1. Your child in Year 1

2. Independent children Coming into the classroom Blue folders in drawers (keyrings) Snack and water bottles in trays Reading books to be changed Homework, number books and spelling books Blue home/school communication diaries ~ notes Clubs Important letters Belongings named

3. A Weekly Timetable PE ~ Monday and Wednesday (clothes) Spellings ~ books due in on a Tuesday and new focus phoneme given out by Wednesday. Homework ~ due in by Thursday each week and new homework given out on a Friday (practical, talking, recording) Number books ~ tested weekly Reading books can be changed 2-3 times weekly (children are starting to do this themselves) Books kept in blue bags everyday.

4. Blue Communication Diaries We will update the diaries every Friday with information for the following week. Please try and check daily as we will use this book to communicate with you. Similarly, if you have a message please write it in the book and ask your child to put it on the teachers chair in the morning. Please sign these diaries once you have read them.

5. Number Books / Bonds Why do them? How often? Number bond diary ~ use it to let us know how your child is getting on at home with number bonds Weekly tests

6. Spellings

7. We will not send home a list of words Children will be tested on applying their knowledge of the weekly phonemes alongside previously learned phonemes They will learn the new phonemes during their phonic lessons that week

8. Spellings

9. Reading Children are now changing their own books. If books need changing please comment and sign in the reading record. Remind your child in the morning. They will then change as part of their early morning routine and after this put in the reading basket. If your child is forgetting, please pop a note in the blue communication diary and we will remind them in school. Books should be changed at least once a week if not more.

10. Reading Strategies * Make reading fun e.g. cushions, bedtime stories, taking turns, family story time * Short bursts of reading (a few pages at a time) * Little and often * Encourage children to read the story more than once before changing and this will increase their fluency, confidence and enjoyment of reading.

11. Reading Strategies Stuck on a word * Sound talk words then blend (c-l-u-ck) * Read on to the end of the sentence * Use picture clues * Recognising key words Comprehension * Talk about the story, characters, language * Ask why and how questions

12. Words In A Bag ~ High Frequency Words (common words that your child will need to read and spell) ~ your child will come home with a bag of words to learn. Inside this bag will be a brown envelope. Inside this envelope are ‘words I know’ (these will have 3 from school) Please continue to practice these periodically. ~ outside of the brown bag are words to practice regularly with your child.

13. Pack If you have not already, please sign and help yourself to both packs. ~ PowerPoint ~ useful resources when working with your child

14. Helping in School Parents and/or grandparents Reading, words in a bag, visits, computer, trips, nativity, sewing It is school policy for helpers who come in on a regular basis not to work with their child. Parents are used across the year group for readers, words in a bag and numbers. This is usually in an area outside of the classroom which is quieter. Every little helps!

15. Phonics Important for spelling, writing and reading. Spelling phonemes will link to the phonemes they are learning that week. Words are usually decodable wish  w-i-sh stain  s-t-ai-n

16. Phonics Some of the lingo you may be hearing at home Phoneme ~ the sound Grapheme ~ how written Diagraph ~ a phoneme made up of 2 letters (ai) Trigraph ~ a phoneme made up of 3 letters (igh) Phoneme buttons ~ marking the number of phonemes in a word (this can help with spelling) tin with rain night liquid

17. Phonics We do ask children to read words that are not real but are made up from learned phonemes. This helps test their recognition of these phonemes and check they are decoding words properly. pogtompbock

18. Phonic Games We would like to invite you to play some of the games that we ask your children to play to support them in their phonics  Buried Treasure  Phoneme Buttons on words  Phoneme Frames  Matching words / sentences to pictures