With phonics, children are taught to read by learning the phonemes (sounds) that represent graphemes (individual or groups of letters). 
With this knowledge, children can begin to read words by learning how to blend the sounds together. Unlocking how this alphabetic code works means they can learn to decode any word. For example, when taught the sounds ‘t’, ‘p’, ‘a’, ‘i’ and ‘s’ early on, children can read words such as ‘it’, ‘is’, ‘tap’, ‘tip’, ‘pat’, ‘sip’, and ‘sat’ by blending the individual sounds together to make the whole word. These words can also be broken down (segmented) into their phonemes for spelling. For example, the word ‘sat’ has three phonemes, ‘s’, ‘a’ and ’t’ which the children learn to write with the three graphemes (letters) ‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘t’ that they have been taught. 
Children will also be taught to read words – such as ‘once’, ‘was’ or ‘have’ – which don’t follow the phonic rules. When teaching children to read an irregular/tricky word, you should ask the child to sound out the parts of the word they know (for example, in the word ‘was’, they can sound out ‘w’ and ‘s’). Next, point out the irregular or tricky bit of the word (for example, the ‘a’ in ‘was’ sounds like /o/) and encourage them to sound out and blend the word (/w/ /o/ /z/). 
Top tips on phonics 
 Say the sounds correctly 
It’s important that the sounds are pronounced correctly, as they would sound in speech. Try not to add ‘uh’ to consonant sounds, such as /t/ and /p/, as this makes it trickier to blend the sounds together into words. Link sounds and letters to make words Children are taught in school to quickly see a link between the phoneme (sound) and a written representation of that sound (grapheme). At home, encourage your child to do the same when playing with fridge magnets in the kitchen, for example, or ‘writing’ when you are writing.  
Don’t be scared – make it fun!  
Phonics can seem daunting for parents who were probably taught to read in a rather different way. However, simple games such as ‘I spy’ are great for helping children learn to read because they have to listen to sounds. Say, “I spy, with my little eye, something that begins with (for example) the sound ‘f-f-f ’” Look at the ‘football’ or the ‘fridge’. Make sure you refer to the first sound (not the first letter). Take it in turns, with your child saying, “I spy…” Make it lots of fun.  
Practise!  
Encourage your child to use their phonic knowledge when they are practising their reading. Make sure that they look at each letter in turn, all through each word. Encourage them to work out the sounds and then blend them together to make the whole word. Praise them for trying to use all the letters rather than guessing from just the first letter or the picture. 
 
What do I do if my child doesn’t enjoy reading? 
 Make sure your child isn’t tired, hungry or desperate to watch their favourite TV programme when you read to them. Sit with them for a short time every day and read a book with them on a subject that interests them, whether that’s cars, animals, or sports. Don’t expect them to read it for themselves. Just show them how interesting it is to be able to read so that they want to do it for themselves.  
For many children, especially boys as they get older, non-fiction books are more interesting than fiction, so it may be as simple as changing the type of books you are reading together. Talk to your child’s teacher or a local children’s librarian to see what books are available that match your child’s interests.  
Give plenty of praise. Let your child know how pleased you are when he or she looks at a book. Show interest in what they have chosen. Children really do develop at their own rates when it comes to reading. 
 
To read the guide ‘Enjoy Reading: A guide to reading at home.’ in full, click the link or scan the QR code.  
Enjoy-Reading-Guide.pdf (pearson.com)  
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Year 3 have thoroughly enjoyed their introduction to the KS2 French Curriculum and have been learning a variety of language to help introduce themselves.

​This half term we started with looking at how to ask the question, ‘ what is your name?’ and ‘how old are you?’ Pupils learned how to respond with their name, their ages and how to say other people’s ages. They practiced their interactions with various class members and had fun revising their numbers from 0 – 10. Furthermore, pupils studied several classroom objects and practiced this vocabulary in a sentence to say in my classroom, there is , which is ‘dans ma classe il y a …’ Pupils had fun walking around their classroom and picking out the items they had learned to utilise them in a phrase.  ​

We had the best week this week! Our favourite day was our enrichment day. We got to make salt dough decorations but we have to wait for them to dry. Miss. Mills said that once they are dry we can paint them to make them look really Christmassy. We also made dragons using paper plates. We watched a video to learn how to make them then we had to be really careful cutting out the tail and the head.  ​

Year 2 have been creative making felt. They began by placing thin pieces of wool roving onto bubble wrap, creating colourful layers and patterns. They then added details by twisting and rolling the wool fibres. Next, year 2 placed a piece of net curtain and added soap and water. After that, they rolled their felt to squeeze out the water. Look at their amazing creations! ​

Furthermore, year 2 have been looking at abstract art. They looked at the details of stain glass windows and used these as inspiration to create their abstract designs. They used tissue paper and plastic wallets to stick their designs on, once they were dry they looked like beautiful stain glass windows. 

This term during outdoor learning we have been looking at the change in the seasons and focused on trees. We looked at Sycamore, Silver Birch, Oak and Horse Chestnut trees. Whilst looking at the trees we identified conkers, catkins and acorns.  We went on tree hunts around our school and the children used leaf identification books to help find and name the trees. 

This week we made  poppies and wreaths to commemorate remembrance day.  The children worked together to make a collage of a  poppy. 
We also made firework pictures and learned about Diwali.  The children discussed the festival of light and its significance.