Mrs Wood, Author at Moortown Primary School, Leeds

Have you seen Leaf Man?

We have really enjoyed reading the book Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert.

After reading the story, Reception children went to look for Leaf Man around school.

We sorted leaves and learned their names.

The children have printed leaves, mixed autumn colours and made their own leaf people.

Where is Leaf Man?

Phonics learning in Reception (and at home!)

At Moortown Primary, we follow the ‘Letters and Sounds’ programme.

At the moment, we’re focussing on Phase 1 where children learn to identify alliteration and rhyme which will pave the way for the systematic learning of phonics.

The children are taking part in lots of activities where they listen attentively to sounds around them, such as sounds in the environment and to sounds in spoken language. Singing a wide range of nursery rhymes and songs and reading books to and with the children helps to increase the number of words they know – their vocabulary – and helps them talk confidently about books.

We’re also learning to ‘sound talk’. The separate sounds (phonemes) are spoken aloud, in order, all through the word, and are then merged together into the whole word: d-o-g = dog. This merging together is called blending and 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 and is a vital skill for spelling.

All of this learning at the moment is oral (spoken). Your child won’t 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.

Ways you can support your child at home:

Play ‘What do we have in here?’ Put some toys or objects in a bag and pull one out at a time. Emphasise the first sound of the name of the toy or object by repeating it, for example, ‘c c c c – car’, ‘b b b b – box’, ‘ch ch ch ch – chip’.

When sounding out, try to avoid the ‘uh’ sound – say ‘sssss’ rather than ‘suh’, ‘mmmmm’ rather than ‘muh’. This is to keep the sound as ‘pure’ as it can be so there’s no confusion with extra, unwanted sounds when blending and segmenting words.

Say: ‘A tall tin of tomatoes!’ ‘Tommy, the ticklish teddy!’ ‘A lovely little lemon!’ This is called alliteration. Use names, for example, ‘Gurpreet gets the giggles’, ‘Milo makes music’, ‘Naheema’s nose’.

Teach them ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers’ and other tongue twisters.

Find real objects around your home that have three phonemes (sounds) and practise ‘sound talk’. First, just let them listen, then see if they will join in.

‘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.

Finally, note in some of the examples above that a phoneme (a sound) can be made up of two (or more) letters, so ‘ck’ (as in sock) and ‘ch’ (as in chin) make particular sounds.

Find out more about phonics in our Phonics Guide.

Our first week!

Welcome!

Welcome to Reception Class!

Following our series of home-visits, we’d like to say thank you all for welcoming us into your homes. It was lovely to meet you all and get to know your child a little bit more.

We hope you’re as excited as we are about this new chapter in your child’s life and hope you’ve been provided with all the information you need. As always, please ask if you are not sure about anything.

The children will all begin this week, with the last children arriving on Thursday.

After your first day, school will begin at 8.50am and finish at 3.15pm. Please bring your child into the classroom and help them in the different learning areas to have a go at a learning challenge. Take this time to look at your child’s learning journey.

We try to get the children to be as independent as possible early on, so please let them hang their coat up and sort themselves out while you wait in the classroom.

At 3.15pm, please wait at the gate to the Reception outdoor area to collect your child.

See you soon!

Goodbye, Reception Class!

We’ve come to the end of a busy and exciting year!

The children have been a delight to teach and we will have very fond memories of them all…

Albie, Henka and Will have amazed us with their knowledge of the world. Well done, Emma and Sakina, for having better handwriting than the teachers! Emily, Hifza and Olivia have star potential with their singing and dancing and Ethan and Jasraj have both grown in confidence throughout the year. We’re so impressed with Georgie’s determination to form her letters correctly and we can now read her writing! Harris and Felix have been great mathematicians and Jemima, Phoebe, Leo and Safiya-Mishal have impressed us with their love of writing. Jessica and Raima have been happy and positive members of the class. Thank you, Liam, for fantastic tidying up and sweeping! Well done, Musa – you have amazed everybody with your progress and enthusiasm to learn. Pollyanna, we are sure you will be a famous artist one day and we’ve loved seeing your work. Sami and Rayn have been polite and helpful members of the class. Well done, Kashif and Noah, for keeping us entertained and well done, Maya and Isabella, for being so caring. Taha, you have pleased us by trying new foods and being so enthusiastic about your learning. Well done, Yusayrah, for always doing your homework and being so kind and helpful.

Have a great summer and we look forward to hearing about your time in Y ear 1.