Sight words
I must say, I am throughly impressed with your gorgeous children and their eagerness to learn! I have been hearing some great feedback about the children learning all of their sight words and moving onto the next set. Mrs Keast has had to make extra sets because they have been reading them so well.
The next stage of the sight word rings is not only for your children to be able to read them, but to be able to write and spell them and further into the semester, apply them into their writing. I have no doubt your children will be eager to do this as I love hearing them come up to me and tell me they know all their sight words!
Spelling
Spelling has been a real journey for all of us in Year One. I love seeing children identifying their particular sounds in books or out words they recognise around the school. This shows me they have really internalised what is being taught. Our spelling structure is as follows:
Tuesday: Introduction of sounds as a whole class (the children are exposed to three different levels of sounds - diagraphs - Sh, ch, th , cvc words - cat, run, rug and blends - fl, st, mp) and I model on the board how the words are sounded out. I give 3 examples out of their 8 words and then they then colour code their words using two colours to identify the sounds and write them three times. Eg shop
Wednesday: We review their sounds on the board together and then using our spelling list, they cut up their words into sounds. Some of the super stars in our class just below.
Thursday: We do a quick review of the sounds in a group discussion and then they colour code thier
words once, then illustrate their words in pictures next to their writing to show the meaning. This is a good way for the children to be exposed to new words and vocabulary which can be applied to their writing.
We also get an opportunity to use the PLD app which incorporates our focus sound of that week and we play games that encourage us to look at the word and sound it out with the help of a partner.
Friday: On Friday we have some time to talk about our sounds and might play games such as shot gun sheriff which involves two children with whiteboards listening to one if their spelling words and then writing it down as quick as they can before the other person. This creates some great incentives for the children to listen and then sound out their words especially when they love receiving the praise of their peers. We also have buddy time for 20 minutes just before lunch, where their buddies call out their spelling words for them and they write their 8 words down in their spelling pad. This is a good way to consolidate their sounds for the week and the results get better and better each week! Some pictures of us just below.
Spelling has been a great learning opportunity for the children and I am amazed at their willingness to learn new things!
Watch the blog for updates about some great tips for writing and log ons for Raz Kids which is an online reading and comprehension program that can be accessed from home.
Thanks once again for your support.
Miss Prowse
