English

Spring Term

In Spring term our writing will focus on our Enquiry learning (all about toys from the past and whether we have forgotten how to play). The children will explore 'Lost in the Toy Museum' by David Lucas and other fiction and non-fiction books such as 'Dogger' by Shirley Hughes to encourage their writing. 

The children will write in 4 different genres: News Report, Narrative, Diary and a Persuasive Argument. They will explore the different grammatical features of each of these genres of writing and use them in their own final piece. 

How can I help my child in English?

Phonics

In Year 1 it is essential that children use the 'codes' that we learn in phonics to write words that are phonetically plausible. To support your child with this please complete the 3x reads a week with their phonics books. At the front of these books there are some 'codes' that the children can practice. All you need to do is point to the 'code' and ask you child to say it. You can extend this by asking them to think of a word with the 'code' in and writing it down. 

There are lots of phonics games that can be played at home, on an iPad or laptop, via this link:

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources

Common exception words 

While phonics is our main vice when spelling, there are exceptions to the rules. The words that are exceptions and are most commonly used in our writing are called common exception words. In Year 1 the common exception words are as listed below. To support your child with learning these you can get them to read them, then cover the word and ask them to write it. Correct their spelling if they do not get it right and try again. Practicing this really helps to embed the common exception words into children's writing! 

Encouraging a love for writing

To encourage your children's interest in writing you can ask them to write about an experience that they have had with you, this could even be a story about walking to the shop! Encourage your child to think about the 5 senses and what each of them would experience in the setting of their writing. We use adjectives which are describing words, and adverbs which describe verbs to make our writing amazing!