We began the year by recapping all of the phonics sounds we have learnt up to this point! Remember, you need to be confident in all Phase 5 sounds as well as those that come before this phase. If you feel your child requires more support with this, please let me know and I will help you as much as I can. 

We have now started to learn about different suffixes. Can you tell your grown up what a suffix is? This week, we have focused on both 'ing' and 'ed' and we have discussed words that include these suffixes, and also how the word is changed by adding these. We learnt that adding 'ing' to a word means that we are still doing the activity - running, jumping, hopping, eating. We discussed the double consonant on some words too! With 'ed', this means that it is the past tense - jumped, hopped, watched. 

We continue to learn more about different suffixes, this week focusing on plural nouns. We have learnt how to add 's' or 'es' to a noun to make it a plural, which means more than one. We discussed different spelling rules - adding 'es' on to words that end in 'x', 'ch', 'sh' or 'tch'. We are continuing to practise our handwriting and form sentences that include each suffix we have learnt so far and are trying super hard to ensure we write these correctly across the curriculum too! 

This week, we have moved on to learning about prefixes! These are letter strings that go on to the front of a word in order to change the meaning of the word. We have studied the prefixes 're-' and 'un-' and have also added both prefixes and suffixes to a root word, for example replayed. 

Can you remember any words that have the prefixes 're-' or 'un-' and what these prefixes mean? 

We are now recapping sounds that we find more tricky as there are lots of alternative spelling choices. First we looked at 'ey', 'ie' and 'y' and then 'u' and 'ou' followed by 'al' for our final sound. Can you remember any words that include any of these sounds? Remember, it is important to use your phonics knowledge when spelling words so any practise is beneficial!