend to hit a ball with a bat and say b, b, b
- j Pretend to wobble on a plate and say j, j, j
- w Blow on to your open hand as if you are the wind and say wh, wh, wh
- v Pretend to be holding the steering wheel of a van and say vvvvvv
- z Put your arms out at your sides and pretend to be a bee saying zzzzzz
- y Pretend to be eating a yogurt and say y, y, y
- x Pretend to take an x-ray of someone and say ks, ks, ks
- ch Move arms at sides as if you are a train and say ch, ch, ch
- sh Place index finger over lips and say sh, sh, sh
- th th Pretend to be naughty clowns and stick out tongue a little for the th and further for the th sound (this and thumb)
- qu Make a duck’s beak with your hands and say qu, qu, qu
- ng Imagine you are a weightlifter and pretend to lift a heavy weight above your head saying ng…
- ai Cup hand over ear and say ai, ai, ai
- ee or Put your hands on your head as if ears on a donkey and say eeyore, eeyore
- oa Bring your hand over your mouth as if you have done something wrong and say oh!
- ie Stand to attention and salute, saying ie ie
- oo oo Move head back and forth as if it is the cuckoo in a cuckoo clock saying u, oo,u, oo (little and long oo.)
- ou Pretend your finger is a needle and prick thumb saying ou, ou, ou
- oi Cup hands around mouth and shout to another boat saying oi, oi ship ahoy!
- ue Point to people around you and say you, you, you
- er Roll hands over each other like a mixer and say er,er,er
- ar Open mouth wide and say ah. Flap hands as if a seal and say ar, ar, ar
Helping your child with phonics
This week the children will begin to blend (read) and segment (spell) words orally. We call this ‘sound talk’.
For example, c-a-t = cat. The separate sounds (phonemes) are spoken aloud, in order, all through the word, and are then merged together into the whole word. The merging together is called blending – it is a vital skill for reading.
Children will also learn to do this the other way around: cat = c-a-t. The whole word is spoken aloud, and then broken up into its sounds (phonemes) in order, all through the word. This is called segmenting – a vital skill for spelling.
An important point to remember is to avoid saying the ‘uh’ sound that you might remember from school. Think of ‘b’, ‘c’ without the ‘uh’ – make the sound as short and ‘pure’ as possible for these sounds. For others, like ‘f’ and ‘l’, the sound should also not have an ‘uh’ sound, but these letters can be more continuous.
At the moment, blending and segmenting is all oral (spoken). Your child will not be expected to match the letter to the sound at this stage. The emphasis is on helping children to hear the separate sounds in words and to create spoken sounds.
Try this at home:
Find real objects around your home which have three phonemes (sounds) and practise ‘sound talk’ – first just let them listen, then see if they will join in, eg:
- ‘I spy a p-e-g – peg’
- ‘I spy a c-u-p – cup’
- ‘Where’s your other s-o-ck – sock?’
- ‘Simon says – put your hands on your h-ea-d’
- ‘Simon says – touch your ch-i-n’
- ‘Simon says – pick up your b-a-g’
Play other phonic games at home, too!
We are happy learning in Reception!
Learning to rhyme
In Reception this week, we’re listening to rhymes and poems and identifying rhyming words. Hearing and saying rhymes is great for learning to read. Sharing rhymes with young children helps them listen to the patterns of language. Children first begin to notice that certain words have the same sounds at the end (rhyme). Later, they notice that many words share a pattern in the way they are spelt. Understanding these links makes learning to read much easier. You can help by making sure that children hear a lot of rhymes. The rhythm found in poetry is also helpful as there is a rhythm to reading.
You can help your child to “tune in” to rhyme by:
- Sharing nursery rhymes, making them fun by adding actions and body movements
- Reading rhyming stories
- Play games such as ‘I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with …’
Reading is fun!
Your child will be bringing a reading book home very soon. At this stage, you can help with their reading by enjoying books together. Talk about what they think might happen next in a story and ask them to retell the story themselves using the pictures. Can they think about what they would feel if they were in the story?
Your enthusiasm for a book will help children to understand that books are exciting.
Focus on the sounds of spoken language by playing games which point out similar sounds in different words. For example, how many things can you find around the house that begin with the sound ‘f’? Share favourite rhymes letting children supply the rhyming word or encouraging them to choose their own silly rhyme. Help children to understand that the marks on the page mean something. Explain that they represent the words and sentences we speak. Point to the words as you read. Show them examples of print around you: the sign on a bus stop, labels at the supermarket, traffic signs, and so on. Read alphabet books together to make the link between the sounds used in words and the letters used to write those sounds. Label your child’s bedroom door to help them to recognise their name.
Share the following books:
- rhyming books
- alphabet books
- a wide range of exciting stories
- non-fiction books about favourite subjects
Remember:
- Make sure your child sees you reading.
- Read to your child. Show you like the book. Bring stories to life by using loud/soft/scary voices – let yourself go!
- Spread books around your house for your child to dip into.
- Let your child choose what they would like to read – books, comics, catalogues.
- Read favourite books over and over again.
Enjoy!
If you have any questions about reading and how we teach this in Reception, please ask.