Big Talk

Can you describe what is happening in the picture?

‘Big Talk’ questions will be given each week. We are sure that you will recognise that talking together is one of the most important factors in developing children’s educational abilities. Children need to hear Standard English – we as adults need to be role models for this. It is a good idea to encourage your child to give you an oral account of what they have been doing both in and out of school, and explore together good vocabulary to enhance their account.

SOME HINTS FOR ADULTS TAKING PART IN A BIG TALK FOR CONVERSATION WITH THEIR CHILDREN:

 Encourage as many family members as possible to be involved in the Big Talk activity.

 Make it an enjoyable activity

 Switch off the television to try to ensure that this is dedicated talking and listening time.

 Begin a conversation by modelling… “I think that… because …”

 Ask other family members to give their ideas, opinions and reasons why.

To help develop your children’s skills, you may also use activities such as those below, asking your children to:

 Listen carefully to follow a story or an account and answer questions about it.

 Listen carefully and work with others to think up questions about the story.

 Talk about their own experiences and those in stories.

 Express preferences and likes and dislikes, giving explanations.

 Actively participate in oral storytelling.

 Identify and describe the main characters and setting of a story.  Retell stories in different ways e.g. role-play/ dressing- up/puppets.

Phonics

The children will work in their phonics groups, learning the sounds and reading and writing simple words, captions and sentences.

Some suggested activities to help support your child:

• Play I-spy around the home with the new sounds.
• Find the new sounds in your reading book and around the home.
• Sound out and spell some simple cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) words with the new sounds in. 
• Play some of the games on the phonics websites (listed below) using the sounds we are learning.
• Draw pictures and label with a caption using the new sounds.

Maths

An activity has been set on Mathseeds

Number lines 2

Useful websites

Here is a list of useful links that can be used by your children every day:

• Mathseeds
• Phonics Play
• Phonics Bloom
• Top marks maths
• Wake Up - wake up and exercise song
• Teach Your Monster to Read