Reading   

This term, our focus is on mastering the many ways we can build vowel sounds in English. It can be tricky because one sound (like a "long E") can be spelled in several different ways! 

We are exploring:

• Short and Long Vowel Sounds: We’re learning to recognize different "teams" of letters that work together to make sounds, such as the "long A" in train vs. stay, or the "long O" in boat vs. snow.
• The "Silent E": We are investigating the "jobs" of the final silent e—like how it can make a vowel say its own name (turning hop into hope).
• Homophones: We’re looking at words that sound the same but are spelled differently, like weigh and way.
• Word Endings: Understanding how to correctly add -ed and -ing to the end of words to change their tense.

We are diving deep into the magical (and sometimes slightly scary!) world of Matilda by Roald Dahl. Rather than just reading the story, the students are acting like "literary detectives" by:

• Deep Discussions: Talking about what the author wants us to think about particular characters, identifying big ideas and what might happen next.
• Author’s Writing Style: Looking at Roald Dahl’s specific writing choices—how he uses funny or descriptive language to make his characters come to life.
• Vocabulary Building: Unpacking the meaning of new words we find in the chapters to help expand the students' vocabulary and writing toolkits.