Miss Kenny
Dear Parents,
In the event that there will be a school closure please follow the advice outlined below:
*continue to practise your child’s keywords with them – encourage your child to recognise these words as ‘sight’ words rather than using their sounds as many of them cannot be sounded out. Go right back to the beginning and practise them daily so that your child can recall them rapidly and easily (See pages attached)
*Daily revision of all sounds learned to date (See sound page attached).
*Call out words and simple sentences for your child to write – remind them to use capital letters, finger spaces and full stops (See page attached)
*Practise reading and writing numbers to 50 and beyond if your child is confident to do so (See hundred square attached)
*Get a page or whiteboard and ask your child to write down numbers before/after/in between any number within 20 or 50 (use number square for support). E.g. can you write the number before 16, write the number that comes after 19, write the number that comes in between 14 and 16.
*Read books together – I cannot stress enough the importance of this. Read to your child, model using expression, stopping when there is a full stop and point out any keywords. Ask them questions about the stories, getting them to predict what might happen and why, discussing the characters and describing them. Get your child to read familiar stories to you and encourage them to use their sounds to break words down, encourage them to use the pictures for support. If they are unsure of a word, ask them to think about what word would best fit into the sentence so that it makes sense (See advice for reading pages attached).
*Use website links provided for fun learning games
*Complete one piece of Literacy and Numeracy every day from the pack.
*Let your child have time to play – toys such as Lego, Playdoh (lots of pinching and rolling) and colouring are great for developing fine motor skills. Role-play (such as playing house, doctors, vets) is a great way for your child to develop their imagination and creativity.
*Twinkl are offering free access to resources and there are lots of powerpoints available for both Literacy and Numeracy.
Many thanks for your continued support
Kind regards
Miss Kenny
Advice for reading for Parents/Person with parental responsibility:
- Talk about the books, words and pictures
Before reading a book together, always talk about the title and the picture on the front cover. Ask your child to use this information to predict what the book might be about. Go through the book before reading and discuss any difficult words before beginning the story.
2. Sound it out
If your child gets stuck on a word, encourage them to use their phonics to sound out the word. Get your child to say the letter sounds in order and say them quickly to try to hear the word; this is called blending. If the word is a keyword and can’t be sounded out, then its best if you say it quickly and move on. Come back at the end of the story and point to the keyword and ask your child to say it again.
- Use the pictures for help
If your child is trying to decode a word encourage them to use both their sounds and the picture for help.
- Does it make sense?
If your child reads a word incorrectly let them finish the sentence, then ask them if the sentence makes sense? Ask them to go back, look at the word again, use both their sounds and the picture as clues for figuring out what the word is. Ask them to re-read the sentence when they have figured it out.
- Keywords
After reading through the book, go back through and ask your child to read a word picked by you from each page. Cover the other words to give you a better understanding of whether or not they can read the word without the context of the sentence.
- Practise keywords and reading
The keywords can be found at the back of your child’s reading record book. In order to learn these words children need to be practising them consistently. Make flashcards using markers and paper and go over them several times. Try letting your child make them with playdoh or glitter pens to help them commit them to memory. Discuss the words e.g. is it a long word? Is it a short word? How many letters does it have? Are the letters tall or short? All of these activities will help your child commit their keywords to memory and they will be able to recognise them more easily in their reading.
Most importantly reading should be fun and enjoyable!
Useful websites for learning games
www.topmarks.co.uk – select Maths/English and use scroll down menu to select Key Stage 1.
Some games I think are useful from topmarks:
www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train
www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/caterpillar-ordering
www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/shape-patterns
www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/kids-activities/fun-maths-games-and-activities/
www.starfall.com/h/index-grades123.php
learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/
readingeggs.co.uk/articles/2019/09/16/literacy-games-for-kids/
www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/literacy/
www.education.com/games/early-literacy-concepts/
Twinkl is also offering free access for one month. It has an abundance of resources that you can find by typing what you are looking for into the search bar at the top. If you want to practise number formation to 20 for example just type it into the search bar and it will bring up lots of great resources including games and powerpoints. Website- www.twinkl.co.uk
Example Timetable
| Time | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 9-9.20 | Reading and Keywords | Reading and Keywords | Reading and Keywords | Reading and Keywords | Reading and Keywords |
| 9.15 – 10 | Play | Play | Play | Play | Play |
| 10-10.15 | Break | Break | Break | Break | Break |
| 10.15 – 10.30 | Phonics/sound work(Use table of sounds) | Phonics/sound work(Use table of sounds) | Phonics/sound work(Use table of sounds) | Phonics/sound work(Use table of sounds) | Phonics/sound work(Use table of sounds) |
| 10.30 – 11 | Complete Literacy worksheet | Complete Literacy worksheet | Complete Literacy worksheet | Complete Literacy worksheet | Complete Literacy worksheet |
| 11 – 11.05 | Movement break (you tube) | Movement break (you tube) | Movement break (you tube) | Movement break (you tube) | Movement break (you tube) |
| 11.05 – 11.15 | Mental Maths(see advice page) | Mental Maths(see advice page) | Mental Maths(see advice page) | Mental Maths(see advice page) | Mental Maths(see advice page) |
| 11.15 – 11.40 | Complete numeracy page | Complete numeracy page | Complete numeracy page | Complete numeracy page | Complete numeracy page |
| 11.40 – 12 | Story read by adult | Story read by adult | Story read by adult | Story read by adult | Story read by adult |
| 12-1 | Lunch Indoor exercises (See page in pack) | Lunch Indoor exercises(See page in pack) | Lunch Indoor exercises(See page in pack) | Lunch Indoor exercises(See page in pack) | Lunch Indoor exercises(See page in pack) |
| 1-2 | Play games from list of websites provided/Go on Twinkl and download powerpoints of Literacy and Numeracy games | Play games from list of websites provided/Go on Twinkl and download powerpoints of Literacy and Numeracy games | Play games from list of websites provided/Go on Twinkl and download powerpoints of Literacy and Numeracy games | Play games from list of websites provided/Go on Twinkl and download powerpoints of Literacy and Numeracy games | Play games from list of websites provided/Go on Twinkl and download powerpoints of Literacy and Numeracy games |
St Mary’s Primary School Cloughcor 