Kahikatea Team: Kahikatea Newsletter Term 1 Week 7

It has been another busy fortnight in Team Kahikatea! Please enjoy reading and viewing what recent highlights below.

Wellbeing

Over the past fortnight, we have been learning about how to make friends, communication skills and conflict resolution. Our focus has been on using our words to....

* ask someone new to play
* tell someone else if there is a problem
* ask peers (as well as the teacher) if we need help or are unsure where to put our things or what to do

Structured Literacy

We have started our structured literacy lessons this week. Students work in targeted groups with their literacy teacher, and cover phonics, reading, spelling and writing. Each child has been assessed and is working at their specific point of need. When they are not with the teacher, the students enjoy oral language, rhyming and word building games and practise working co-operatively (photos below!).

Literacy: How can you help your child at home?

The emphasis in teaching spelling is to focus on the sound, not the letter name. Making the phoneme (sound) - grapheme (letter shape) connection is the first step in literacy learning.

Ensure that your child is saying the ‘pure’ sound without an ‘uh’ sound on the end, for example, ‘lllll’ rather than ‘luh’ for the L sound. Please refer to this clip, The Sounds of New Zealand English for more information on the sound that matches each of the letters. Feel free to practise letter sounds and blends at home (cards will be sent home soon), as well as the Heart Words (learn to read and write).

You may like to play games like:

Speed Sounds: your child can look at each letter card and say the sound it represents. See if your child can do this at speed.
‘I Spy’: You can play games such as ‘I Spy’, using the letter sound (not the name).
Stepping Stones: Place the cards on the floor with the letter facing up, as if they are stepping stones across the river. Explain to your child that they have to cross the ‘river’ without falling in the water. Your child steps on each card and says the corresponding sound.
Fish or Memory: You could make up a matching set of letter cards, and use both sets to play Fish or Memory together, by placing both sets of cards face down on the table or floor. Each player has to be able to say the sound, if they are to keep a matching pair of cards.
Reading aloud to your child/ren continues to be hugely valuable and important for their literacy development. Click to read further information on the importance of reading at home can be read here.