English
Initial Lit – (Reading and Viewing, Speaking and Listening)
This term, students will continue with a systematic synthetic phonics approach to literacy. Letters will be explored in the following sequence: w, ck, ll, ff, ss, sh, qu, ee, z/zz, ch, v, x and y. Students will build their understanding of key concepts of reading such as phonological awareness, oral language, and phonemic awareness as they continue to explore the different sounds and blend them together to make words. Additionally, students will be introduced to the concepts of a digraph and read and write words and sentences using the graphemes taught. They will also read and write tricky words to build their reading fluency.
As part of our weekly Storybook lessons, students will begin to analyse, interpret, and evaluate literature. They will use comprehension strategies such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising, and questioning to understand and discuss texts. These strategies will help students deepen their understanding and enhance their engagement with literature.
Key Vocabulary:
Sound, digraph, blend, stretch, vowel
Writing
This term, students will continue to explore letters and identify the different sounds they produce to form words. Through the InitiaLit program, they will practice correct letter formation and spelling to construct sentences. A key focus will be on using graphemes taught through a synthetic phonics approach to read and write words and sentences effectively. Students will work on reading and writing tricky words to better express their own ideas. This will help students build a strong foundation in literacy, enabling them to convey their thoughts clearly and accurately in written form.
Key Vocabulary:
Capital letter, punctuation, noun, adjective
How can you support your child’s English learning at home?
- Discuss the story with your child to promote comprehension with questions such as “What happened at the beginning, middle and the end of the story?”, “I wonder why did the character decided to...”, “What would you do if you are (the character)? Why?”
- Read with your child every night and record this in their diary. Allow your child to stretch and blend the words in their decodable reading books, as well as practice identifying the Tricky Words regularly to improve fluency.
- Ensure correct writing posture and the use of correct pencil grip. Focus on correct letter formation in Home Learning Tasks by paying attention to the size, proportion and placement of letters on the dotted thirds.
- Meaningful tasks that involve writing, such as encouraging your child in making a list for groceries, writing a letter to a family member or a note of reminder etc.
