10/10/22 - 14/10/22

Focus: Phase 5 'ee' phoneme

This week we have been recapping the phoneme 'ee' from our Phase 5 phonics learning. We have looked at the following spelling of the sound:

• 'ea' - beach 
• 'e-e' - theme
• 'ie' - brief
• 'ey' - key
• 'y' - floppy

Can you think of other examples for each one?

Next half term, we will be moving on to studying grammar, punctuation and spelling and will be further developing our reading comprehension 

03/10/22 - 07/10/22

Focus: Phase 5 'ai' sound

This week we have been recapping the 'ai' sound from our Phase 5 phonics learning. We have looked at the following spelling of the sound:

• ay - play
• a_e - game
• eigh - sleigh
• ey - survey
• ei - reins

Can you think of any other examples of words that include these spellings? 

We also completed another reading comprehension as a class - this time focusing on the key skill of inference. This is where we use what we have read to make assumptions as to why someone may be feeling a certain way or why something has happened. Remember to think about these inferences when you are doing your reading at home - why might that have happened in your book? How might the character be feeling and what makes you think that? 

26/09/22 - 30/09/22

Focus: prefixes

This week we have learnt that prefixes are letter strings that go on the front of a word to change the meaning of the word. We have been learning about the prefixes 're' and 'un'. Can you think of any examples of words that include this prefix?

• 're' means to do something again. For example; retry, refill or retest. 
• 'un' means the opposite ('not') and is usually a negative. For example; unhappy, unkind or unhelpful. 

We then combined all of our knowledge and found words which included a prefix and a suffix on the root word. For example; recalled, unbolted or reconnecting. 

Finally, we have been recapping what consonants and vowels are and have been highlighting these in words that we have written. 

19/09/22 - 23/09/22

Focus: suffixes 

We have continued to focus on suffixes, this week learning more about 's' and 'es' - can you remember some words that include these suffixes?

We discussed what these suffixes mean and how they are letters on the end of a word in order to change the meaning of the word.

• 's' on a word means it is a plural. eg. one star, two stars.
• 'es' has the same meaning, but it is used for words which end in 'ch', 'sh', 's', 'ss' and 'x'. eg. box becomes boxes and watch becomes watches.

We also learnt more about how 'foot' becomes 'feet', 'man' becomes 'men' and 'sheep' stays the same regardless of how many there are! 

12/09/22 - 16/09/22

Focus: suffixes 

This week, our focus has been on the suffixes 'ing' and 'ed' - can you remember some words that include these suffixes?

We discussed what a suffix is and how these suffixes are used to change the word.

• 'ing' on a word means it is still occurring. eg. I am running.
• 'ed' means it has happened already and is in the past. eg. Yesterday, I watched television.

We learnt that when we have a vowel followed by a consonant, we have to double the consonant before adding the 'ing' or 'ed' suffix.

Examples:

• jog becomes jogging or jogged
• hop becomes hopping or hopped
• skip becomes skipping or skipped 

We also learnt that when we are adding the 'ed' suffix to a word that has a silent 'e' on the end, we have to drop that 'e' before adding the suffix.

Examples:

• hope becomes hoped
• shame becomes shamed
• race becomes raced

This week, we also completed our first reading comprehension! This was related to castles and we learnt more about the different castles across the UK and what the features of a castle are. We worked together to answer questions where we had to retrieve the answers from the text.