Homework

Reading

It is important that KS1 children read every day.  Your child will receive a new reading book every Monday.  Reading with your child daily at home will ensure that they will be exposed to a wide range of words. This will help them build their own vocabulary and improve their understanding when they listen, which is vital as they start to read more independently.  In addition to their reading book, the children will also visit the school library every week and will bring home a text to share with their family.

Library Times 

Cherry Blossom (Miss Hampson) Friday (pm)

Orange Blossom (Mrs Hargreaves) Tuesday (pm)

Apple Blossom (Miss Cousen) Thursday (pm)

Spellings 

The children do not complete weekly spelling tests in KS1.  Spelling is an integral part of our daily phonics & English lessons.  The children are taught to use ‘Fred talk’ for spelling daily.  In English lessons, they will also be taught other spelling strategies, such as syllables, words within a word and red rhythms.  When children are introduced to a new word they follow these steps:

• Listen to the teacher say the word and they repeat it.
• They then segment each sound in the word using ‘Fred Talk’, e.g. ch-a-p, and hold up the right amount of fingers for each sound.
• They then repeat the word using ‘Fred talk’, touching a finger for each sound before they write the word.
• Finally, the teacher spells the word correctly on the board and the children have the opportunity to ‘tick or fix’ their own spelling.  This is repeated for a number of words every day.

Common Exception Words (Red Words)

A list of common exception words can be found in your child’s reading record and they are available below.  The children’s ability to read these words will be assessed throughout the year. 

Common exception words are important as they are words that appear frequently in texts and help readers understand what they are reading.  Common exception words are words that do not follow the common phonetic spelling rules children learn in Year 1 and Year 2. These are also called tricky words  as you must learn to recognise them. These words are decodable BUT they often use less common or rare letters to represent the sounds (like 'a' making an 'o' sound when used in was or wash).  In the Read, Write Inc. program, these are referred to as ‘red words’ and are featured in your child’s reading books. 

To support your child at home, help them to learn to read these common exception words correctly by sight through daily practice.  Help your child notice these words when reading.  Many creative ways to teach common exception words are featured in this useful video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui5hKoEJy-I .

Maths:

  Times table homework will also be uploaded to Emile every Friday.

Other:

Occasionally, we may set a project linked to our topic which will be completed over the term.  Please encourage your child to complete homework on time.