Learning Our Phonic Sounds In a Fun Interactive Way
In Pre-Reception the students start to learn phonics which provides the building blocks to later success in reading. We use the Jolly Phonics programme as one of our tools to learn the letter sounds and names. It is a fun and multi-sensory method which is active, with stories, actions and rhymes. Multi-sensory learning is when students learn with all their senses, they are then more likely to remember what they learn.
Here we have some hands-on activities that we did during the week that are fun and interactive:
- Playdough is synonymous with excitement for students of all ages. Phonics can also be made more enjoyable for students using playdough. Playdough mats allow the students to form the sound correctly. This activity encourages not only sound recognition, but also fine motor skills development.
- Students all benefit from this great kinesthetic activity. The students practiced writing the sound with their fingers. A salt tray engages the senses and is an exciting way for students to learn how to form the sounds correctly.
- Q-tip painting is a fun way to strengthen their fine motor skills while learning the sounds.
- The students enjoyed creating their ‘S is for Snake’ activity. In addition to being fun, this activity helps students strengthen their fine motor skills that they will need for writing and helping them with phonemic awareness.
We introduced the Pre-Reception students to the Sound Puppy as well, the students will take turns to take him home with them and find something that starts with the sound of the alphabet that we are learning about this week at home and bring it back to school the following day.
It is important that we as teachers and parents put a lot of effort in phonic activities as students at this age develop their basic ability to recognise sounds. This can help the students to become better readers, writers and listeners in the future.
Martie van Dyk
Pre-Reception Teacher
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Having Fun With Mr. Men
The love of reading is something we aim to cultivate in the Foundation Stage classes, and we are so proud to see the little ones embrace this as they practise their letters every day. Another favourite part of the day is story time and each week a few students are given the chance to go the library and choose stories for the class to read.
Some of the most popular stories in our class are the Mr. Men stories. The students love hearing what Mr. Tickles is up to, or what misadventures Mr. Bump had. We asked the students to draw their favourite Mr. Men or Little Miss character.
I think we may have a few future illustrators in our class.
Monique Meyer
Reception Year Teacher
Foundation Stage Flower Garden
In foundation stage we put a lot of emphasis on playing, the messier the better. So it was with great excitement that we got our flower planters and soil. The students had lots of fun putting the soil in the planters and planting the tiny little flower seeds. It is hard to believe that such a tiny little seed will eventually grow into beautiful flowers.
The students all had a turn to plant their little seeds and water them. Unfortunately, it didn’t grow quite as fast as some would have liked, as one student asked about 10 minutes later why the flowers are not growing yet. However, it was with great excitement that we returned to school on Monday and saw lots of tiny green shoots.
Our students water their plants every day and we hope to see lots of beautiful flowers soon.
Monique Meyer
Reception Year Teacher
Learning About Reptiles
“I went to…” Holiday News In Reception
On the first day of school, the students arrived very excitedly to begin the last term of Reception Year. They really enjoyed the holiday and could not wait to tell us all about it.
We are now training to work in books with lines in preparation for next year. The students had to write their own heading for their news followed by the zig zag, ‘w’ pattern. Through practice the students are becoming more aware of motor planning in their books and are learning to skip lines when needed.
We recapped the simple sentence rules:
- A sentence always starts with a capital letter.
- There are always finger spaces between words.
- A sentence ends in a small neat full stop on the line.
Each week for their news the students will choose and make use of a sentence starter such as “I went…”, I played …”, I saw…”, I liked…” The teacher will then write the unknown words on a strip for them to copy. They will be encouraged try and complete their own sentences using known High Frequency Words and by independently sounding out phonetic words using their knowledge of the Jolly Phonics sounds.
Reading and writing skills certainly goes hand in hand. All the reading practice they have been doing this year will definitely help them to apply their knowledge to attempt writing sentences with confidence.
