Budding Explorers

Hi everyone, it’s been such a long time since I posted. With lockdown rules and COVID I was unable to continue tutoring. By the time everything was easing I was quite heavily pregnant so taking extra care. I am now on maternity leave as baby Wilf was born in August 💙
I will be sure to update on here if I start tutoring again next year. I hope everyone is well. Take care x

I meant to share this wonderful writer last week! 🦁 From a nervous start, we shared some ideas and liked the sound of a WANTED poster.
In the sessions running up to this we had worked on suffix endings, created a word bank of adjectives and adverbs, added plurals, the prefix ‘un’ and used conjunctions in silly sentences. This has then been applied to this great poster!
What a STAR 🌟

Due to the current climate I am keeping resources minimal and simple. The children have even helped to make their own, such as grouped number cards, number squares and their own spelling flash cards. It’s a great way to reinforce what they are learning and also helps give parents simple ideas outside of a worksheet.
Anything used is washed down afterwards with hot soapy water and antibac wipes or only used with each individual child.

“Getting my child to read is a struggle” is something I hear all of the time. How often as an adult do you read a book that you are not enjoying? As teachers we use a guideline of books that work up in a structured order to ensure we create an equal playing field as to how we measure their progress and to ensure they can do certain things. Whilst it is valuable to read these books at home it can be repetitive and in all honesty... dull!! Here’s a few tips to help encourage reading at home:

🌿 Allow your child to choose books they WANT to read! Whether you buy, swap, google or borrow
🌿 Read to your child: fairy tales, non-fiction, your favourite childhood book, comics, menus, shopping lists, road signs - this builds their vocabulary and understanding
🌿 Pretend to struggle with some words to boost their confidence when they correct you. Ask them to find high frequency words or tricky words on a page: e.g. “Can you spot the word ‘the’ or ‘said’?
🌿 Discuss what has been read and ask simple questions: What might happen next? How do you think the characters feel? What does this word mean? Can you find me a word beginning with ‘sh’? Where is this story set? Can you tell me about a time you went to a place like this setting?
🌿 Act out their favourite stories. This builds their vocabulary, supports memory skills and helps develop their own story writing and ideas.

I hope this helps to get them engaged and creates a love of reading 📖
(Below is a screen shot of the Year 1 comprehension reading national curriculum which is available online. All of the above will help support this element of the curriculum.)