Tuesday 26th January 2021

Hello,

If this is your first visit to this website, it might be worth reading the pages ‘a guide to using this website’ and ‘copyright infringement’.

Phonics

This term we are introducing the phase 3 phonics program.

Today we are learning about ‘ee’. Here is a 1 minute overview video of the sound. It is designed to be used as a reference guide for parents on the correct sound pronunciation and letter formation. This video also acts as a warm up to the phonics session, so please show this to your child before they watch the main video.

Following on from the above, here is today’s session:

I initially filmed this video to be suitable for the children to watch on their own as per the previous term’s phonics videos, however due to the short notice of school closure I have not been able to create videos that are more interactive. So please ensure you and your child have a pencil/pen and piece of paper/whiteboard with you as you watch the video. Feel free to pause and model any writing elements to them and also encourage them to write where appropriate e.g. the letter formation part. This phonics session should last no longer than 15 minutes.

If you are interested in finding out more about our phonics teaching strategy, please click here.

Sentence Writing

Today’s sentence should be “The man has big feet.”

Instructions:

1. Please get your child (helping them where required) to cut out the words on the sentence sheet delivered to you.
2. Ask your child to write their name on the top of the sheet.
3. Starting on the red dot, ask your child to practice their letter formation by writing over the yellow letters on the sheet, reminding them about the correct ‘finger and thumb’ pencil grip
4. Together with your child, arrange the cut out words into the correct sentence, reminding your child about the 3 elements of sentence writing; capital letter at the start, finger spaces and a full stop at the end.
5. Once the words are arranged in the correct order, ask your child to attempt copy this sentence on to the sheet doing their best to stay on the line. Again please remind the children about the 3 elements of sentence writing.

Optional extra: You could discuss the picture with your child and ask them if there is an extra sentence they can write about the picture. Below are some phonically decodable extra sentence ideas you could ‘steer’ them to if you wish:

• Big red shoes. (shoes is not phonically decodable, but it is a nice to practice ‘sh’, and the children may spell it ‘shoo’ which is phonically plausible and in Reception deemed correct).
• A red sock.

Here is a sound mat that might be useful when your children are sounding out and want to find the sound to write.

Here is this sound mat in a downloadable pdf format:

Maths

This week we are focusing on ‘length, height and distance’. Today we are thinking about distance.

For today’s session you will need some paper, a pencil and a ball. The key vocabulary to emphasize to the children is:

• Measure
• Distance
• Far, further and furthest
• Steps

The children and you will throw a ball and then use steps to measure how far the ball has been thrown. Each person will get three attempts. Please note the distance achieved in the table, as shown in the video. You will then be able to see who can throw the ball the furthest in your family. Again, as with yesterday, the idea is for the children to explore and investigate the idea of measuring, the real life application of numbers, ordering results and comparing data.

Please note this video series was created in June 2020 to support children in the last school closure so I may make weird references to things that we have not yet covered or to things that were happening last year!

Please also remember that all the children have a school Numbots account. Numbots is a fun app that turns counting, addition and subtraction into a game where the children can earn certificates. Login details were given out last term, please let me know if you need me to resend your child’s.

Thank you as always for your support.

Please email any comments, questions or feedback to receptionroy [at] burntmill.essex.sch.uk

Mr Vullo