The students are very excited about the following sentences they have written in their writing books this week:
“I went to the shop.” – Gabriel Perdigão
“I went to Namibia.” – Madison Carli
“I went to get donuts.” -Thami Makubalo
“I went to the shop.” – Michele Lemme
“I went to Dubai.” – Zoe-Jane Way
“I went to holiday care.” – Emmanuel Omole
“I went to the movies.” – Britney Quadri
“I went to the shops.” – Melissa Moje
“I went to the playground.” – Ali Sadi Hasturk
“I went to the shop.” – Lizelle Vorster
“I went to holiday care.” – Enzo Tona
“I went to the hospital.” – Jenna Miller
“I went to the shops.” – Reuben Davids
“I went camping.” – Malin van Zandvoort
“I went to the mall.” – Ndalo Kweyama
“I went to the movies.” – Sarah Miller
“I went to the shop.” – Irén Martinez Baqueiro
“I went to the holiday care.” – Joel Mofokeng
Bronwen Nuthall
Reception Year Teacher
Reception Year Holiday News!
It’s hard to believe that the third term has already begun and we are at the start of another busy term in Reception Year. The students arrived back at school on Tuesday, brimming with excitement and eager to share all the wonderful things that they had been doing during the winter holidays.
This term we will be learning about how to copy sentences about our “news”. We have learnt about sentence structure, that a sentence starts with a capital letter, ends in a full stop and that words need to be evenly spaced.
The students were given the opportunity to explain one thing about their holiday to their “talk partner” sitting next them. This helps them remember their favourite part. They began the task by drawing a detailed picture of their holiday news. When the teacher came around, the students gave her a sentence, which she wrote in the lines under their pictures. They then carefully tried to copy their sentences in the lines below, using the correct punctuation and spacing. The students made good attempts at copying their sentences and these are a few of the sentences that they came up with:
Melissa Moje (5 years old): “I went to the beach.”
Emmanuel Omole (5 years old): “I watched T.V.”
Sarah Miller (6 years old): “I played outside.”
Joel Mofokeng (7 years old): “I played with my friends.”
Zoe-Jane Way (6 years old): “I went to my oupa’s house.”
Michele Lemme (6 years old): “I went to the shop.”
Lizelle Vorster (5 years old): “I played with my robot.”
Reuben Davids (6 years old): I went to the treehouse.”
Malin van Zandvoort (5 years old): “I played football.”
Thami Makubalo (5 years old): “I went for a walk.”
Madison Carli (5 years old): “We went to the shop.”
Britney Quaddri (5 years old); “I watched T.V.”
Uyindalo Kweyama (6 years old): “I found my teddy.”
Enzo Tona (6 years old): “I went to holiday care.”
Jenna Miller (6 years old): “I went to the shop.”
Gabriel Perdigão (6 years old): “I built a treehouse.”
Bronwen Nuthall
Reception Year teacher
What a Term for Foundation Stage!
What a term! We have come to the end of another exciting, fun-filled term. We started the term with an interactive morning where we discussed the importance of Numeracy and the parents had the opportunity to do Numeracy activities with the students. This new approach is informative for all. We intend on having more Interactive Curriculum Mornings with different themes, and urge parents to attend these sessions.
On Friday, 10 May 2019, for Grandparent’s & Someone Special Day. We invited our “special person” for a short concert. We made lovely Mother’s day gifts as well. Soon after this wonderful day we had a visit from the Reptile man and we had an “old-school” drive in movie night. The students arrived at school in their pj’s with their own home made box car. We watched Peter Pan while enjoying popcorn, hot dogs and some sweet treasures.
The highlight of the term was our outing to Butterfly World on Friday, 24 May 2019, where we learned about different animals and the life cycle of the butterfly. In class we enjoyed learning about Seasons, Reptiles, Creepy Crawlies and Technology. We even made a mascot for a Littering and Recycling competition.
To end off this busy term, we have created special gifts for the most important men in our lives, OUR FATHERS. We hope you all have a fantastic and well-earned holiday. Stay safe and warm.
Martie van Dyk
Reception Year Teacher