Primary Classroom News

Foundation A

In Foundation A the children have been learning about shapes in mathematics. Knowing the names of shapes and also know to describe them is important. The children should be able to name circles, squares, triangles and rectangles. They should also be able to use the words straight, curved, corners, edges and sides when describing these shapes. The word triangle is an interesting one as ‘tri’ means three and can be linked to triceratops having three horns and a tricycles having three wheels.

At home draw your child attention to shapes as you see them. A plate is a circle. It is special because it has a curved edge. A slice of pizza is a triangle. It is special because it has three straight sides.

The children have been introduced to the sounds ‘c’ like in ‘cat’, ‘a’ like in ‘ant’, ‘s’ and ‘u’ like in ‘sun’, ‘n’ and ‘e’ like in ‘net’, ‘t’ and ‘p’ like in ‘tap’, ‘l’ and ‘g’ like in leg. They having been using these letters to make a whole list of words including:

In, it, an, at, can, nap, cap, pit, pat, set, pet, ten, nut, sent, sat, sip, sit, peg, pig, let, pig, get, lip, lap, get and pal.

Writing words requires children to hear the beginning, middle and end sounds in order. They must then match these sounds to the letters that makes them. The children then need the fine motor skills to form the letters needed to write the words while understanding that print goes from left to right.

At home you can help your child to hear sounds in words by playing with them. Try singing the following to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”. It is important to say the letter sounds rather than the letter names.

Parent sings:

I’m thinking of a words name “t” “e” “n”, “t” “e” “n”, “t” “e” “n”
I’m thinking of a word named “t” “e” “n”
What is my word?

Child sings:

Is the word you’re thinking of ten, ten, ten, ten, ten, ten, ten, ten, ten,
Is the words you’re thinking of ten,ten,ten?

Parent sings:

Yes, ‘ten’ is my word.

Activity drawn from Smart Spelling, Michelle Hutchison (2016)

Try the same game using any of the words listed above.