penguin onesie

School Days – the one with Children in Need

The second week back after half term was a tiring one I think.  Although it didn’t stop N and the other children enjoying hide and seek in the dark outside at after school club.  It’s been N’s second week of phonics, and the proper learning seems to be going ok.

Phonics

N’s getting 4 phonics a week, and the worksheets are still coming home.  It’s amazing how he’s now taking it on board now, where a year ago at nursery he’d have also been introduced to phonics, but had no interest and didn’t remember any of it.  It’s harder now to get him to do his worksheets at home, but I did manage to get him to show off to his uncle what he’d learnt, so they did some together, and N told him some words that began with the right sounds.

Practising phonics

One day though, he refused to do the worksheet at all in the evening, then he announced to me that he’d put it in the bin.  I didn’t believe him, but sure enough, after he’d gone to bed, I found it all crumpled in there.  The next morning though, I came downstairs and he’s completed the worksheet with no fuss.

We have done a bit of Reading Eggs again too, and he’s working out the words he knows from the sounds and repetition which is great to see.  We don’t do it often, because I let him ask rather than making him do it, so it’s slow going.  But now his phonics learning at school means he’s been formally taught those letters that he’s got to in Reading Eggs, so hopefully it will work well together.

I did ask him how they learn phonics.  He tells me they work in pairs, the teachers says the sounds and words, then they repeat back, then work in their partnerships. His is a boy I don’t know, so I’ll have to get N to point him out.

Reception/Foundation stage  vs Year 1

N’s been noticing the difference between the work that their class do.  The year 1 class is split in his school, with some staying in the class with reception.  N tells me that foundation stage work is easy and that year 1 have to work harder and do different things.

‘Year 1 do hard work mummy’.

‘You’ll have to do that work next year.  It’s harder because they’ve already learnt the work that you’re doing, when they were in reception’.

‘I think I’ll want to stay in reception because it’s easy work’.

I wonder how long he’ll continue thinking It’s easy!

Dancing

In our weekly ‘what we’re up to this week’ email, it mentioned that reception class might have dance one afternoon.  I asked N about it, and he said no they’d not done it (he’s also not done PE yet, so not sure when they are starting doing that).

‘Mummy, the dance teacher is a man, but I didn’t see him’.

‘How did you know it’s a man?’, me thinking  that that would be quite unusual

‘I don’t, but he was a man’.

So I’ve no idea whether they did or didn’t do dancing.  I’m presuming not.

Children in Need

After my nightmare with making cakes for children in Need day, N went into school in his pjs and onesie and with his teddy.

penguin onesie

They were due to do a teddy race, but the weather was terrible so it didn’t sound like it happened.  Apart from the cake eating, N’s favourite part of the day was watching the teachers doing the Strictly.  He thought it was very funny seeing his teacher up there dancing.

I asked N if all the teachers were dressed up as well, and was told they all were except the head.

‘She was in her normal clothes because she had things to do’. He didn’t seem too disappointed in that.  He was too intent on telling me what his friends were wearing.

What’ve your children been up to this week at school?

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17 Comments

  1. That onesie is adorable! I remember doing phonics with my eldest two. Always had to remind myself to sound out the letters. I still spell things out phonetically even when my kids aren’t around!

  2. Ha! The teachers doing strictly does sound like fun, boo on the head though for not joining in! 😉 He looks very cute in his onesie bless him. Hopefully his confidence about year 1 will grow as time goes on! xx

  3. I love the costumes so much that I want one for myself. Looks like he’ll do just fine just take patient I guess to get the kids going with whatever task. He’ll tackle it eventually.

  4. oh I love this costume! I bet he was hot in it! I like the bright orange beak! My daughter started dance in reception. I’m sure its different in different schools! – Angela

    1. Yes, it tends to be year 2 and up who do dance. N likes to dance at home but I’m not sure what he does is quite appropriate for public viewing

  5. Took me a while to work out what phonics are! So different to how we learned isn’t it? But you know we do teach our own kids when they’re learning to speak in phonics so it makes sense. He sounds very cute 🙂

    1. Yes, I don’t remember any particular way of learning. I just picked it up and got on with it. But it’s all about the sounds which makes sense.

  6. My kids don’t go to school yet. But they do love creche daily. They do lots of arts and crafts and fun playing and educational things.

  7. N looks really cute in those pjs! I have to say, I am really impressed by the level of information you continue to get out of him about school. It may not seem like much to you but I seldom get more than what she had for pudding.

    1. He is quite chatty. I just have to catch him at the right time. With lunches I have to tell him what he’s had because he never remembers that – he remembers everything else that goes on at lunch though

  8. Our school had a morning where the parents we invited in (was last week) to see how they learn phonics. Was so handy as they showed us and told us the stages and the ways of helping the children to learn. I think it would be fab if all schools did this as it has helped me to understand it and now I can help my son in the right way. x

    1. Yes, a lot of other schools seem to do that. I’m sure there’s one on maths in Year 1, but not sure there is here. But we’re doing Read Write Inc and I’ve got flashcards etc which help parents understand how to say things and blend so it’s not too unknown thankfully.

  9. This is an interesting read for me as Z is doing phonics too and they’re at Phase 2. I’m not quite sure what that even means but he now brings home a sheet of words each week which he has to learn to spell and they get a test each Friday. He seems to enjoy it but always forgets the last letter of each word for some reason!

    1. Phase 2 must be the blending stage? What method are they using? We’ve had no guidance, but I did pay for a ‘teach children to read’ course, which explains all about phonics and blending etc that i’ve done nothing about, but will go back to it again once N’s at that stage to make sure I get it right). The OH has no idea though and he’ll just tell him other things which won’t be helpful.

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